Opening of embassy in Cuba sets up showdown over U.S. ambassador

Opening of embassy in Cuba sets up showdown over U.S. ambassador
By Andrew O'Reilly Published March 18, 2015 Fox News Latino

The recent announcement that the United States and Cuba plan to restore
full diplomatic relations April 10th is setting up a battle between
President Barack Obama and Congress over whom – if anyone – will be the
communist island's first ambassador in over 50 years.

The ambassador issue has been one of most divisive topics inside the
Washington Beltway since Obama announced last December that the U.S. and
Cuba were working on restoring relations – with the president pushing
ahead with plans as anti-Castro lawmakers in Congress threaten to block
the appointment of any ambassador to Havana. The question that remains
to be answered is: When the U.S. and Cuba officially restore diplomatic
ties next month, will the newly reopened embassy have an ambassador in
the office?

The answer: Yes, no and sort of.

While lawmakers opposed to loosening Washington's strict stance toward
the communist island, such as New Jersey's Sen. Robert Menendez and
Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio, are likely to put a halt to any quick
approval of an ambassador in Havana, the embassy will still have a chief
of the mission – just as the current U.S. Interests Section in the
country does. Except now this post will come with all the weight and
power that an ambassador does, minus the title.

"The chief of mission will have expanded powers and be able to have
better access to members of the Cuban government more than they were in
the past," Geoff Thale, the program director of the Washington Office on
Latin America, told Fox News Latino.

The current chief of the U.S. Interest Section in Havana, Jeffrey
DeLaurentis, is expected to keep his post at least until the end of the
Obama administration. But whoever is nominated to be ambassador to Cuba
will face a tough uphill battle in a Republican-controlled Congress
already smarting from Obama overstepping them on issues such as
immigration and nuclear diplomacy.

As soon as Obama announced that the U.S. and Cuba would normalize
relations, Rubio said he would block a proposed American ambassador in
Havana. In January, Menendez added that while Congress can do little to
prevent the Obama administration from shifting the existing interests
section in Cuba into an embassy, what Congress can do is refuse to
confirm an ambassador.

"All these things the president is doing unilaterally," Susan K.
Purcell, the director of the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the
University of Miami, told Fox News Latino. "It's understandable that
Congress feels slighted and ignored."

Purcell added: "There are significant numbers of senators who are not so
sure that we should be pursuing the normalization of diplomatic
relations with Cuba at all."

Congressional concerns aside, however, the Obama administration and the
Castro government appear to be going full steam ahead in restoring
diplomatic relations and a major part of that is revamping their
embassies in the respective countries.

A six-story, concrete and glass structure just off Havana's famed
Malecón esplanade, the U.S. Interest Section was the former U.S. embassy
and has been minimally staffed since the U.S. embargo soured relations
between the countries in 1961.

With the restoration of ties, both sides are hopeful of lifting caps on
Cuban and U.S. diplomatic staff and limits on their movements outside
Havana and Washington – two talking points currently being discussed.
Currently, Cuban consular staff cannot leave the Washington Beltway
without State Department permission and U.S. consular staff cannot leave
Havana without permission from Cuban officials.

The normalization of relations would also allow the U.S. to renovate the
aging building and have U.S. security posted around the building,
replacing Cuban police. And in maybe the most symbolic move, the U.S.
government would want to put up a new sign on the building – directly
across from Havana's José Martí Anti-Imperialist Plaza.

One area where the U.S. would like to bump up its presence in the
country is in expanding its regional security office on the island.

For decades, Cuban authorities have worked hand-in-hand with their U.S.
counterparts to alert them to everything from fast boats carrying drugs
to the remote islands between the two countries to tanker ships covertly
trafficking cocaine to Europe. But the U.S. would like to make it easier
for American officials to work with Cuban authorities to track down
criminals fleeing to Cuba to escape charges such as Medicaid fraud and
kidnapping.

"Right now it's a very complicated process that requires approval from
high-up, you can't just schedule a meeting for next Tuesday," Thale
said. "The new changes could ease the diplomatic paperwork."

The U.S. and Cuba held their first round of talks in Havana in January
and the second round was held in Washington last month. While the first
rounds each lasted a day and saw negotiators routinely issuing updates
on progress, this week's is being held without a finishing date or any
scheduled statements to the press.


Follow Andrew O'Reilly on Twitter @aoreilly84.

Source: Opening of embassy in Cuba sets up showdown over U.S. ambassador
| Fox News Latino -
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2015/03/18/opening-embassy-in-cuba-sets-up-showdown-over-us-ambassador/