Wednesday 22 October 2008, San José, Costa
Rica
POLITICS-US:
New Cuba Policy in
Sight?
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA (IPS) - If
elected, Democratic
candidate Barack Obama
could become the first
United States president
to engage in talks with
Cuba after almost five
decades of severed
relations, but it will
all depend on his
refraining from trying
to "control" a process
that involves two sides,
say academics from this
Caribbean island nation.
Even before his official
nomination, the U.S.
presidential hopeful had
talked of the
possibility of pursuing
"direct diplomacy" with
Havana "without
preconditions," and had
promised to put an end
to the restrictions
imposed by Washington in
2004 on the freedom of
Cuban-American families
to travel and send
remittances to their
relatives in Cuba.
"Obama was very clever
in setting out his
alternative policy, as
he brought up two issues
that are key to the
Cuban-American community
(economic and travel
sanctions) and declared
his willingness to sit
down and talk with
officials in Havana,"
Esteban Morales, a Cuban
academic and researcher,
said in an interview
with IPS.
In Morales’s opinion,
the proposal marks a
step forward, as it
"takes the situation to
a fresh starting point
by eliminating unpopular
restrictions set by the
George W. Bush
administration and
raising the possibility
of opening official
talks, something which
until now was unheard
of." However, on this
last point, Obama has
made a mistake that
"puts Cuba on its
guard," according to
Morales.
Speaking in Miami,
Florida before the
Cuban-American National
Foundation (CANF) --
traditionally the most
hard-line and
influential anti-Castro
group --, Obama said
during the primary
campaign in May that
"there will be careful
preparation" for such
negotiations, and that
these would be based on
"a clear agenda."
"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," he added.
Morales finds this
approach "rather
arrogant." "He went as
far as to say that the
groups that represent
Cuban emigrés should be
included in these talks,
and the way he expressed
himself was as if he
should be the one to
determine when the talks
would take place, what
issues would be on the
agenda and who would
participate," he said.
Morales, a researcher at
the University of
Havana’s Centre for the
Study of the Hemisphere
and the United States (CEHSEU),
went on to say that
Obama is wrong in
wanting to steer the
process down the path of
U.S.-controlled talks.
"This is an issue that
must be decided by
mutual agreement, and
must be negotiated with
Cuba," he said.
He pointed out that
Cuban President Raúl
Castro has said on more
than one occasion that
Cuba is willing to
negotiate to find a
solution to the
long-standing bilateral
conflict, provided that
its "independence" is
respected and that
discussions be "guided
by the principles of
equality, reciprocity,
non-interference and
mutual respect."
With regard to defining
a possible agenda for
such talks, Morales said
that "the key factor is
that the parties cannot
come to the negotiating
table with
preconditions." "If that
is achieved, the rest is
just drawing up a smart
list of issues mutually
agreed on, ranging from
the most simple matters
to the most complex," he
said.
In Morales’s view, the
embargo imposed in the
early 1960s, which Obama
says he will not lift,
is a "political problem"
that could be left out
of the debate if both
countries decide not to
discuss it.
In that case, the two
nations could begin to
regularise economic
relations on the basis
of the already existing
trade flow, which is
limited to food imports
by Cuba paid up front in
cash.
The talks, he says,
could then address ways
to expand current trade
to include other
products, the
possibility of exporting
Cuban goods to the U.S.,
the negotiation of new
terms of trade, and the
question of credit, with
the aim of facilitating
transactions.
In spite of the
restrictions in place,
since 2001 the U.S. has
become a major supplier
of foodstuffs to Cuba,
which now purchases 35
percent of its food
imports from that
country.
Morales believes Obama
has a firm chance of
prevailing over his
opponent, Republican
Party candidate John
McCain, in the Nov. 4
elections. "I’d like to
see him win. I think
that with Obama in
office, the
possibilities for change
would be richer," the
analyst told IPS.
However, he says it
would be "easier" for a
Republican to dismantle
the current U.S. Cuba
policy than for a
Democrat.
"Republicans are very
pragmatic, more
consistent from an
ideological point of
view. Such decisions
would be questioned far
less if they came from
someone in their ranks
than from a Democrat,"
he said.
Morales views the
nomination of an
Afro-American as
presidential candidate
as an unprecedented
decision. "I believe
that racism and
intolerance have
declined in the last 30
or 40 years, but not to
the point of
disappearing entirely.
We still have to see if
people in the U.S. are
truly prepared to accept
a black president. We
won’t know until the
elections," he said.
The Cuban government’s
opinion of the two U.S.
presidential candidates
has until now been
virtually monopolised by
former Cuban President
Fidel Castro, for whom
Obama "is superior in
both intelligence and
serenity" to McCain,
"one of the worst
students in his West
Point Academy class."
In an op ed column
published Oct. 12 in the
Cuban press, Castro
warned that "the United
States is marked by
profound racism, and
millions of whites
cannot reconcile their
minds with the idea that
a black man with his
wife and children would
move into the White
House, which is called
just that: White."
In this sense, "it is by
pure miracle that the
Democratic candidate has
not suffered the same
fate as Martin Luther
King, Malcolm X and
others who in recent
decades dreamt of
equality and justice,"
Castro said, referring
to the assassination of
these civil rights
activists in the 1960s.
In a previous
commentary, Fidel Castro
had criticised the
Democratic candidate’s
foreign policy platform
for Cuba, claiming it
could be translated into
a formula for condemning
the country to hunger,
with remittances as
handouts and visits as
propaganda for
consumerism and the
unsustainable way of
life it is based on. |
|
|
|
|