Friday, April 24, 2009
Treat Cuba with respect
Mark Entwistle, National Post
On April 13, U. S. President Barack Obama declared that he would relax rules that restrict Americans' ability to travel to Cuba and remit money to Cuban relatives. Beginning today, the National Post is asking experts and pundits to weigh in on the issue. Is Obama too soft on Cuba? Or should the U. S. trade embargo be removed altogether?
The elaborate dance between the United States and Cuba changed tempo last week, as the Cuba issue took up its informal place on the agenda of the Summit of the Americas.
We have been here before, so the music is not exactly unfamiliar to our ears. Former U. S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton both took steps toward a more open relationship with Cuba. But, compared with the rigid hostility on display during the Bush years, the conciliatory language used between Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro was noteworthy. Mr. Obama's style suggests that he is free of the knee-jerk dogmatism that marked his predecessor.
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These differences run deep. The Spanish-American War in 1898 opened the way for the United States to create a colonial-style relationship with Cuba. This ended in 1959. Yet even now, there lingers among Americans the notion that the island should be an exotic extension of their own national economy.
Thus, Americans remain hard-wired to place preconditions on any dialogue with Cuba -- such as demanding the removal of the Castro regime, a commitment to democratic elections, the release of certain individuals from prison, etc.
Even the legal changes announced by President Obama on April 13 -- removing restrictions on travel and remittances by Cuban-Americans, and allowing U. S. telecommunications companies to get Treasury licences to operate in Cuba -- reflected such assumptions. The new rule that permits CubanAmericans to travel as much as they like to Cuba, for instance, was framed as an opportunity for these travellers to become ambassadors for political change. Similarly, rules that would permit U. S. telecom companies to operate in Cuba were framed as an effort at democratization through information. No thought was given to whether the Cuban government actually might want foreign companies meddling within its borders. This is a sensitive political issue in any country.
Just ask Canada.
On the Cuban side, much media attention was given to President Raul Castro's statement that he was prepared to discuss everything with the United States. But there was a second, overlooked aspect to his position -- his insistence that any discussion be conducted on the basis of equality between the two nations, and respect for Cuba's sovereignty.
What would be required for a true breakthrough in this relationship after 50 years of hostility? The United States must drop its goal of regime change, and its desire to meddle in the basic structure of Cuban society. Those decisions are for the Cuban people to make.
More:
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/story.html?id=1529885