{"id":2734,"date":"2014-12-24T01:57:38","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T01:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=2734"},"modified":"2016-08-14T23:24:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-14T23:24:00","slug":"after-the-handshake-cuba-has-lots-to-do-to-normalize-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/after-the-handshake-cuba-has-lots-to-do-to-normalize-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"After the handshake, Cuba has lots to do to normalize relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Marifeli Perez-Stable<\/a>, Florida International University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

No US president ever said what President Obama told the American people on December 17, 2014. He also spoke to the people of Cuba, the ordinary citizens who struggle to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for their families, the ones who say \u201cNo es f\u00e1cil,\u201d it isn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, America chooses to cut loose the shackles of the past so as to reach for a better future \u2013 for the Cuban people, for the American people, for our entire hemisphere, and for the world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The goal of American policy, Obama said, is the normalization of relations with the Cuban government for the sake of Cuban people.<\/p>\n

\"\"
An historic handshake in 2013 at Nelson Mandela\u2019s memorial<\/span>
\nReuters\/Kai Pfaffenbach<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the 1970s, I\u2019ve supported lifting the embargo even if the United States and Cuba have never had normal relations. I\u2019m a Cuban American who came to this country as a pre-adolescent in 1960. To this day, I\u2019m cubana. Watching President Obama\u2019s address, I could not but feel a knot in my throat.<\/p>\n

Over more than five decades, other presidents had made efforts to improve relations. Jerry Ford and Jimmy Carter are cases in point. In 1981, Ronald Reagan sent Alexander Haig to meet with Carlos Rafael Rodr\u00edguez \u2013 then a powerful Cuban official \u2013 in Mexico City to discuss Central America. In the 1990\u2019s, Bill Clinton moved slowly towards a rapprochement. At first, George W. Bush maintained Clinton\u2019s policies. Before the 2004 election, Bush tightened travel and remittance restrictions for Cuban Americans and banned travel by undergraduate students.<\/p>\n

While domestic politics sometimes preempted normalization, Havana also threw a wrench in the works. In 1996, for example, Cuban MiGs downed two Cessna planes over international waters in the Florida Straits. Three Cuban-Americans and a US resident lost their lives. Afterwards, President Clinton signed the toughest possible version of Helms-Burton, a law that codified the embargo. The White House had hoped to remove the clauses on extraterritoriality, that is,non-US companies and executives not abiding by the embargo would be penalized but the shootdown rendered the effort moot.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a two way street<\/h2>\n

Relations between a great power and its weaker neighbors are never easy. The United States came of imperial age in the early 20th century. Mexico, Cuba, and others in the Caribbean Basin faced a neighbor to the North bent on exercising unchallenged hegemony. Though diplomatic relations existed with all countries in the region, relations weren\u2019t normal in the sense that Washington did not acknowledge the interests of Mexico, Cuba, and the other countries.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Weapons seized from failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961<\/span>
\nReuters\/Pensa Latina<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was only after 1940, for example, that the United States and Mexico normalized relations when both countries found ground in common. Over decades, the two governments learned to recognize each other\u2019s interests. In the late 1940\u2019s, under Cuba\u2019s last democratically elected president, Washington and Havana took baby steps in the right direction. Havana pursued its economic interests, and Washington \u2014often begrudgingly\u2014 accepted Cuba\u2019s new assertiveness. In the 1950\u2019s, Fulgencio Batista\u2019s coup and the revolution derailed a fledgling normalization that required more than diplomatic relations.<\/p>\n

Cuba, in short, also bears responsibility for the last 56 years. With the Obama-Ra\u00fal Castro breakthrough, I hope Havana understands that normalization is a two-way street. US policy, no doubt, has taken a toll on the Cuban people. Still, the government\u2019s own economic policies bear more than their share of blame for the penury of so many of its citizens.<\/p>\n

Most Cubans on the island are rightfully elated by Obama\u2019s address. Cuban Americans in Miami have mixed feelings. For many older folks, the past looms large, that is, the deep-seated emotional loss for lives not lived in Cuba. Younger Cubans \u2013 either born in the United States or more recent arrivals \u2013 favor ending the embargo and restoring diplomatic relations.<\/p>\n

Cuban Americans, moreover, are trending Democratic. In 2008, Obama received 35 percent of their votes<\/a>. In 2012, 51 percent voted for the president<\/a>. In 2014, even Charlie Crist mustered a majority in his failed attempt to regain the governorship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Will there ever be a democratic Cuba<\/h2>\n

Nonetheless, Cuban Americans, whether for the embargo or for the new policy, long for a democratic Cuba, one which respects the rights of citizens to elect their leaders, to oppose the government, and to have their voices heard in public without being muzzled or beaten.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know yet how effective the White House\u2019s overture will be in prompting Havana to ease repression. We\u2019ll have to wait and see what Cuba means by freer internet access. Let\u2019s hope that the government gives the International Red Cross and UN organizations entry to prisons and freedom to monitor human rights.<\/p>\n

Might the National Assembly finally ratify two international pacts on Civil and Political Rights, and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that Ra\u00fal Castro signed in 2008? Would the government then refrain from meting out beatings to Cubans who publicly commemorate Human Rights Day on December 10, 2015?<\/p>\n

In April 2015, the Summit of the Americas, sponsored by the Organization of American States, will meet in Panama and Cuba will participate. The White House is right to expect that the Western Hemisphere address Havana\u2019s violation of human rights. Yet, change is hard, and Latin American leaders may need more time to craft a template to deal with Cuba on the subject of human rights.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>.
\nRead the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Marifeli Perez-Stable, Florida International University No US president ever said what President Obama told the American people on December 17, 2014. He also spoke to the people of Cuba, the ordinary citizens who struggle to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for their families, the ones who say \u201cNo es f\u00e1cil,\u201d it isn\u2019t easy. \u201cToday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":6208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2734"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2734"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6209,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2734\/revisions\/6209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}