Obama Will Send Unofficial Delegation to Castro’s Funeral…With Two Officials
Pleasing a cruel regime…
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden received praise when they said neither one would attend the funeral of Cuba’s oppressive dictator Fidel Castro. It was too good to be true. It seems Obama used a loophole to avoid sending a U.S. delegation to the funeral…by sending two U.S. officials.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stated that Obama will send Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes and acting U.S. Ambassador to Cuba Jeffrey DeLaurentis. Despite them being U.S. officials, it is not considered an official U.S. delegation “because the president did not abide by the formal process for naming a delegation.”
Oh, but it’s totally okay because Rhodes planned on traveling to Cuba this week anyway.
Um, okay. I don’t know about you, but it sounds like a U.S. delegation.
Obama has faced pressure from some not to send anyone to the dictator’s funeral. Castro has inflicted six decades of pain and torture on the Cuban people, causing people to flee the island, risking their lives in the ocean in order to finally experience freedom.
But Obama has made it a priority to normalize relations with the brutal regime:
The decision to send Rhodes and DeLaurentis is something of a middle ground between sending an official delegation and ignoring the ceremony. “There is a formal process where the president will delegate a delegation . . . that will not be taking place this time,” Earnest said.
Earnest said the decision not to send a delegation reflects the complicated relationship with Cuba, characterized by “turmoil.” Sending Rhodes and DeLaurentis to the funeral reflects the United States’ ongoing human rights concerns balanced against the administration’s desire to build “an ongoing future relationship with the Cuban people,” Earnest said.
“Obviously, so much of the diplomatic relationship with Cuba is quite complicated,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. “We continue to have some significant concerns about the way the Cuban government operates, including protecting the basic human rights of the Cuban people.”
Protecting? Frances Martel’s, my former editor at Breitbart, family fled Cuba and she covered Obama’s plans with the island. She noted how the regime began to re-arrest the political prisoners they released after Obama promised to work on relations. Then only hours before Obama landed in Cuba in March, the Cuban police beat and arrested “50 pro-democracy dissidents.” They then pushed the prisoners “into buses to be shipped into the nation’s jails to prevent them from disturbing official activities.”
The Cuban regime will hold a memorial service tonight before Castro’s ashes take a tour around the country he has demolished in front of the people he has kept from prospering. Officials will hold the funeral in Santiago on Sunday, December 4.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) have told Obama not send anyone from the states to the funeral.
Obama received massive criticism for his statement after Castro died:
President Obama issued a statement Saturday morning: “Today, we offer condolences to Fidel Castro’s family, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Cuban people.”
“For nearly six decades, the relationship between the United States and Cuba was marked by discord and profound political disagreements,” Obama said. “During my presidency, we have worked hard to put the past behind us, pursuing a future in which the relationship between our two countries is defined not by our differences but by the many things that we share as neighbors and friends — bonds of family, culture, commerce, and common humanity.”
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Comments
It only would be “unofficial” if the 2 of them paid their own way. Since we know they are going to claim travel expenses and it will be 20 people, not 2, it’s a US Delegation. Count on the Cubans to go out of their way to call attention to the group…
That was my first thought, too.
There is only one person who is morally qualified to represent the United States of America at the funeral of this tyrant:
Anthony Weiner
Done cautiously this might be a good idea. We need to develop relationships with the common Cuban citizen. Moving them away from the totalitarian regime and over to the realm of freedom would be wonderful for the Cubans themselves.
Great concept but pie in the sky at present. Fidel is gone but there’s still that Raul fella to contend with.
They will not go to mingle with “the common Cuban citizen”. Quite the contrary.
That’s one of the issues with those who, well intentioned as they may be, fail to understand that things in Cuba don’t work they way they think.
Business for example. Some people think that commerce with Cuba can help “the common citizen”. There’s no commerce with the Cuban people, only with the government, and only the government reaps the benefits.
Kinda related trivia to those of you who take your freedoms for granted:
The Cuban regime decreed 9 days of official mourning.
That has a meaning a little different to what it would mean here. Here, no one or nothing could force me to mourn. I would listen to music at home, have a drink or launch a BBQ party if I so desire.
It’s not the same over there.
These 9 days in Cuba, the police can (and they do) knock on your door and order you to turn off your music. And yes, there would be snitch neighbors that will call the cops on you. They can (and they are doing it) order you to remove your earphones and stop listening to music from your phone.
It’s happening right now!
There’s also a ban on sales of any alcoholic beverages. Radio and TV broadcasts are limited to “patriotic and historic” programs. No children programming, no telenovelas, no music, no movies, nothing.
Castro’s last gift to the Cuban people is forced grief. Those who feel like celebrating, they can’t. Not for 9 days.
At least it’s not North Korea, where you are evaluated to see if you’re displaying sufficient grief.
Obama’s Excellent Cuban Adventure remains very peculiar.
Did he do it just because of his innate need to surrender to every wretched government on the international scene?
Did he do it solely to damage American interests?
Or did he do it to force elimination of the American base at Guantanamo? Or, more specifically, the detention camp? That’s tenable only so long as Cuba is a hostile power.
Obama is a traitor.
What other acts that will be discovered about his time in as a low-life in high-office will be the stuff of horror movies.
Not official, my ass! Clearly, this is a distinction without a difference!
Just like the Iran treaty wasn’t really a “treaty”, and so did not need approval by Congress. What brilliant nonsense Obama wants us to believe.