President Obama's changes to U.S.-Cuba policy
The Obama administration's announced changes to U.S. policy toward Cuba have dominated today's headlines. Jonathan Keyser, an intern with the Center for International Policy's Cuba Program, offers this analysis. Yesterday, the Obama administration announced its decision to remove all travel and remittance restrictions for Cuban Americans. This represents a notable shift in U.S. foreign policy and has stirred up the divisive debate over U.S.-Cuba policy. In what is widely regarded as the most significant policy shift since the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, the administration reversed former President Bush's travel restrictions, limits on remittance payments and limitations on humanitarian items that could be sent to the island. In addition, the new policy permits telecommunications firms to bid for licenses to construct fiber-optic cables and transmit TV and Internet signals to the Cuban people, with the stated goal of fostering greater commutation and propagating American democratic values. As reflected in the President's press release, the lifting of travel controls and limitations on remittance payments are part of a rhetorical commitment by the United States to the goal of "a Cuba that respects basic human, political and economic rights of all its citizens." This goal, while widely praised in the United States, has generated uncertainly and dissatisfaction abroad, the Venezuelan government notes. Many U.S. politicians, including Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Mel Martinez (R-FL), an ardent critic of easing the embargo, lauded the decision. Others expressed trepidation. Staunch critics of lifting travel controls to Cuba, including Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart of South Florida, worry that allowing Cuban Americans to travel to Florida will only empower the Castro regime, rather than proliferating democratic values on the island. Conversely, advocates of removing all trade and travel restrictions to Cuba, including Wayne Smith of the Center for International Policy and Jorge Castañeda of the New America Foundation, stress that normalized relations are contingent upon repealing the embargo in its entirety. Nevertheless, the Cuban American community reacted quite positively to the administration's decision, which fulfilled a campaign promise to promote democracy and freedom in Cuba through freedom of expression, increased communications and family travel. In response to President Obama's policy changes, Fidel Castro expressed tacit approval of the removal of travel restrictions for Cuban Americans, but also stressed that "not a word was said about the harshest of measures: the blockade." Despite such broad support for the administration's less coercive approach towards Cuba, the impact of the administration's rhetoric cannot be neglected. The Obama administration's stated objective of spreading freedom and democracy to the Cuban people through increased communication and distribution of commercial goods is laudable. But this rhetoric could backfire if the Cuban government interprets it as a violation of its sovereignty and an attempt to undermine its autonomy. The administration should choose its words with care and instead pursue internal changes in Cuba by terminating the embargo, opening communication channels with the Castro government and respecting the island nation's territorial integrity.