With Biden, an opportunity to normalize relations with Cuba again [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Cuban President Raul Castro greets U.S. President Barack Obama in Havana in March 2016. | REUTERS
BY CESAR CHELALA
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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Dec 27, 2020
NEW YORK – The certification by the Electoral College of Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election is the final nail in the coffin of President Donald Trump and his supporters’ attempt to reverse the results of the vote. It is now time to move on and take necessary foreign policy steps to improve relations with the rest of the world.

For the last two centuries, relations in the Americas have been clouded by suspicion and resentment toward the U.S. by Latin American and Caribbean countries. It hasn’t helped that U.S. governments have, intermittently, undermined democratic governments and promoted what can be euphemistically called “regime change” in countries south of its border.

Nowhere has U.S. intervention been as relentless and damaging as it has with Cuba, where American antagonism toward the Castro brothers and their successor has benefited no one while causing the Cuban people tremendous suffering.

Henry Kissinger was certainly not thinking about Cuba when he said, “It’s not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true.” This could well be applied to the supposed threat that Cuba poses to U.S. democracy. For almost 60 years the U.S. has imposed an embargo on Cuba. Yet, rather than achieving its goal of bringing about the downfall of the Castro brothers’ regime, the embargo only made life miserable for most Cubans, limiting their access not only to common goods but also to some vital medicines.

More:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2020/12/27/commentary/world-commentary/biden-us-cuba/