POLITICS-US:
Obama Draws Line on
Cuba, Latin America
Policy
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON (IPS) - In a
major policy address on
U.S.-Latin American
relations, the leading
Democratic presidential
candidate, Sen. Barack
Obama, pledged Friday to
immediately roll back
key sanctions imposed by
President George W. Bush
against Cuba over the
last several years and
called for a "new
alliance of the
Americas" in which
Washington's southern
neighbours would no
longer be treated "as a
junior partner".
Speaking in Miami to the
Cuban American National
Foundation (CANF),
previously the most
hard-line and
influential of the
anti-Castro
Cuban-American Groups,
Obama promised that, if
elected, he "will
immediately allow
unlimited family travel
and remittances to the
island" by Cuban
Americans to "make their
families (in Cuba) less
dependent on the Castro
regime."
He said he would
maintain the U.S. trade
embargo against the
island as "leverage" to
secure reforms there,
but, in contrast to Bush
and his presumptive
Republican foe in the
November elections, Sen.
John McCain, he would
pursue "direct
diplomacy" with Havana
"without preconditions".
"Now let me be clear,"
he declared. "John
McCain's been going
around the country
talking about how much I
want to meet with Raul
Castro, as if I'm
looking for a social
gathering. That's never
what I've said, and John
McCain knows it. After
eight years of the
disastrous policies of
George Bush, it is time
to pursue direct
diplomacy, with friend
and foe alike, without
preconditions."
"There will be careful
preparation. We will set
a clear agenda. And, as
president, I would be
willing to lead that
diplomacy at a time and
place of my choosing,
but only when we have an
opportunity to advance
the interests of the
United States, and to
advance the cause of
freedom for the Cuban
people."
Obama's address, which
followed speeches by
both McCain and Bush on
Cuba this week, was
accompanied by the
release by his campaign
of a policy document
entitled "A New
Partnership for the
Americas" which stressed
that his approach to
Latin America and the
Caribbean would be based
on a "programme of
aggressive, principled
and sustained diplomacy
in the Americas with a
focus on advancing
freedom as Franklin
Roosevelt described it:
political freedom,
freedom from want and
freedom from fear."
He said he would restore
the White House post of
"Special Envoy for the
Americas" that Bush
dismantled after taking
office in 2001.
In addition to a renewed
emphasis on diplomacy,
both the document and
the speech called for a
"substantial increase"
in U.S. aid to the
region channeled in ways
that would reduce what
he called the region's
"back-breaking
inequality" between rich
and poor and promote
what he called
"bottom-up development".
He stressed that
Washington needed to do
more to address
insecurity in the region
arising from drug
trafficking and gang
activity both by
promoting the rule of
law in the region and
"cracking down on the
demand for drugs in our
own communities" and on
the southward flow of
guns, vehicles, and
money imported from the
U.S. by illicit
enterprises.
Much of his speech was
aimed at contrasting his
approach of engagement
with the region with the
record of the Bush
administration which, he
charged, has created an
effective "vacuum" into
which "demagogues like
(Venezuelan President)
Hugo Chavez", as well as
European countries,
China, and even Iran,
have stepped.
"That is the record --
the Bush record -- that
John McCain has chosen
to embrace," he
declared. …Instead of
engaging the people of
the region, we've acted
as if we can still
dictate terms
unilaterally," he said,
echoing the conclusions
of a recent study by the
influential Council on
Foreign Relations (CFR).
On Cuba, the subject of
hard-line speeches by
both Bush and McCain on
the occasion of the
island's Independence
Day earlier this week,
Obama drew a sharp line
between him and the
Arizona senator on the
question of both easing
the embargo and engaging
the government of
President Raul Castro.
While McCain pledged to
maintain the embargo
intact until the Castro
government released all
political prisoners
unconditionally,
legalised all political
parties, labour unions,
and free media, and
scheduled
internationally
monitored elections,
Obama called for "a new
strategy" beginning with
rolling back Bush's
curbs on the freedom of
Cuban Americans to
travel to the island and
send money to family
members there.
He also indicated
greater flexibility on
taking additional steps
toward normalisation of
relations. "If you
(Cuba) take significant
steps toward democracy,
beginning with the
freeing of all political
prisoners, we will take
steps to begin
normalising relations,"
said Obama.
Obama's approach stood
in marked contrast to
then-candidate Bill
Clinton's 16 years ago
when he spoke before the
CANF during the 1992
presidential campaign,
according to Geoff Thale,
a Cuba specialist at the
Washington Office on
Latin America (WOLA). At
that time, Clinton
promised to tighten the
embargo against Havana.
"Today, 16 years later,
the likely Democratic
candidate says it's time
to ease the embargo,"
Thale told IPS. "What it
reflects is how Florida
domestic politics, and
especially the
Cuban-American
community, has changed.
Obama thinks he can win
Cuban-American votes by
making it easier for
Cuban Americans to
travel to Cuba to visit
their families, and I
think he's right about
that."
"His call to allow Cuban
Americans unlimited
family travel and
remittances to the
island, while holding
firm on the embargo,
will probably appeal to
younger Cuban
Americans," added
Michael Shifter, vice
president of the
Inter-American Dialogue,
a hemispheric think tank
here. "There is a
generational shift that
Obama has tapped into on
many issues, and he is
trying to do the same on
Cuba."
While Obama was harsh in
his description of
Chavez and his
influence, he has also
called for Washington to
"engage Venezuela". The
Illinois senator pledged
to maintain U.S. support
for "Colombia's fight
against the FARC" and
its "right to strike
terrorists who seek safe
haven across its
borders."
At the same time,
however, he said,
Washington "must also
make clear our support
for labour rights, and
human rights, and that
means meaningful support
for Colombia's
democratic institutions"
which, he added, "we've
neglected ...for far too
long."
On trade, Obama said he
"strongly reject(s) the
Bush-McCain view that
any trade deal is a good
deal. We cannot accept
trade that enriches
those at the top of the
ladder while cutting out
the rungs at the
bottom," he said, adding
that he opposed the
Central American Free
Trade Agreement (CAFTA)
due to its lack of
worker protections while
he supported the Peru
Free Trade Agreement
because of their
inclusion.
Earlier this week,
McCain accused Obama and
his remaining Democratic
rival, Sen. Hillary
Clinton, of
protectionism for
opposing the pending
Colombia Free Trade
Agreement which McCain
said "would benefit
American workers and
consumers".
"There's nothing
protectionist about
demanding that trade
spreads the benefits of
globalisation, instead
of steering them to
special interests while
we short-change workers
at home and abroad,"
Obama retorted Friday.
Except for his
reservations about trade
deals, Obama's speech
will be "well-received
throughout the
hemisphere, Shifter told
IPS. At the same time,
"it is useful to
remember that President
Bush also made a good
speech on Latin America
in his 2000 campaign,
but his administration
turned out to be a
tremendous
disappointment in the
region. Latin Americans
have learned to keep
their expectations in
check."
*Jim Lobe's blog on U.S.
foreign policy, and
particularly the
neo-conservative
influence in the Bush
administration, can be
read at http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/.
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