[An Nahar] The United States must continue to update its policy towards communist Cuba, President Barack ObamaI think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody...
said late Friday, speaking at the home of a prominent Cuban-American activist.
Freedom in Cuba will come from the work of activists, Obama said, but the United States can help in "creative" and "thoughtful" ways.
"And we have to continue to update our policies," said Obama, speaking at a political fundraiser at the home of Jorge Mas Santos, head of the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF).
"Keep in mind that when Castro came to power, I was just born. So the notion that the same policies that we put in place in 1961 would somehow still be as effective as they are today in the age of the Internet and Google
...contributed $814,540 to the 2008 Obama campaign...
and world travel doesn't make sense."
Washington broke diplomatic ties with Havana in 1961, after Fidel Castro seized power in 1959 and nationalized U.S.-owned properties. An official embargo was imposed in 1962.
Addressing Mas Santos, Obama said: "I think that partly because we're of the same generation, we recognize that the aims are always going to be the same. And what we have to do is to continually find new mechanisms and new tools to speak out on behalf of the issues that we care so deeply about."