McCain Says His First Trip As President Will Be Down South

John McCain spoke before a group of veterans of the 1961 failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba today in Miami. He told the crowd that the war in Iraq, “has diverted attention from our hemisphere and we have paid a penalty for that” with new leftist governments in Venezuela and Bolivia. McCain said if elected President that his first trips would be to Mexico, Latin America, and Canada. He said the leaders like Hugo Chavez and Castro, “inspire each other. They assist each other. They get ideas from each other,” McCain said. “It’s very disturbing.” McCain also told the Cuban audience that he would not lift the sanctions until Cuba had free elections. The group of Veterans presented McCain with a copy of the book “Against All Hope” by former Cuban political prisoner Armando Valladares, who was frequently tortured during his 22 years in a Cuban prison.
Also in an interview with ABC McCain said he supports closing the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. McCain said, “Guantanamo Bay, if I were president, would be closed but I would be moving those prisoners to Fort Leavenworth, a federal prison.” At least McCain learned from Romney and didn’t use any Castro fight songs to fire the Cuban crowd up.
Alan Cosgrove