Presidential candidates hail Castro's resignation
McCain, Obama urge the immediate release of political prisoners upon news that the Cuban president will step down.
News of Fidel Castro's resignation drew calls for release of political prisoners today from Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.
Obama, in a statement, said the United States should be ready to normalize relations with Cuba and ease the trade embargo of the last five decades if the Cuban leadership "begins opening Cuba to meaningful democratic change."
The resignation "should mark the end of a dark era in Cuba's history," the Illinois senator said. "The prompt release of all prisoners of conscience wrongly jailed for standing up for the basic freedoms too long denied to the Cuban people would mark an important break with the past. It's time for these heroes to be released."
McCain, also calling for release of prisoners, cautioned that "freedom for the Cuban people is not yet at hand." In a statement, he called for release of all political prisoners, as well as legalization of political parties, labor unions, elections and a free press.
"Cuba's transition to democracy is inevitable; it is a matter of when not if," the Arizona senator said in a statement. "With the resignation of Fidel Castro, the Cuban people have an opportunity to move forward and continue pushing for the moment that they will truly be free. America can and should help hasten the sparking of freedom in Cuba. The Cuban people have waited long enough."
Meanwhile, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, told voters in Ohio that if she were president she would "push Cuba now to join the community of nations and become a democracy." In a statement, the New York senator said that if elected, "I will engage our partners in Latin America and Europe who have a strong stake in seeing a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba, and who want very much for the United States to play a constructive role to that end."
johanna.neuman@latimes.com
