Kerry favors international approach to ending Castro's rule

Thursday, July 8, 2004

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP): US presidential aspirant Senator John Kerry favors marshalling an international strategy on Cuba that would end the decades-long rule of communist president Fidel Castro over the Caribbean island, his aides said Wednesday.

Kerry campaign manager Jose Villareal, in a conference call with reporters, said this would break with current US policy which "punishes" Cubans living in Florida.

"Senator Kerry has stated that he would take an approach to dealing with the panoply of issues affecting Cuba in the same manner he wants to deal with other international issues," Villareal said.

He explained this would involve inviting the "international community, principally the community south of our borders ... in trying to fashion a strategy that will once and for all bring down the dictatorship in Cuba."

Kerry would also break with additional restrictions US President George W. Bush applied to Cuba on June 30, under which Cuban-Americans can visit relatives in Cuba once every three years, for only 14 days, and are allowed to spend only 50 dollars a day, down from 165 dollars, according to another Kerry supporter who participated in the call.

The Democratic hopeful "would not take the measures adopted by President Bush," Arizona congressman Raul Grijalva said, adding the additional restrictions punished "the Cuban community in Florida who couldn't send aid to their families."

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