Cuba doesn’t really want better relations with U.S.

Cuba doesn't really want better relations with U.S.
BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO FSANTIAGO@MIAMIHERALD.COM
04/03/2015 3:50 PM 04/03/2015 4:10 PM

If Cuba and the United States were a couple in marriage counseling, the
therapist might have by now reached the conclusion that this union is
beyond repair.

It's nearly impossible to negotiate co-existence — be it marriage or
diplomatic relations — when one of the parties simply doesn't want to be
in the relationship.

Nearly four months after President Barack Obama extended an olive branch
to Cuban leader Raúl Castro, it's becoming clear to some of us that the
Cuban government doesn't want substantial relations with the United
States. Nor does the dictatorship want hordes of American tourists and
business people running around its fiefdom as if Cuba were a free nation.

If the Cubans were willing, after three rounds of talks sufficient
progress would have been made to at least begin to see movement toward
opening embassies in both countries. But instead there's recycled
diplomatic speak about wishes and obstacles, and how difficult it is to
repair a relationship that has been broken for so long. What isn't said
is that negotiations haven't brought the two countries any closer.

"This is not a sprint but a marathon," a U.S.-Cuba watcher warned me
after Obama's Dec. 17 announcement that the United States would seek
rapprochement with Cuba after five decades of isolation.

This is true. No one was expecting overnight success.

But round after round, there's evidence of growing support and
enthusiasm in favor of engagement from practically every U.S. sector —
and more and more reluctance on the part of the Cuban government to
negotiate anything of substance.

The Obama administration has indulged the Cuban diplomats in desired
topics of conversation, including Cuba's laughable chastising of the
U.S. government over the recent spate of shootings of black unarmed men
by white cops. The Cuban government knows well that injustices in this
country are brought forth into the public light, if not by the
government itself, by the free media. And they know every citizen's
right to protest against the government is protected by law.

Cubans have none of those rights.

But during the last round of meetings on human rights issues in
Washington this week, the Cubans were given ample space in which to make
their case against the United States — and their American diplomatic
counterparts listened patiently. (In my book, that makes them candidates
for sainthood.)

"Professional" was the way the State Department described the meeting.
No specific agreements were reached, but there was "broad agreement on
the way forward for a future substantive dialogue."

Translation: Nothing concrete was accomplished.

Meanwhile on social media, not a day goes by that someone isn't posting
photos of a trip to Cuba.

And in the latest strange twist for a country without widespread
Internet access, there was outsized excitement over the announcement by
San Francisco-based Airbnb that it's adding private homes in Cuba to its
worldwide listings. They must not have gotten the memo that the Cuban
government only wants American tourists arriving in tour groups
pre-approved by them and whose agenda they control right down to where
they'll have dinner.

What a fascinating dance to watch — like a therapist trying to unravel
the fate of a bizarre little marriage.

Source: Fabiola Santiago: Cuba doesn't really want better relations with
U.S. | Miami Herald Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article17317883.html