Hillary Clinton to Ask for Lifting of U.S. blockade on Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 30 (acn) Hillary Clinton, candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, will ask Congress on Friday to lift the blockade against Cuba during a planned visit to South Florida, where she will participate in two public meetings, according to information released by her campaign office.

The pre-candidate will urge Republicans to abandon the "failed policies of the past" during a speech at the Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, where the largest community of Cubans lives in the United States, the Cubasi Web site reported on Thursday.
The former U.S. Secretary of State will also ask for support for the rapprochement between the United States and Cuba announced in December by the governments of Barack Obama and Raul Castro, sealed on July 20 with the reopening of their embassies in Washington and Havana.
Hours earlier, Clinton will coincide at a forum in Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami, with Republican candidate Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida, who opposes the reestablishment of relations with Cuba, as does another presidential aspirant of the state, Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio.
Both pre-candidates will participate on Friday morning in the forum of the National Urban League, which brings together the black community.
The Democratic candidate will call on Congress to "look ahead" and join the new era between the two countries and end the blockade imposed in the 1960s by the United States on the Caribbean island.
This week, Republican Congressman Tom Emmer and Democrat Kathy Castor presented a bill to end the economic blockade on Cuba, in force for 55 years now, and allow U.S. private companies to trade freely with the island.
The two-party legislative initiative, named "Trade with Cuba Act of 2015" and supported by other legislators, seeks to facilitate trade between the two countries' enterprises.