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In a decisive ruling for democracy, Colombia’s Constitutional Court determined February 26th that a law authorizing a referendum to change the
constitution to permit a second consecutive reelection of President
Álvaro Uribe would be unconstitutional. President Uribe immediately accepted the decision.
A United States delegation led by Craig Kelly, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs, met with Cuban officials led by Dagoberto Rodríguez, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, in Havana on Friday, February 19th, to discuss migration issues. This meeting marked the second round of migration talks since their suspension in 2004 by President George W. Bush.
While some historic snowstorms and the President's Day recess sidetracked our congressional advocacy work in the first couple weeks of February, the introduction of the Peterson-Moran Cuba bill (HR 4645) has helped us regain our "travel for all" momentum and represents our best chance to end the travel ban on Cuba in 2010.
Mavis Anderson, senior associate for Cuba policy at the Latin America Working Group, gave the following remarks at a congressional briefing for House staff on February 24, 2010. The briefing's panelists included Former Secretary of Agriculture under President Ronald Reagan, John Block; Father Juan Molina of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops; Chris Garza of American Farm Bureau; and moderating, Tom Garofalo of the New American Foundation. The briefing took place on Thursday February 24, 2010.
On February 11th, Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), long time pro-embargo supporter (and creator), announced that he will not run for his tenth term this coming November.
“I am convinced that in the upcoming chapter of the struggle, I can be more useful to the inevitable change that will soon come to Cuba, to Cuba’s freedom, as a private citizen dedicated to helping the heroes within Cuba,” said Rep. Diaz-Balart.
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