It's No Longer 1819

The Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, ceded Florida to the United States, settled a boundary dispute along the Sabine River in Texas and firmly established the boundary of U.S. territory and claims through the Rocky Mountains.

In essence, it ended Spain's colonial footprint on what is today, the continental U.S.

That is an important reminder for Spain's Foreign Minister, M.A. Moratinos, who is seemingly obsessed with helping the Castro regime ease international pressure without any fundamental change to its repressive apparatus -- so much so that he's now audacious enough to dictate the legislative agenda of the U.S. Congress and its democratically-elected Members.

According to the AP:

Cuba's release of dozens of political prisoners will lead to a thaw in U.S. relations and the lifting of a decades-old embargo against the Communist-run island, Spain's foreign minister predicted Wednesday.

Speaking in Parliament, Miguel Angel Moratinos said the freeing of some 52 Cuban prisoners would also lead to an improvement in EU policy toward Cuba.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Madrid said that while the U.S. welcomed the release of the Cuban political inmates it was too early to say whether that would have any effect on the embargo.

Apparently, Moratinos missed the statement by the 11 recently-released (and forcibly exiled) political prisoners that arrived in Spain last week.

And most importantly, let's not forget that -- as of this afternoon -- the remaining 41 (of the 52 named for release during the next 3-4 months) remain in prison along with thousands of other Cuban political prisoners.