In February 2008, candidate Barrack Obama called for Fidel Castro's resignation, and promised he would not lift the embargo until the Cuban government takes steps to "democratized the island". On the other hand, just months earlier, Obama said that he would consider normalizing relations with Cuba if there was evidence of a democratic opening. Barack Obama further said that he would "willing to meet and talk very directly about what we expect from the Cuban regime." Barrack Obama was much softer on the Cuban embargo than his primary candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Hillary Clinton supported the "status quo" on Cuba, and opposed lifting the embargo on Cuba. After Barack Obama was inaugurated, he said that was seeking "a new beginning" in U.S. relations with Cuba. Finally, in his 2016 State of the Union Address, President Obama outlined a new smarter approach to global leadership in January 2016 President Barack Obama called for lifting the embargo act on Cuba.
"Let me give you another example. Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy. It set us back in Latin America. That's why we restored diplomatic relations, opened the door to travel and commerce, positioned ourselves to improve the lives of the Cuban people. So if you want to consolidate our leadership and credibility in the hemisphere, recognize that the cold war is over. Lift the embargo."
Just six months later, Hillary Rodham Clinton followed in his steps and made the lifting of the embargo act a part of her campaign with these words "The Cuba embargo needs to go once and for all". A statement that Republican nominees Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio were adamantly against. Rubio called it a "grave mistake". Other candidates like Donald Trump were luke-warm on the issue. So what changed the mind of Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton. In her 2014 book, "Hard Choices" Clinton explained her change in direction. "Near the end of my tenure I recommended to President Obama that he take another look at our embargo, it wasn’t achieving its goals and it was holding back our broader agenda across Latin America. After twenty years of observing and dealing with the U.S.-Cuba relationship, I thought we should shift the onus onto the Castros to explain why they remained undemocratic and abusive."
But of course, there is much more to the story. For that we need to look at the Fanjul brothers, Alfonso, Jose, Alexander and Andres, the nation's most powerful sugar barons. According to Bloomberg, these brothers have long standing ties to Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubi and Jeb Bush. While sugar accounts for only a small fraction of the U.S. farm output, the industry contributes more to congressional campaign coffers than any other commodity producer and has been called the strongest lobbyist in the country. And the sugar industry clout is felt strongest in Florida where the Fanjul family has their base. Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul has a special relationship with the Clintons. The friendship dates back to when Bill Clinton first ran for president in 1992. Alfonso co-chaired his campaign in Florida. What is interesting here, is that after Fanjul visited Cuba in 2012 and 2013 as part of a delegation licensed through the Brookings Institution a Washington think tank. After the visit, Fanjul met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to express that his views on Cuba had changed. Later in November 2014, Fanjul also discussed his new mind-set with Bill Clinton at a Clinton Foundation fundraiser in Miami. According to a story in International Business Times in February 2014, "politicians who have long defended the embargo may need to revise their position to appeal to the large but changing Cuban population of Florida".
Perhaps, Hillary Rodham Clinton's change of heart was more political than it was policy.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=111174
http://www.cfr.org/world/candidates-cuba-policy/p14758
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-end-cuba-embargo_us_55bb9680e4b06363d5a1da3b
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/29/hillary-clinton-end-cuba-embargo-florida
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-21/obama-castro-call-for-trade-embargo-on-cuba-to-be-lifted
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-27/big-sugar-fighting-to-protect-a-sweet-deal-with-u-s-lawmakers
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sugar-tycoon-alfonso-fanjul-now-open-to-investing-in-cuba-under-right-circumstances/2014/02/02/4192b016-8708-11e3-a5bd-844629433ba3_story.html
http://www.ibtimes.com/sugar-mogul-alfonso-fanjul-wants-invest-cuba-1553293
http://america.aljazeera.com/content/ajam/multimedia/2015/7/fanjul-family-benefits-political-donations/jcr:content/mainpar/textimage_0/image.adapt.990.high.fanjul_brothers_sugar_hrc.1437766232249.jpg
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