What’s Next for Cuba and the U.S.?

What's Next for Cuba and the U.S.?
By THE EDITORIAL BOARDJULY 20, 2015

As a neatly pressed Cuban flag was raised outside Cuba's diplomatic
mission in Washington on Monday morning, rancorous cries rang out from
the crowd gathered outside the stately limestone building.

"Cuba without Castro!" a hoarse-voiced man yelled. "Long live socialist
Cuba!" a woman hollered back.

Bitterly divergent views about the island's future will persist, and may
well become amplified, as Washington and Havana embark on an era of
cautious engagement following the formal restoration of diplomatic
relations. But that's to be expected in response to such a historic and
difficult change.

For more than five decades, the enmity between the United States and
Cuba has dominated the island's politics, served as a pretext for
government repression and shaped the lives of all Cubans in painful ways.

As sworn enemies become uneasy but respectful neighbors, the Cuban
government is certain to come under increasing pressure from its
citizens. They have long yearned for basic freedoms, like being able to
oppose the government without fear, create livelihoods that are not
controlled by the state, and have access to technology that allows
communication with the rest of the world.

Through careful diplomacy, the Obama administration has done much to
support Cubans on the island and allow Cuban-Americans to invest in and
reconnect with their native country. Ultimately, Congress will need to
lift the trade embargo, a failed policy. There is growing support for
bills that would dismantle key parts of it by ending travel restrictions
and allowing more types of commerce.

"There is, after all, nothing to be lost — and much to be gained — by
encouraging travel between our nations, the free flow of information and
ideas, the resumption of commerce and the removal of obstacles that have
made it harder for families to visit their loved ones," Secretary of
State John Kerry said Monday as he hosted Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba's
foreign minister, at the State Department.

While normalizing relations is not much ado about nothing, I believe
that it is much ado about OIL. Let me explain -- several years ago,...
Richard Huber 14 hours ago
I have been to Cuba many times over the past 50+ years. Most times it
has been thru Cancun where I change to my Mexican or Brazilian credit...
SEE ALL COMMENTS
It would be naïve to expect that the Cuban government, a dynastic police
state, will take big steps in the near future to liberalize its
centrally planned economy, encourage private enterprise or embrace
pluralistic political reforms. In fact, in the face of potentially
destabilizing change and high expectations at home, Cuban officials may
be tempted to tighten state controls in the short term.

The full normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba
will take years and will be an arduous process. Issues that will be hard
to resolve include the disposition of American property the Cuban
government seized in the 1960s, and the fate of the United States Navy
base in Guantánamo Bay, which the Cuban government considers an
illegally occupied territory.

At 88, Fidel Castro has become a faint voice in the lives of Cubans. His
brother President Raúl Castro, 84, has pledged to step down in 2018. The
end of their reign will be another transformational moment in that
nation's history. Until then, some Cubans want to see a flood of foreign
investment and a booming private sector. Others worry that a rapid
economic transition will erode the socialist principles that have
offered ordinary Cubans education and health care superior to that
available to millions of impoverished Latin Americans. Some are eager
for a multiparty political system with real elections, while others
would settle for a more effective, less intrusive government.

These competing visions will be hard to reconcile. But they will
eventually have to be debated and resolved among Cubans. In the
meantime, altering the image of the United States as an antagonistic
neighbor stands to help enormously.

Source: What's Next for Cuba and the U.S.? - The New York Times -
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/opinion/formal-restoration-of-diplomatic-ties-with-cuba-is-just-a-beginning.html?_r=2