One of the strangest aspects of US foreign policy has been and continues to be Cuba. In 50 years, only one President -- Carter -- made any serious effort to try to stabilize the extremely difficult conditions Cubans live in due to the trade embargo, and even Carter was stymied by a very aggressive Congress.
Steve Clemons of the Washington Note, a long time opponent of the sanctions, reports that tomorrow Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN), the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will release a staff report saying it is time for a major rethink of US strategy -- pointing out sanctions have been effective against countries like South Africa, but totally ineffectual against Cuba. (Report in PDF here.)
The report was written in response to Hillary Clinton (now Secretary of State) and her testimony during her confirmation hearings that the Obama administration would take a fresh look at the status quo, in particular the fact that since the early 1980s Cuba has been classified a "state sponsor of terrorism." It notes that the dream of so many, including the Cuban-American "leadership" that democracy will just rush in to Cuba at the snap of a finger is extremely unlikely given how institutionalized communism is in the country.
Still, the report says, there have been very minor improvements in the last year or so -- including the fact that about a ⅓ of political prisoners have been released, cell phones which were long banned are now permitted, and lands long under "collective farms" but never actually exploited are now being turned over the private sector. This has raised Cuba from a 7 to a 6 in Freedom House rankings for civil liberties, certainly still a "not free country" but no longer on the bottom rung with such repulsive regimes as those which rule North Korea, Burma, and Sudan.
Also the report notes that while Cuba still views some programs being run by the States as "provocative," not the least of which is Radio and TV Martí, they do want to have a dialogue on issues such as drug trafficking and independence from OPEC oil -- something most countries should be cooperating on anyway. The saying goes that "Latin American policy goes through Cuba" and there's little doubt countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean view the US with suspicion because of the continued blockade.
The report does not say open the gates wide open right away ... but there should be easing of restrictions on sales of food, medical supplies and travel as well as remittances from families in America to Cuba as an act of good will.
There's no question this is going to raise the ire of the true believers. But the fact is Cuba has found other trade partners -- most notably Canada, Mainland China and Venezuela -- and while it is a hard slog in the island country it has managed to defy its enemies. America has lost out on a lot of trade opportunities over the last fifty years in the name of ideology. Opening up to Cuba would instantly give it a new market. People in the tourist industry or who are getting remittances are buying American products at hard currency stores -- which have to import the roundabout away via Mexico, Canada or other countries. Cut the import / export costs by allowing direct shipments, more people buy, more products sold -- a shot in the arm for the US economy. Some might call this a "zero sum stimulus" and it is exactly that.
The Castro brothers are total jerks, without question, but they're not the devil incarnate and they're certainly not the anti-Christ.
I think President Obama should heed Lugar's team's advice ... he is a voice of reason trying to break through a completely insane American policy. There is no chance at all that Cuba is going to launch missiles against the US any time soon, the evidence Cuba sponsors terrorist groups is specious to say the least -- and the war in Angola ended nearly a decade ago with Cuba pulling out quite some time before that.
If efforts were made to improve relations and better the lives of the people of Cuba then there would be a reason to engage the Cuban government and get it to further ease restrictions and move towards democracy. That in turn would have a major impact on the out migration issue. Keeping the country isolated continues to exacerbate the problem.
So kudos to some common sense in the legislative branch. I'm not optimistic that things will change overnight, but there's a ray of hope.
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3 comments:
Having recently returned from Cuba it was interesting to note the enthusiasm with which the Cubans greeted the possibility of Obama lifting the restrictions. We encountered many of the locals who genuinely felt their lives were about to be improved.
And the "flow goes both ways" so US could learn from, as you say "total jerks Castro brothers" on providing world renown public health care and publicly funded education.
Cuba has one of the highest rates of literacy in the world. One should not overlook Cuba's achievements on health and education. A lot of their "poor" problems have been because of the US embargo and have excelled in certain areas in spite of these restrictive sanctions.
As a reminder, one needs to be reminded it was that "jerk" Castro who offered to the US a "free team of doctors" when New Orleans was destroyed. What a jerk hey?
That last point, Jan, is so telling -- that because of ideology the Cuban doctors were not allowed to assist in the recovery effort in New Orleans. Or the Havana firefighters were not permitted to assist in the 9/11 recovery efforts.
What is the American definition of "humanity," anyway?
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