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A slow turn for Cuba

Written by Byron Orme
Tuesday, 26 May 2009 00:00

As Fidel Castro fades and Raul Castro attempts to reinvigorate an ailing economy, the future of Cuba and its government is uncertain. If the people of Cuba are to experience a real improvement in their living conditions, then much relies upon improving Cuba’s relationship with America and, particularly, ending the blockade.

The history of the revolution is inseparable from el bloqueo, the trade embargo that America imposes on Cuba. Even prior to the introduction of the 1962 embargo, America has never been an independent observer of the revolution. It was in large part a nationalist one, in reaction to American involvement in the politics and the economy of the island. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison believed Cuba was inevitably a part of the United States and it has effectively been treated as such for a great deal of the last century.

Cuba’s first aim was political and economic independence from the US and it is telling that the real hero of the revolution was not Marx or Lenin but Jose Marti who died in 1895. He was a nationalist revolutionary who railed against Spanish and American colonial wars in Cuba. In every Cuban city or town, there resides some tribute to this man who, like Castro, was originally exiled for his beliefs.

Obviously the revolution was communist, but Soviet support for communism in Cuba to some extent obscured the main motivation for the revolution. Cuba’s close links to the Soviet Union did not form immediately after the revolution, but they did strengthen in the face of continued American aggression. When the US would no longer buy sugar from Cuba, the Soviets stepped up to purchase the quota. When Kennedy attempted to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, Soviet defensive missiles arrived in Cuba the following year.

April 2009 was a high watermark in relations between the US and Cuba. Raul Castro gushed that he was prepared “to discuss everything -- human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners, everything, everything, everything they want to talk about. We could be wrong, we admit it. We're human." This was a response to a change in attitude towards Cuba in Barack Obama’s White House. On the campaign trail, Obama signalled that he was willing to relax some of the stringent measures used by the US to put pressure on the Castro administration. In his first 100 days, he followed through with this – most notably by allowing Cuban Americans to travel there and visit relatives. He and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have therefore shown themselves willing to alter US laws concerning Cuba and, hopefully, this administration will be prepared to consider afresh the embargo as a policy.

It is difficult to see how one could justify the embargo, either pragmatically or ideologically. America trades enthusiastically with China and Russia. Human rights abuses are to never to be belittled. According to Reporters Without Borders, the Cuban government continues to hold around 250 of its own people in jail for political crimes. On 15 May, dissident journalist Alberto Santiago Du Bouche was imprisoned. Yet, the ongoing blockade on Cuba coupled with the lack of real protest at similar transgressions taking place in China, smacks of hypocrisy and bullying. Many believe the blockade is counter-productive; the Cuban regime makes a great deal of political capital by denouncing the embargo. This cry resonates with ordinary Cubans – and understandably so, as it is they who pay the real price for the embargo. In over 40 years that the embargo has been in place, it has forced shortages on the ordinary people of Cuba with no change to the regime.

No forward steps have been taken since this original overture of the American president and there have, in fact, been a few tentative steps back. Obama has said that he will make any further shifts in policy dependent on human rights improvements in Cuba. Havana retracted, or rather clarified Raul’s statement, saying that they were not going to change their own policy purely to please their noisy neighbour.

Despite the resultant clarifications, made for purposes of political expediency, April’s events are positive. They show there is an underlying willingness on both sides to cooperate in the future. Since Raul’s takeover, there have also been early signs that he is gently changing the direction of Cuba. The changes are aimed at economic improvement and alleviating the hardship that Cuba has experienced since the Special Period, a euphemism referring to the decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union. With Raul came the end of a ban on owning a host of electrical items, perhaps the most important of these being a mobile phone. He also initiated other economic reforms that were an ideological relaxation, such as sale of some spare land for private cultivation. Nothing would prove a greater boost to the Cuban economy than an end to a permanent chafing with America.

When Obama was answering questions from a roomful of young people in Turkey, he was asked how he was really going to change the policy of his predecessor. He likened US policy to an oil tanker and said that, unlike a speedboat, you cannot spin it around quickly. Instead, you have to turn it gently. Soon, you’re heading in a very different direction. For the first time in a long while, it may be politically possible to alter the US position towards Cuba. Polls show that, in general, the country is in favour of re-establishing diplomatic relations. More importantly, the original group of Cuban exiles holed up in Miami following the revolution are slowly giving way to a new generation of Cuban Americans. Many of them lack the zeal of their parents even if they do want to see the back of the Castros. The nature of the Cuban American lobby group in Florida is becoming more diverse. Many people were grateful for the recent change in the law allowing them to travel to Cuba to see relatives there. Some of the political danger in aiming for better relations with Cuba has gone.

Similarly, Raul’s original statements shows that he is prepared to deal with the biggest black cloud over his country. The embargo should be dropped without condition as the relic of a bygone political age which has ultimately failed to achieve its objectives. Yet, Cuba should be prepared to improve human rights and release political prisoners. Whoever follows the Castros will not have their personal prestige and will need to innovate to stay in power. Hopefully, the near future will see the end of the embargo and the incarceration of political prisoners in Cuba.