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Bush Urges Cuba to Expand Freedoms
President Bush today challenged Cuba's communist government to make recent economic reforms "meaningful" by allowing freedom of expression and announced a new policy that allows Americans to send cellphones to relatives in Cuba. In a speech in the East Room of the White House to an audience that included prominent Cuban Americans, Bush marked the 106th anniversary of Cuba's independence yesterday by denouncing continued human rights violations by the government of President Raul Castro and calling for the release of Cuban political prisoners. He suggested that the reforms introduced by Castro, who formally succeeded his older brother, Fidel, as president in February, amount to "nothing more than a cruel joke" on the Cuban people. Fidel Castro, 81, underwent emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006 and ceded power to his brother, who turns 77 next month. He has not appeared in public since he took ill, although he occasionally has been photographed meeting with foreign leaders. Among the "so-called reforms" announced by the government in Havana, "Cubans are now allowed to purchase mobile phones and DVD players and computers, and they've been told that they will be able to purchase toasters and other basic appliances in 2010," Bush said. "If the Cuban regime is serious about improving life for the Cuban people, it will take steps necessary to make these changes meaningful." Posted by: Fred 2008-05-22 |
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