| | |  Americas & Beyond | April 2009 
Obama's New Cuba Policy
 Carol E. Lee - The Politico
go to original
| | A Cuban child in Havana, Cuba. President Obama has signaled that an end to the 48-year embargo against Cuba may soon come to an end. (AFP) | |
President Barack Obama said Sunday that America's 48-year economic embargo of Cuba had failed to bring change to the island, and that he hoped the country would move towards embracing democratic values, including freedom of speech and religion, on the path towards launching better relations with the United States.
"The policy we've had in place for 50 years hasn't worked the way we wanted it to - the Cuban people are not free," Obama said. But after the recent actions taken by his administration - including lifting travel restrictions and remittances for Cuban-Americans-Obama said he was looking for reciprocal moves by the Cuban government before taking additional steps.
Obama said that while he may not always agree with leaders such as Cuba's Raul Castro and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, he believed the United States could find ways to work with them toward common goals, saying it was time to end "old ideologies and stale debates."
"We had this debate throughout the campaign, and the whole notion was that somehow if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness - and the American people didn't buy it," Obama said at a press conference following a weekend gathering of leaders from the Organization of American States here. "And there's good reason they didn't buy it, because it doesn't make sense."
But the president also emphasized once again that actions counted more than words, and that he was concerned about human rights and political prisoners in Cuba, and Venezuela's "inflammatory" rhetoric about the United States and its meddling in the affairs of its neighbors.
He reiterated that the Cuban government must meet certain conditions to move forward with a dialogue, such as releasing political prisoners and lessening the amount that the government takes from money Cuban Americans send back to family members living on the island. But he said there were positive signs.
"The fact that you have Raul Castro saying he's willing to have his government discuss with ours not just issues of lifting the embargo but issues of human rights and political prisoners, that's a sign of progress," Obama added. "So we're going to explore to see if we can make some further steps."
Obama said that Cuba offered a good lesson to the United States on the limits of military power, saying that U.S. diplomatic and development strengths needed to be used "in more intelligent ways" to bring long term benefits to its relations in the hemisphere.
And while some people might criticize his outreach to Chavez at the summit, Obama indicated that Venezuela posed no real strategic threat to the United States, and he saw no harm in trying to improve relations.
"It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez, that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States," Obama said. "I don't think anybody can find any evidence that that would do so."
"If the question is, how does this play politically," he said, "I don't know. One of the benefits of my campaign and how I've been trying to operate as president is I don't worry about politics. I try to figure out what's right in terms of American interests, and on this one I think I'm right."
The much-publicized exchanges of handshakes, smiles and a book from Chavez to Obama gobbled up much of the summit spotlight. And by the end of the weekend, there was indeed a slight thaw.
Washington and Caracas said Saturday that they are in talks to return each of their respective ambassadors to the other's country, after Chavez kicked the U.S. ambassador out of Venezuela seven months ago and Washington retaliated.
But if there was a signature issue that defined the summit, it was U.S. relations with Cuba, even though its leaders did not attend (Cuba is not a member of the Organization of American States) and discussion of the country was not on the agenda.
Overall, the summit's successes are being measured by changes in sentiment, and much of that was attributed to Obama, who appeared to be a hit.
"It was a much more respectful summit than in the past," Mauricio Cardenas, director of the Latin America initiative at the Brookings Institution. "I think he did very well."
Obama began his trip with an overnight stay in Mexico City, where he stood with President Felipe Calderon and pledged to fight the drug cartels terrorizing their shared border.
He said he came to listen, and he got an ear full from several leaders who vented pent-up grievances about their huge neighbor to the north. At times it seemed the other 33 heads of state at the summit were not going to move forward unless they had their say: Obama's arrival on the summit's opening night featured a 50-minute dressing-down of the United States from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and harsh words from Argentine President Cristina Kirchner about the "traumatic relations" between the United States and Latin America.
But many also said they hoped Obama could turn a new page, and he embraced that challenge, stressing the need to focus on the future, but also warning against blaming the United States for all the region's ills.
"You've got a new president - this is the opportunity for the leaders to express themselves," said Peter DeShazo, director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Really the purpose of the visit is for the president to underscore U.S. commitment in the region and desire to work and cooperate with the countries."
While few seemed to notice, the White House reached out with a handful of policy initiatives over the past four days - some of which are guaranteed to spark fights back in Washington.
In Mexico, Obama called on the U.S. Senate to ratify an inter-American arms treaty designed to stem the flow of illegal guns across the region. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid released a cool statement on the move: "We must work with Mexico to curtail the violence and drug trafficking on America's southern border, and must protect Americans' Second Amendment rights. I look forward to working with the President to ensure we do both in a responsible way."
Obama also pledged upwards of $200 million in new spending: $66 million for new helicopters to assist Mexico with combating drug cartel violence, a $100 million microfinance fund to assist poor countries in Latin America, and $30 million for security in the Caribbean.
And the president proposed a regional partnership on energy and climate change.
But the memorable moments of the weekend starred two U.S. adversaries, and Obama said he was leaving the Caribbean optimistic.
"Here's what I emphasized: That we're not going to agree on every issue, but that as long as we're respectful of democratic processes, as long as we're respectful of principles of sovereignty for all nations that we can find areas where we can work in common," Obama said. "Now my sense is if you talk to any of those leaders, that they would say that they feel encouraged about a possibility of a more constructive relationship." |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us