As President, I will allow unimpeded family visits and remittances by Cuban-Americans to their relatives in Cuba. I will work with the Cuban-American community to heal the bitter divide that inevitably cuts through this issue. Together, we can create a policy that is good for all Americans.
And I am ready to reassess the trade embargo ... in exchange for Cuba releasing all political prisoners and making positive moves towards democratic freedoms.
Third, we should push for a Latin American country to have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile are obvious potential choices.
Fourth, human rights. We need to replace inflammatory rhetoric about "regime change" with real promotion of human and democratic freedoms. Latinos admire American democratic values, but they know hypocrisy and they've seen it. Guantanamo. Abu Ghraib. Secret prisons. Torture.
Let me be clear:
I will be a President who follows the Constitution.
And I will not only talk about human rights, I will be guided by a strong faith in the universal value of human dignity.
Fifth, fair trade. We must promote trade agreements that include strong and enforceable labor, environmental, and human rights standards. Free and fair trade can benefit both Latin American and US workers. It will benefit consumers throughout the region. And it will bind closer the nations of the entire hemisphere.
Sixth, development. We must lead the hemisphere in promoting economic development and reducing poverty. In an interdependent world, extreme poverty in one nation is the concern of all nations. Strong and equitable economic growth in Latin America is in the US national interest. It must be a priority. Those who think we can keep poor immigrants out with walls ... do not understand the desperate will of starving men and women.
Therefore, seventh, we need comprehensive immigration reform that is realistic and humane. We need to aggressively police the border and punish employers who hire undocumented workers. But we must also recognize that we simply can't deport the twelve million who are already here. We need a tough, fair path to legalization.
Our loftiest ideals are not inconsistent with our most realistic policy objectives. And after so many years of a foreign policy that has ignored both principles and pragmatism, we need a new kind of realism.
This New Realism will go beyond the old, balance-of-power politics of the Cold War. We need to understand that what goes on in other countries affects us profoundly, and that skillful American diplomatic leadership is needed to meet the challenges of an age of interdependence. An age of global warming. Of global terrorism. Of global pandemics.
We need to lead with skill and moral credibility.
Across a wide range of economic, cultural and political issues, our future prosperity and security is tightly interwoven with that of all the peoples of the Americas.
Venezuela is our fourth largest oil supplier, providing 15 percent of our annual oil consumption. Mexico is the third largest market for US-grown wheat, corn, cotton and soybeans. Small Central American countries such as Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras are major suppliers of the fresh fruit Americans eat, and Argentina, Ecuador, and Peru are top ten vegetable suppliers.
The President just doesn't get it.
