U.S. Policy toward Cuba is still Stuck in the Past
- Submitted by: admin
- Politics and Government
- 07 / 08 / 2009
Cuba relations are once again front and center as the just ended meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, demonstrated.
Cuba, expelled from the OAS in 1962 at the height of the Cold War, was not be present at the gathering but the United States faced a virtually united front of Latin American nations demanding that Cuba be readmitted. Chilean Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the organization, declared, “I want to be clear: I want Cuba back in the Inter-American system… Cuba is a member of the OAS. Its flag is there.”
The Obama Administration is still sending contradictory signals about what it is up to. On April 20, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who leads the U.S. delegation to Tegucigalpa, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “Any effort to admit Cuba into the OAS is really in Cuba’s hands,” referring to past U.S. demands that Cuba change its political system.
Two days later, however, the United States proposed reopening discussions on immigration issues that had been suspended early in the Bush Administration. Cuba responded positively to this overture, saying it also wants to talk about regular postal services and to discuss drug interdiction and disaster relief along with immigration concerns. Even before this announcement, Fidel Castro, the retired leader who still exerts considerable influence in the government now headed by his brother, Raul, stated Cuba is willing to dialogue on “narcotrafficking, organized crime, human trafficking, and to expand other forms of cooperation such as fighting epidemics and natural catastrophes.”
But the main stumbling bloc to admittance to the OAS and the normalization of trade relations remains Washington’s insistence that Cuba transform its government. Raul has made clear that there will be no such change, while Fidel declares, “cooperation can exist between peoples with different political conceptions.”
Washington needs to get over its dogmatic assertion that Cuba has a repressive and non-representative government that puts it beyond the pale as compared to other communist countries, like Vietnam and China, or authoritarian Middle Eastern regimes like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The United States has had normal diplomatic and economic relations with those nations for years.
Cuba today is hardly a police state. People speak their minds freely in the streets as any visitor to the island can attest. And the country has vibrant social movements that are able to press for their rights. Just this past May 16, marchers in Havana took to the streets to celebrate the national day against homophobia. Mariela Castro, Raul’s daughter, participated in the demonstration, saying, “being gay is not a problem, the problem is homophobia,” adding, “There is a movement in the consciousness of the people that includes government functionaries and leaders.”
In the economy, market reforms and experimentation are taking place, especially in agriculture and the selling of food stuffs. Last year, legislation was passed permitting anyone to solicit the government for 10 hectares of idle land that can be held and farmed for an indefinite period of time. Over 80,000 people have petitioned for land and are in the process of getting it. The new farmers have the right to work the land independently and sell their produce on the open market. The tendency is for them to join a cooperative because of the availability of regularized inputs, not because the state is trying to deny them access, but because the coops have more purchasing clout.
American policy toward Cuba is still stuck in the past.
Source: Citizen-Times
Cuba, expelled from the OAS in 1962 at the height of the Cold War, was not be present at the gathering but the United States faced a virtually united front of Latin American nations demanding that Cuba be readmitted. Chilean Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the organization, declared, “I want to be clear: I want Cuba back in the Inter-American system… Cuba is a member of the OAS. Its flag is there.”
The Obama Administration is still sending contradictory signals about what it is up to. On April 20, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who leads the U.S. delegation to Tegucigalpa, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “Any effort to admit Cuba into the OAS is really in Cuba’s hands,” referring to past U.S. demands that Cuba change its political system.
Two days later, however, the United States proposed reopening discussions on immigration issues that had been suspended early in the Bush Administration. Cuba responded positively to this overture, saying it also wants to talk about regular postal services and to discuss drug interdiction and disaster relief along with immigration concerns. Even before this announcement, Fidel Castro, the retired leader who still exerts considerable influence in the government now headed by his brother, Raul, stated Cuba is willing to dialogue on “narcotrafficking, organized crime, human trafficking, and to expand other forms of cooperation such as fighting epidemics and natural catastrophes.”
But the main stumbling bloc to admittance to the OAS and the normalization of trade relations remains Washington’s insistence that Cuba transform its government. Raul has made clear that there will be no such change, while Fidel declares, “cooperation can exist between peoples with different political conceptions.”
Washington needs to get over its dogmatic assertion that Cuba has a repressive and non-representative government that puts it beyond the pale as compared to other communist countries, like Vietnam and China, or authoritarian Middle Eastern regimes like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The United States has had normal diplomatic and economic relations with those nations for years.
Cuba today is hardly a police state. People speak their minds freely in the streets as any visitor to the island can attest. And the country has vibrant social movements that are able to press for their rights. Just this past May 16, marchers in Havana took to the streets to celebrate the national day against homophobia. Mariela Castro, Raul’s daughter, participated in the demonstration, saying, “being gay is not a problem, the problem is homophobia,” adding, “There is a movement in the consciousness of the people that includes government functionaries and leaders.”
In the economy, market reforms and experimentation are taking place, especially in agriculture and the selling of food stuffs. Last year, legislation was passed permitting anyone to solicit the government for 10 hectares of idle land that can be held and farmed for an indefinite period of time. Over 80,000 people have petitioned for land and are in the process of getting it. The new farmers have the right to work the land independently and sell their produce on the open market. The tendency is for them to join a cooperative because of the availability of regularized inputs, not because the state is trying to deny them access, but because the coops have more purchasing clout.
American policy toward Cuba is still stuck in the past.
Source: Citizen-Times
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