US/Cuba relations “warming”?

I’m so cynical.  This just points out another example of how people only do what’s in their personal interest.  This Cuba thing is just a political game. I would like to think that the US gov’t actually wants to improve things from a moral perspective, but with globalization it is really hard to balance speaking up and making your money.  But it’s sad, people have to castrate themselves in order to make a buck…

I wish country’s could self-sustain that way we could say what we think without worrying about trade relations.  Anyway, I think people should still do what’s right even though it could loose some economic stuff, in the case of gross human rights abuses, it is better to not contribute to that. Dialogue is good, but I don’t want to see greedy politicians being led by the nose by a dictator like the way it is with China.

AP-The U.S. erased restrictions on Americans who want to visit or send money to relatives in Cuba and President Barack Obama said at the Summit of the Americans that “the United States seeks a new beginning” with this country, though he said Sunday that the communist government should release political prisoners, afford greater freedoms and reduce official fees on money sent here from the States.

Likewise, Cuban President Raul Castro said he would be willing to negotiate everything with the U.S. — including such thorny issues as freedom of the press, human rights and the roughly 205 political prisoners that rights observers say Cuba holds.

“Actually, I’m not too optimistic,” said Cardenas, 50. “I don’t know if we’re really prepared for normal relations with the United States because here there’s a whole layer of the population that has a stake in nothing changing.” Thousands of Communist Party members and top government officials who make comfortable livings fueled by official animosity toward the United States — and they may not be ready to give that up, Cardenas said. “I’m not talking about Fidel or Raul” Castro, he said. “I’m talking about a whole mediocre class. Bureaucrats.”

Plenty of people in the U.S. — including the anti-Castro lobby in South Florida — also have a vested interest in strained relations.

Obama says it is up to Cuba to embrace some reforms before bilateral relations can improve. But there has been no move to loosen government limits on free speech or assembly, or to open access to the Internet and other information sources not clouded by communist propaganda. More than political freedoms, many Cubans say they would like the government to loosen its controls on the economy — allowing pockets of free enterprise that could help ordinary citizens pull themselves out of poverty. The state dominates more than 90 percent of the economy and pays workers an average of $19.70 a month.