“In silence it has been… because there are things that, to be reached, they
must be hidden”
Jose Marti
It was a surprise for everyone. Inspired by the ideal
of José Marti the Cuban government’s secret 18-month negotiation with the US thawing
the longstanding stalemate between the two countries can be considered one of
the best-kept political surprises in history. During the last few decades there
have been several attempts at negotiations, which have failed in part because
of the obstinate network of a hate industry, mainly based in Miami, that
receives enormous profits to avoid it.
Raul Castro will transcend to history as the Cuban leader
who reached the historic agreement between the two countries. He did it
fulfilling an explicit mandate since he was elected President of the Council of
State in Cuba. Barack Obama will transcend to history as the first acting US President
who was brave enough to recognize the failure of the isolating policy towards
Cuba; the one who began to dismantle the bilateral relations that were based on
Cold War principals, and the one who made significant steps to opening a new
era in diplomatic relationship between the two countries.
The announcements made on 17 December 2014 had a
historical meaning. The return to Cuba of the three Cuban prisoners who had
fought against terrorism was a dream come true, after many years of pain and failed
diplomatic insistence for their return. Besides the recognition of their unjust
imprisonment – even the American judicial system recognized it – it touched a
sore spot: the existence of terrorist groups in Miami who aimed to undermine
Cuba’s government, have been both dangerous and hostile. Their desires to destabilize Cuba’s
Revolutionary government have brought about numerous deaths and indemnities to
Cuba’s people during these 56 years.
The return of Alan Gross to the United States – a
humanitarian gesture on behalf of Cuba, for what had become an impairment to
the image of Cuba, due to the manipulation of international media – also calls
attention to the subversive programs organized and funded by the US against
Cuba factions over the past decades. These agendas were managed by the USAID. The
resignation of its General Director on the same day of the announcements, speaks
directly to this fact.
The negotiated exchange of prisoners became a hotbed
of news globally. The announcement of reestablishing diplomatic relations surpassed
all expectations. This unprecedented moment marks the first time in Cuban
history that the US government has made such an arrangement with the Cuban
government – especially with a revolutionary government that has for decades
been classified as “enemy”. With this new approach, Cuba has entered into a
relationship with the US on equal terms, with no subordination, with respect to
our independence, sovereignty and national integrity.
It would be naïve to believe that it means the end of
Empire’s interfering nature. Obama’s speech was full of references to this fact,
similar ideals that have been around since the origin of the Cuban nation and
the creation of its Republic. The Guantanamo Naval Base – for example, the
great absent on 12/17 announcements – is a relic from the Platt Amendment that
remind us this more than a century later.
Other changes announced, although they had less
repercussion, called the attention on other myths and failed policies from the
US:
-
To take Cuba off of the list of
countries sponsors of terrorism was, perhaps, the easiest and most expected step,
as it has been a systematic demand from Latin American countries. Besides, it
looked ridiculous considering that today Cuba is the seat of the peace process
in Colombia, the most important argument for the inclusion of Cuba in the
referred list.
-
The acceptance of Cuba’s attendance
to the next Summit of the Americas, in April 2015: more than a concession, it
was actually a dilemma that the US government needed to solve as some of the
countries in the region had announced they would boycott in the event that Cuba
was not invited.
-
To ease Cuba’s access to internet communication
and its technologies – beyond the fears of some Cuban officials to allow such
openness – the reality is that this connectivity needs the approval and
participation of software and computer companies in the United States. They are
the owners of this technology in this hemisphere and to date, they haven’t done
much in this arena with regards to Cuba.
-
The expansion of general licenses for
travelers from the US and their access to banking and funds from US banks while
in Cuba are an answer to many who have had their constitutional rights limited by
prohibiting visits to Cuba.
-
The announced “update the application of Cuba sanctions in third
countries” is an evident recognition to the extraterritoriality of some
measures taken, after repeating once and again that it was only a bilateral
issue. Among them, they include now the accessibility of Cubans to US services
in third countries (banks, hotels, etc), to unfreeze accounts of Cuban
nationals in American banks, and allowing the entrance in US harbors of ships
coming from Cuba – if they were carrying humanitarian trade – which was one of
the main sanctions of 1992 Torricelli Act.
It is amazing to see the wide range of reforms
announced by President Obama. He said he did the maximum that he was allowed
within the realm of his executive powers. However, the most important challenge
is still in place: the embargo, the most rejected policy nationally and
internationally. With the implementation of the Helms-Burton Act in 1996, the
embargo can only be overturned by an act of Congress.
Obama’s call to the Congress for an “honest and
serious” analysis to lift the embargo
calls attention to the necessity of making a proper decision in the face of two
opposed positions: to continue favoring the group of people in Miami and
Washington who receive benefits from confrontational policies towards Cuba, or
taking serious steps to avoid risks in the US geopolitical perspective in the
hemisphere, now when Russia and China are showing their willing of deeper
engage with Cuba.
Moreover there is a growing number of US businessmen
and politicians who realize the greater benefits in having an engagement
policy, convinced that the sanctions affecting Cuba were against their own
interests, in essence, shooting themselves in the foot.
There are still many questions pending about the
implementation of the changes and there is a big challenge for both sides with how
this relationship will be reestablished. Diplomatic links by themselves are not
going to solve decades of lack of confidence and hostilities.
It doesn’t make sense now to question who won and who
lost. Such a position only benefits those who are against the change. The
wealthy and multimillionaire business – those people in the US who deplore Cuba
– will do everything in their power to keep things as they have been for nearly
60 years. They have enough money, power and experience to attack anything that
puts them in danger of losing grip on their old ways.
Both sides, in the US and in Cuba, have won with the
new perspectives because it is always better to deal our difference through engagement.
There is the challenge and, finally, there is no other way than to confront it.
(Thanks to my good friend Byron Motley for his help in the translation process)
