From Pablo Bachelet at the Miami Herald, Reuters and other sources:

A report prepared for President Bush by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba — a commission that he created in 2003 — recommends that the U.S. move quickly within weeks of Fidel Castro’s death to support a transitional government in Cuba and move the country toward democracy.

The commission is an interagency group co-chaired by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who is a Cuban-American. The report summarizes the work of more than 100 officials from 17 United States government departments and agencies.

A leaked draft of the commission’s report also recommends a major diplomatic effort to offset the ‘’Venezuela-Cuba axis'’ and identifies President Hugo Chávez as a key player whose oil wealth could help extend the communist system after Castro’s death. It also recommends creating an 80 million dollar fund to promote opposition to Castro and tightening economic sanctions on the island nation.

The recommendations must be approved by President Bush, although he approved virtually all of the items on the commission’s first report in May of 2004. That led to tighter restrictions on travel to Cuba, especially by Cuban exiles.

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You may have heard the story of President John F. Kennedy sending his press secretary, Pierre Salinger, out to buy a stockpile of Cuban cigars the night before he signed the Cuban embargo into law. You might have wondered if the story was true, or simply an urban legend.

Well, it is true.

Here, courtesy of Janson media, is some archival footage in which the late Pierre Salinger recounts the incident in his own words Just click on the player (you might have to click twice if you are using Internet Explorer) and you’ll learn some things not only about that incident, but about some cigars smuggled into the White House after the embargo became law:

More about the Cuban Petit Upmann and President Kennedy’s favorite cigar below the fold.

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