America Cuban diplomacy

Two tribes move on finally

US Cuban diplomacy not nation building, rather nation regeneration

The Summit of the Americans took place last Friday and Saturday in Panama City, Panama; and the anticipation surrounding a potential meeting of President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro swirled the air in the Central American city as well as the US. 

The historic meeting took place for one hour on Saturday as the two leaders sat together for the first time in 50 years.  They spoke about the decades of mistrust that prevented the two countries from relations. Moving forward with mutual respect, even through differences, is a process of transformation through diplomacy, normalization of policies, and exploration of modalities of engagement.   

President Obama said, “The history between the United Stated and Cuba is obviously complicated and most people in both countries now support the diplomatic thaw.” It appears that both leaders favor engagement rather than perpetuating hostility and isolation which has proven to be a failed policy.

Obama was clear that the purpose of US engagement in Cuba is to encourage policy change by allowing the island nation to evolve through its own process of transformation as diplomatic relations and normalization between the two countries progresses.

The free flow of people, commerce and ideas is the centerpiece of change between the countries, but the flow on the US side could be compromised by Congress. Cubans are allowed to visit the US and see relatives.  American citizens, however, will have to wait for the right to visit Cuba as tourists.  Official tourist travel to Cuba is still prohibited by statute. 

The Washington Post reported in January that Americans who want to travel to Cuba have to meet 12 criteria to qualify for an authorized visit.  The categories include family visits, official business of the US government, foreign governments, and certain intergovernmental organizations, as well as journalists, research professionals, educational activities, religious activities, public performances, clinics, workshops, athletic and other competitions and exhibitions, they said. While this covers a wide range, it does not cover tourism.

Congress controls restrictions on travel to Cuba

Congress controls most of the significant restrictions on travel, tourism and trade between the countries and has expressed a desire to complicate the President’s new open door policies by leveraging refusal to fund proposals and not confirming nominees for diplomatic posts.  Some legislators like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been less than benevolent in encouraging those interested in ambassadorship to Cuba.

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“If you’re being offered the ambassadorship to Cuba, turn it down because you have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting confirmed,” he said, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Some of the original restrictions that make up the Cuban embargo were authorized by U.S. presidents almost 100 years ago, relying on the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. Congress later codified the Cuban embargo in the Helms-Burton law of 1996, also called the “Libertad” act.  The president, however, has the ability to alter federal regulations based on the 1996 law.

“The president can go very far,” said Serena Moe, of the law firm Wiley, Fein & Fielding in Washington and former sanctions official at the Treasury Department. “He’s gone very far in his recommendations and he can go further,” they said.

The next step for normalizing relations is removing Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. Obama’s plan to remove the island nation would contribute to lifting some restrictions allowing the US State Treasury and Commerce departments to re-establish relations as well as open a US Embassy and relax trade limits.  Expanded travel tourism would also benefit. 

While the President’s proposal to remove Cuba from the list after decades of hostilities was met with approval from Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Republican dominated Congress could pass a resolution seeking to derail the president’s decision with a veto-proof majority.  Hard line Republicans like Marco Rubio who represent the old guard of Cuban aristocrats who fled Cuba to the US in the 1960s still ascribe to the cold war mentality that is unproductive.

Obama’s policies appear to winning over Cuban Americans. Just over half, 51 percent, of Cuban-Americans polled by Bendixen & Amandi International last March said they were in favor of normalized relations between the U.S. and Cuba, while 40 percent disagreed in a report by the National Journal. Then a shift occurred toward normalization over the past few months. The same polling group found that 48 percent of Cuban-Americans disagreed with Obama's new Cuba policy in December, compared with 44 percent who approved.

 But many Republicans, who generally oppose the president’s priorities, view restoring ties with Cuba as beneficial, especially because of the business opportunities it would open for U.S. business. 

Latin American expert Carl Meacham said in Politico, “What’s happening now is basically a turning of the page away from an approach to dealing with the region on Cold War terms. The signal event is the United States has chosen to not continue having the same policy toward Cuba that it’s had for like 50 years that was rooted in the Cold War and Cold War thinking.”

Resources
NPR
Washington Post
Politico
http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-faces-battle-with-congress-over-cuba-1419211849
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/poll-cuban-americans-shift-in-favor-of-normalizing-u-s-cuba-relations-20150402