Cuba on the horizon Ending the embargo?

THE BROADER VIEW

By Hoyt Purvis <a href="mailto:email@nwarktimes.com">

Posted: August 16, 2009 at 5:17 a.m.

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After six months of the Obama administration, long frozen U.S.

relations with Cuba have begun to thaw, but only slightly.

During his campaign, President Obama pledged to bringa new approach to U.S. policy on Cuba. And some steps have been taken to open the way toward improved relations, though there has been no dramatic breakthrough.

Obama obviously has his hands full domestically with the overheated health care debate and economic issues, and internationally with Afghanistan-Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea among the more prominent problems.

The president declared in his campaign that he was willing to talk with foreign adversaries. Engagement with Iran and North Korea is looking like a more complicated challenge than it once did, although former President Clinton's visit to Pyongyang may have provided a possible opening there.

Cuba is seen as a less pressing concern than those two unpredictable nuclear aspirants, but Cuba has been a briar patch for a long list of American presidents and policy makers and there's no guarantee that the pattern won't be repeated for Obama.

Obama has signaled a willingness to resume discussion of migration issues with Cuba. Among his early foreign-policy actions was the lifting of restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba for Cuban-Americans with family there. That reversed the policy of President George W. Bush, who shut off just about all channels of communication with Cuba. Not surprisingly, Obama's move drew flack from some quarters, notably the Florida congressional delegation. Although polls have indicated that a majority of Cuban-Americans favor some form of diplomatic engagement with Cuba, there is still powerful and well-placed political opposition to any changes in U.S. policy unless there are significant changes in Cuba.

Travel to Cuba by Americans other than Cuban-Americans with family on the island is officially restricted, although there are exceptions for official delegations, journalists, and those attending professional meetings. However, a number of Americans ignore the ban and travel to Cuba via third countries, although in most cases they have done so somewhat surreptitiously.

Recently, though, there have been numerous cases of returning Americans openly acknowledging they have visited Cuba, some of them with the intent of having a basis for a legal challenge to the travel ban. One such example was Mythchell Mora, a Californian, who bemoaned his inability to get arrested or cited even though he showed immigration officials his passport with a Cuban stamp in it and displayed souvenirs from his Cuban visit. In his case and others, officials have reportedly given those who have traveled to Cuba only cursory attention. During the Bush administration, Treasury Department agents kept a close eye on individuals believed to have visited Cuba and in some cases fined them or confiscated goods purchased in Cuba.

There are currently several proposals in Congress to repeal the travel ban and a lawsuit by the Center for Constitutional Rights is challenging the government's right to impede U.S. citizens' freedom of movement.

There are also bills in Congress to end or relax the 47-year-old trade embargo, a move supported by members of the Arkansas congressional delegation, along with others from states which would stand to have extensive trade with Cuba if the embargo is eased. Arkansas Senators Lincoln and Pryor are among a bipartisan group backing legislation to facilitate the export of U.S. agricultural commodities and products to Cuba.

Although the trade embargo, in effect since the Kennedy administration, has imposed hardships on Cuba, it also helped solidify Fidel Castro's dictatorial hold on the island. As Rep. Marion Berry of Arkansas said, "This embargo has never done anything but give Fidel Castro, when he was the actual leader there, a huge political advantage." Instead of bringing about regime change in Cuba, a half century of failed U.S. policies made political change less likely and helped Castro play the nationalism card against Cuba's powerful neighbor.

The economic sanctions also cut off a significant market for U.S. exports.

Meanwhile, of course, the United States hasdeveloped extensive economic ties with China, which for many years had no economic or diplomatic relations with the United States and, like Cuba, was ruled by a communist government. There are manypoints of friction between the United States and Cuba, just as there are with China, but increased trade relations with China have improved overall relations as has generally been the case when nations build economic connections.

Most of the rest of the world allows trade and travel with Cuba, as should the United States. Other nations, particularly European countries, have been seeking to strengthen economic ties with Havana.

An Arkansas delegation, led by Gov. Mike Beebe, recently traveled to Cuba. The group included two state legislators, the director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, and officials of Tyson and Riceland Foods. The Arkansas group did not reach any specific agreements in Cuba, but it was a chance to demonstrate the state's interest in doing business there, with Cuba being a significant potential market for Arkansas rice and poultry.

Members of Congress from Arkansas have previously visited Havana, as have delegations from a number of other states, particularly those which could become major exporters to Cuba.

There was a brief flurry of U.S. exports to Cuba earlier in this decade under a provision that allowed limited shipments of food and medical supplies. However, that channel dried up when the Bush administration tightened restrictions.

Gov. Beebe said that after meeting with Cuba's trade minister and foreign affairs representatives he was convinced that Cuba wants to encourage American tourism and trade.

"Arkansas is uniquely situated to provide products that Cuba's people need," Beebe said. "What we need to do is position Arkansas as a more competitive option for goods compared to other countries Cuba trades with," he said, pointing out that Cuba currently imports most of its rice from Vietnam, when getting rice from Arkansas would be much easier and more efficient. It is also estimated that lifting the restrictions would enable the United States to obtain nearly 90 percent of the poultry market in Cuba, which would certainly be important to Arkansas. Likewise, Montana and Colorado want to export beef and North Dakota and Nebraska to sell wheat, to mention a few more obvious examples. Overall, U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba could reach $1.2 billion.

One potentially significant step Obama has taken is to allow telecommunications companies to pursue licensing agreements in Cuba in an attempt to open up communications there through increasing access to satellite television and cell phones.

Gov. Beebe said, "There are now indications that the trade embargo "may soon be eased further or lifted completely." There have been expectations that President Obama would take such a step, though it would produce strong criticism in some quarters and it is apparent that the administration already has a full and demanding agenda.

However, both Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro have indicated a possible willingness to discuss issues affecting relations between the two nations. Cuba has been experiencing even tougher times than usual, in part due to a series of devastating hurricanes that hit the island. Raul Castro and other top officials have been quoted as describing the current situation as a very serious crisis.

A decade after the United States severed ties and imposed sanctions on Cuba, Richard Nixon went to China, and he and the Chinese leaders opened the way for an eventual normalization of U.S.-China relations.

Whether through a dramatic gesture such as that, or through incremental steps, U.S. interests and international relations would benefit from opening up economic and diplomatic ties with Cuba.

Hoyt Purvis is a journalism and international relations professor and served as press secretary to Sen. J.William Fulbright, foreign/defense policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd, and as chairman of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. His column appears on Sundays.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 08/16/2009

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