Why Does Obama Want Diplomatic Relations With Cuba?

Why Does Obama Want Diplomatic Relations With Cuba?
April 17, 2015
Omar Diaz de Arce* (Cafe Fuerte)

HAVANA TIMES — Some days ago, I made some comments on a keen analysis
written by my friend Haroldo Dilla, dealing with the possible
re-establishment of relations between Washington and Havana. In my
remarks, I stated that, as I saw it, Dilla's formidable essay was
missing only one element: the answer as to why Obama is offering Raul
Castro the re-establishment of diplomatic relations at this moment.

The US president is a man of political vision and sensitivity and, much
like Carter and Clinton back in their day, realized that the United
States' isolation in the international arena, particularly in connection
with Latin America, could no longer be sustained by Washington. Not even
the formerly docile OAS could convene a hemispheric meeting without
including Havana in the gathering – and this year's was to be held in
Panama. This is to say nothing of the humiliating votes against the
embargo at the UN.

Of Spies and Allies

I was witness to how Cuban intelligence used a Colombian to infiltrate
the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), a practice that was very
much in vogue for more than 50 years within international organizations
and even the United States. A case in point is the much-talked-about
Pentagon super-spy Ana Belen Montes.

From the perspective of US interests, the move is perfectly logical, no
matter what Cuba's current situation is. This global intelligence and
diplomacy campaign served to pin Washington against the wall in the
international arena. It involved the way in which Fidel Castro was able
to approach and turn Hugo Chavez into an ally, giving him the podium at
the Grand Hall of the University of Havana, where the leader spoke of
revolution and his dreams of Bolivarian brotherhood as early as 1994.

Though Obama had barely paid any attention to Latin America, it didn't
take long for him to realize that something needed to be done to defuse
such a volatile situation, at a time when the Chinese offensive was
intensifying every day in the continent. That said, he had to maneuver
in secret, for the project's enemies were many and dangerous. Not even
the Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the now maligned
Senator Bob Menendez, found out about the negotiations, something which
served to deepen differences between the two.

Following several months of negotiations, we arrived at the 7th Summit
of the Americas in Panama (April 10-11), where a number of unprecedented
developments were seen. First, the public, face-to-face meeting between
Barack Obama and Raul Castro. The most striking incident was the attempt
of Havana agents to break up the so-called "civil society forum." Thanks
to TV news coverage, we were privy to the violent "reprisals" against
dissidents and members of the opposition that took place during the
summit. It was a decadent spectacle that alerted the world – not only
the Latin American delegations present – of the hypocritical double-talk
of the Cuban dictatorship: praise for Obama on the one hand, and an open
war against those who question the repressive, one-party system in place
in Havana, allegedly as a means of defending itself against the
"blockade," as the propaganda frames the long battle against the embargo.

Yes to Some Things, No to Others

The new Castro policy made clear in Panama could be summarized in a
single phrase: "we will budge in some areas, but not in others."

At any rate, in his speech, Raul Castro offered listeners a history
lesson that prompted an ironic remark by Obama (let us skip the rather
regrettable remarks made by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa), a
comment Argentinean President Cristina Kirchner didn't understand,
inviting Castro to devote a good part of his address to emphasizing his
interest in history and lecturing others on the usefulness of learning
its lessons.

Castro's Most Eloquent Historical Reference

"On April 6, 1960, a little over year after the triumph of the
revolution, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lester Malloroy drafted
a memorandum that is simply perverse – I cannot find a better word for
it. This memorandum was declassified many years later. I quote some
excerpts from it: "(…) The majority of Cubans support Castro (…) there
is no effective political opposition. (…)The only foreseeable means of
alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection
based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship (…)it follows that every
possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life
of Cuba (…) denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and
real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government."

"When I arrived in Miami in 1991, the policy traced in this memorandum
written by Mallory was referred to as the "pressure cooker" strategy,
or, as Cubans say, "putting the jar under the flame until the bottom
drops out." Cuba, and diplomats at the UN, justifiably began to refer to
this as a genocidal policy."

A List of Grievances

As was to be expected, the general didn't care to mention all of the
brutal actions perpetrated by his brother, Fidel Castro, and by himself,
since the beginning of the 1960s, actions which included the execution
of military officers and opponents, numerous incursions by armed
guerrillas throughout the continent, involvement in African wars that
cost Cuba thousands of lives (and whose only aim was satisfying the ego
of the top leader, though the pretext was the giving aid to peoples of
other parts of the world), the introduction of Soviet nuclear weapons
into the country (which put the very existence of the nation and perhaps
humanity at risk), a revolutionary offensive that "nationalized" even
the smallest food kiosks, the 10-million-ton sugarcane harvest which
paralyzed the country from 1969 to 1970, innumerable plans dreamt up by
the Comandante which failed miserably, the splitting up of Cuban
families, the mass exodus of several generations of Cubans, generalized
oppression and elimination of civil and political rights, the total
censorship of the press and the suppression of freedom of expression,
alliances with the worst dictatorships on the planet (Gadhafi, North
Korea, Bashar al Assad, Ceaucescu, Stalinist Soviet leaders, etc.) and
others which would simply make this list of grievances endless.

Raul Castro justifies the whole of this disastrous political and
economic leadership as a legitimate means of defense against a policy
that sought to overthrow the revolutionary government. This last part is
true: the aim was to put an end to Cuban communism. But it's evident the
way to prevent this was not to raze the economy, infrastructure and
population's desire to live in Cuba to the ground before the Americans
did, as a recent survey conducted on the island sadly revealed. We
should also not forget that, on several occasions, Havana turned down
Washington offers to hold talks, something which would no doubt have
spared Cubans many misunderstandings and grievances.

This past Tuesday, President Obama took yet another step consistent with
his policy of rapprochement with the hostile neighbor and approved the
removal of Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
Incidentally, George W. Bush took a similar step when he removed
Gadhafi's Libya and North Korea from the list, but it seems no one wants
to remember that.

The decision also serves the purpose of depriving Raul Castro of reasons
to stick to the discourse of confrontation and untie the Gordian knot of
discord between Washington and Latin America. It is no doubt a clever
policy serving the strategic steps being taken by the United States in
the new stage of our globalized and interconnected world.
—–
* PhD in Historical Sciences and former professor of Latin American
Political Thought at the Faculty of History of the University of Havana.
Currently resides in Miami.

Source: Why Does Obama Want Diplomatic Relations With Cuba? - Havana
Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=110693