Dodd: End Cuba Embargo
by DavidNYC

Chris Dodd, in Miami today:
Presidential hopeful Chris Dodd would end a decades-old trade embargo with Cuba and lift travel restrictions to the island if elected, he said Saturday.

The Democratic senator from Connecticut also said he would open an embassy in Havana and shut down TV Marti, a U.S. government-run television station that broadcasts to Cuba.
"Other than the war in Iraq, no other American policy is more broadly unpopular internationally," Dodd said of the United States' policy toward Cuba.

Dodd said as president he would seek a repeal of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which strengthened the U.S. embargo against Cuba. He also announced he would shut down the 17-year-old TV Marti, and reform its companion, Radio Marti, saying taxpayers should not spend money on a station virtually no one in Cuba sees.

Our Cuba policies are not just unpopular but wrong, for a whole host of reasons. And Dodd doesn't want to just lift travel restrictions - he wants to scrap the trade embargo. (You can watch the press conference here.) Once again, I'm glad to see Dodd take a leadership role on an important issue, as he has with Iraq.

And I should add that Dodd is in Florida right now because tomorrow night, Univision and the University of Miami will be hosting the first-ever Spanish-language presidential debate, at 7pm Eastern. (Questions and answers will be translated.) As with the YouTube debate, the Republicans have spurned the offer of a Spanish debate, but the Democrats have embraced the opportunity. I'm looking forward to it.