Improving U.S.-Cuba Relations
Ralph E. Stone
June 03, 2009
The first act of Maurice Funes, the newly elected president of El Salvador, was to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba. Now the United States is the last country in the Western Hemisphere with no formal relations with Cuba. Is it not time for the U.S. and Cuba to mend fences? For a start, the United States should end the economic embargo against Cuba and, in addition, consider returning Guantánamo Bay to Cuba.
Raúl Casto assumed the presidency of Cuba in February 2008. It would seem that Raúl is now the undisputed Cuban leader, although the shadow of Fidel will linger over Cuba until and long after his demise. Under Raúl's leadership, we may see a more pragmatic, less doctrinaire Cuba. With new Cuban leadership and with a Barack Obama presidency, it is time to take a fresh look at the 47-year old economic, trade, and financial sanctions the U.S. imposed on Cuba following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles.
The rest of the world wants the embargo ended as seen by the October 2008, UN General Assembly overwhelming vote -- for the 17th year in a row -- in favor of lifting the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. Some 185 of the assembly's 192 members approved a resolution, which reiterated a "call upon all states to refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures (such as those in the U.S. embargo) in conformity with their obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and international law." The U.S., Israel and Palau voted against the resolution, while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.
A modest beginning was passage of the "Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act," which lifted the Cuba travel restrictions enacted under former President George W. Bush. This means Cuban-Americans can now visit their relatives on the island once a year -- for as long as they like. The Act does not change other existing restrictions, but prohibits spending on enforcement.
In January this year, Obama signed executive orders directing the CIA to shut down the Guantánamo Bay detention camp within a year. After Guantánamo is closed why not give Guantánamo Bay back to Cuba, its rightful owners. Why should we continue to have a base in Cuba?
The U.S. occupation of Guantánamo dates back to the passage of the Platt amendment to a U.S. Army Appropriations Bill of 1901, which gave the U.S. the right to intervene militarily in Cuban affairs whenever the U.S. decided such intervention was warranted. Cubans were given the choice of accepting the Platt Amendment or remaining under U.S. military occupation indefinitely. The U.S. has intervened militarily in Cuban affairs at least three times. U.S. intervention endowed Cuba with a series of weak, corrupt, dependent governments until the triumph of the Cuban revolution in 1959. In 1903, the U.S. used it to obtain a perpetual lease of Guantánamo Bay, a blatant example of U.S. gunboat diplomacy. The current Cuban government, as do I, consider the U.S. presence in Guantánamo to be illegal and the Cuban-American Treaty to have been procured by the threat of force in violation of international law.
The U.S. must join the rest of the world by establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba. This is much more productive than sabre-rattling. But with all this historical baggage, the task will not be an easy one.
Raúl Casto assumed the presidency of Cuba in February 2008. It would seem that Raúl is now the undisputed Cuban leader, although the shadow of Fidel will linger over Cuba until and long after his demise. Under Raúl's leadership, we may see a more pragmatic, less doctrinaire Cuba. With new Cuban leadership and with a Barack Obama presidency, it is time to take a fresh look at the 47-year old economic, trade, and financial sanctions the U.S. imposed on Cuba following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles.
The rest of the world wants the embargo ended as seen by the October 2008, UN General Assembly overwhelming vote -- for the 17th year in a row -- in favor of lifting the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. Some 185 of the assembly's 192 members approved a resolution, which reiterated a "call upon all states to refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures (such as those in the U.S. embargo) in conformity with their obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and international law." The U.S., Israel and Palau voted against the resolution, while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.
A modest beginning was passage of the "Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act," which lifted the Cuba travel restrictions enacted under former President George W. Bush. This means Cuban-Americans can now visit their relatives on the island once a year -- for as long as they like. The Act does not change other existing restrictions, but prohibits spending on enforcement.
In January this year, Obama signed executive orders directing the CIA to shut down the Guantánamo Bay detention camp within a year. After Guantánamo is closed why not give Guantánamo Bay back to Cuba, its rightful owners. Why should we continue to have a base in Cuba?
The U.S. occupation of Guantánamo dates back to the passage of the Platt amendment to a U.S. Army Appropriations Bill of 1901, which gave the U.S. the right to intervene militarily in Cuban affairs whenever the U.S. decided such intervention was warranted. Cubans were given the choice of accepting the Platt Amendment or remaining under U.S. military occupation indefinitely. The U.S. has intervened militarily in Cuban affairs at least three times. U.S. intervention endowed Cuba with a series of weak, corrupt, dependent governments until the triumph of the Cuban revolution in 1959. In 1903, the U.S. used it to obtain a perpetual lease of Guantánamo Bay, a blatant example of U.S. gunboat diplomacy. The current Cuban government, as do I, consider the U.S. presence in Guantánamo to be illegal and the Cuban-American Treaty to have been procured by the threat of force in violation of international law.
The U.S. must join the rest of the world by establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba. This is much more productive than sabre-rattling. But with all this historical baggage, the task will not be an easy one.
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