WHAT WILL OBAMA DECIDE IN SEPTEMBER 2015?
Dr. Néstor García Iturbe
June 4, 2015
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs4385.html
You would think that this question makes no sense, especially three months before Obama must make a decision.
The problem is that Obama’s decision will have to do, if not directly, with the blockade and the Cuba travel ban. Were any of those forms of extortion not there by then, and they probably will be, Obama’s decision would not be so consequential.
On September 5, 2014, the Nobel Peace prizewinner used the powers that the Trading with the Enemy Act vested in him to keep it in force for another year in the case of Cuba in order to protect, according to his words, the national interests of the United States. As per the document itself, the extension will expire on September 14, 2015.
If, I repeat, the blockade and the travel ban are still in force by that date, Obama will have a choice: either he extends for another year or rescinds his prerogatives regarding trade with Cuba. Should he choose to extend the provisions of the Act until September 2016, he will have to rate Cuba as an ENEMY, as he has done every time he has signed the document in the past.
The following stands to reason in this case:
We cannot call each other FRIENDS because friends respect and help rather than try to harm each other. Friends they take pleasure in each other’s achievements and suffer for each other’s misfortune. They highly trust rather than try to degrade each other. Friends do not allocate funds to make things hard for each other, since there is trust between each other’s armed forces.
If we stick to these and other principles that prevail between FRIENDLY countries, it will be be no surprise to us if Obama decides in September 2015 to extend for another year the current state of affairs and label us as ENEMY again, regardless of whether or not we have opened Embassies.
Here is the September 5, 2014 document in English:
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
September 05, 2014
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
SUBJECT: Continuation of the Exercise of Certain Authorities Under the Trading With the Enemy Act
Under section 101(b) of Public Law 95-223 (91 Stat. 1625; 50 U.S.C. App. 5(b) note), and a previous determination on September 12, 2013 (78 FR 57225, September 17, 2013), the exercise of certain authorities under the Trading with the Enemy Act is scheduled to terminate on September 14, 2014.
I hereby determine that the continuation for 1 year of the exercise of those authorities with respect to Cuba is in the national interest of the United States.
Therefore, consistent with the authority vested in me by section 101(b) of Public Law 95-223, I continue for 1 year, until September 14, 2015, the exercise of those authorities with respect to Cuba, as implemented by the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 515.
The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to publish this determination in the Federal Register.
BARACK OBAMA
