Clinton Receptive to Castro Overture to Discuss 'Everything'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that the U.S. welcomes the "overture" from Cuban President Raul Castro to talk about "everything."
"We have seen Raul Castro's comments and we welcome this overture. We are taking a very serious look at it, and we will consider how we intend to respond," Clinton said while appearing alongside Dominican Republic President Leonel Antonio Fernandez.
"We are continuing to look for productive ways forward, because we view the present policy as having failed. Engagement is a useful tool to advance our national interests," she continued.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Clinton's remarks followed Castro's statement at a summit in Venezuela a day earlier.
"We have sent word to the U.S. government in private and in public that we are willing to discuss everything -- human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners, everything," the communist leader said. Castro's comment came after Obama said he was loosening restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba by Cuban Americans.
Clinton traveled from Haiti to the Dominican Republic Friday before heading to the 34-nation Summit of Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, where she will join President Obama.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She held a brief digital town hall meeting in the Dominican Republic. However, the State Department Web cast experienced technical difficulties and after a late start, the event repeatedly went off-air, returning at one point with Clinton's voice only and a black screen.
Clinton did respond to a question purportedly from a Cuban resident named Juan asking whether changing U.S. policy would reward tyranny. Clinton responded with a similar statement as her press briefing.
By contrast to Clinton, State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood offered an icier response during Friday's briefing with reporters.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We stand ready to have a dialogue with Cuba, but what's important is that -- that the Cuban people be allowed to express themselves freely and to assemble as they wish," Wood said. "If the Cuban government's interested in having a substantive, serious dialogue with the United States, it needs to address not just concerns of the United States and other countries, but of the Cuban people."
The Dominican president said that Castro's offer and Obama's calls is "a recognition of the fact that the previous policies have failed."
"The Cold War ended in 1991 and was prolonged unsuccessfully in the Caribbean region
President Barack Obama is paving a new road," Fernandez said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}During her town hall, Clinton repeated her statement that U.S. demand for drugs is helping fuel the narco-trafficking and gang warfare. But she warned that other nations need to make sure that drug traffickers don't ensnare its citizens.
"You must get on top of this supply issue very soon, because what drug traffickers will do is try to get your citizens addicted to drugs ... there must be a public outcry to drug traffickers trying to addict young people in all the countries in the region," she said.
Clinton also warned that drug dealers seek to undermine and corrupt institutions and individuals.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Once you take money from a drug trafficker. They own you. They own you and they own your family," she said.
The town hall meeting came after Clinton visited neighboring Haiti where she assured residents there that the latest aid from the United States is more than a short-term fix.
Clinton told reporters that she and Obama aim to help create jobs and ensure stability in a country that has had little of either in recent years.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The U.S., Haiti's largest benefactor, pledged $50 million in new aid at a donors' conference Tuesday in Washington, bringing the American total for the year to $302 million.
Clinton also said the U.S. is considering requests to halt temporarily deportations of an estimated 30,000 Haitians from the United States. Haiti fears deportations would cost it much-needed remittances and force it to absorb even more people into its broken economy.
The U.S. often grants Temporary Protected Status to block deportations to countries that have suffered natural disasters or conflicts. The status currently applies to immigrants from Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Burundi, Somalia and Sudan.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Associated Press contributed to this report.