Special Report: State Department watered down human trafficking report
By Jason Szep and Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the weeks leading up to a critical annual U.S.
report on human trafficking that publicly shames the world's worst
offenders, human rights experts at the State Department concluded that
trafficking conditions hadn't improved in Malaysia and Cuba. And in
China, they found, things had grown worse.
The State Department's senior political staff saw it differently — and
they prevailed.
A Reuters examination, based on interviews with more than a dozen
sources in Washington and foreign capitals, shows that the government
office set up to independently grade global efforts to fight human
trafficking was repeatedly overruled by senior American diplomats and
pressured into inflating assessments of 14 strategically important
countries in this year's Trafficking in Persons report.
In all, analysts in the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in
Persons - or J/TIP, as it's known within the U.S. government — disagreed
with U.S. diplomatic bureaus on ratings for 17 countries, the sources said.
The analysts, who are specialists in assessing efforts to combat modern
slavery - such as the illegal trade in humans for forced labor or
prostitution - won only three of those disputes, the worst ratio in the
15-year history of the unit, according to the sources.
As a result, not only Malaysia, Cuba and China, but countries such as
India, Uzbekistan and Mexico, wound up with better grades than the State
Department's human-rights experts wanted to give them, the sources said.
(Graphic looking at some of the key decisions here: http://reut.rs/1gF2Wz5)
Of the three disputes J/TIP won, the most prominent was Thailand, which
has faced scrutiny over forced labor at sea and the trafficking of
Rohingya Muslims through its southern jungles. Diplomats had sought to
upgrade it to so-called "Tier 2 Watch List" status. It remains on "Tier
3" - the rating for countries with the worst human-trafficking records.
The number of rejected recommendations suggests a degree of intervention
not previously known by diplomats in a report that can lead to sanctions
and is the basis for many countries' anti-trafficking policies. This
year, local embassies and other constituencies within the department
were able to block some of the toughest grades.
State Department officials say the ratings are not politicized. "As is
always the case, final decisions are reached only after rigorous
analysis and discussion between the TIP office, relevant regional
bureaus and senior State Department leaders," State Department spokesman
John Kirby said in response to queries by Reuters.
Still, by the time the report was released on July 27, Malaysia and Cuba
were both removed from the "Tier 3" blacklist, even though the State
Department's own trafficking experts believed neither had made notable
improvements, according to the sources.
The Malaysian upgrade, which was highly criticized by human rights
groups, could smooth the way for an ambitious proposed U.S.-led
free-trade deal with the Southeast Asian nation and 11 other countries.
Ending Communist-ruled Cuba's 12 years on the report's blacklist came as
the two nations reopened embassies on each other's soil following their
historic détente over the past eight months.
And for China, the experts' recommendation to downgrade it to the worst
ranking, Tier 3, was overruled despite the report's conclusion that
Beijing did not undertake increased anti-trafficking efforts.
That would have put China alongside the likes of Syria and North Korea,
regarded by the United Nations as among the world's worst human right
abusers.
Typically, J/TIP wins more than half of what officials call "disputes"
with diplomatic sections of the State Department, according to people
familiar with the process.
"Certainly we have never seen that kind of an outcome," said one U.S.
official with direct knowledge of the department.
ABILITY TO EMBARRASS
The Trafficking in Persons report, which evaluated 188 countries and
territories this year, calls itself the world's most comprehensive
resource of governmental anti-human trafficking efforts. Rights groups
mostly agree.
It organizes countries into tiers based on trafficking records: Tier 1
for nations that meet minimum U.S. standards; Tier 2 for those making
significant efforts to meet those standards; Tier 2 "Watch List" for
those that deserve special scrutiny; and Tier 3 for countries that fail
to comply with the minimum U.S. standards and are not making significant
efforts.
While a Tier 3 ranking can trigger sanctions limiting access to aid from
the United States, the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank,
such action is frequently waived.
The real power is its ability to embarrass countries into action. Many
countries aggressively lobby U.S. embassies to try to avoid sliding into
the Tier 3 category. Four straight years on the Tier 2 Watch List
triggers an automatic downgrade to Tier 3 unless a country earns a
waiver or an upgrade.
The leverage has brought some success, including pressuring Switzerland
to close loopholes that allowed the prostitution of minors and prompting
the Dominican Republic to convict more child trafficking offenders.
President Barack Obama has called the fight against human trafficking
"one of the great human rights causes of our time" and has pledged the
United States "will continue to lead it."
But the office set up in 2001 by a congressional mandate to spearhead
that effort is increasingly struggling to publish independent
assessments of the most diplomatically important countries, the sources
said.
The rejection of so many recommendations could strengthen calls by some
lawmakers to investigate how the report is compiled. After Reuters on
July 8 reported on the plans to upgrade Malaysia, 160 members of the
U.S. House and 18 U.S. senators wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry
urging him to keep Malaysia in Tier 3, based on its trafficking record.
They questioned whether the upgrade was politically motivated.
Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat, has threatened to call for a Senate
hearing and an inspector general to investigate if top State Department
officials removed Malaysia from the lowest tier for political reasons.
The final decision on disputed rankings this year was made in meetings
attended by some of the State Department's most powerful diplomats,
including Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Under Secretary of
State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and Kerry's Chief of Staff,
Jonathan Finer, according to the sources.
Sarah Sewall, who oversees J/TIP as Undersecretary of State for Civilian
Security, Democracy and Human Rights, presented the experts'
recommendations, the sources said. The State Department declined to
make any of those officials available for comment.
"NO, NO, NO"
The unprecedented degree of discord over this trafficking report began
to become clear after Reuters early last month revealed plans to upgrade
Malaysia from the lowest Tier 3 rank to Tier 2 Watch List.
The improved ranking came in a year in which Malaysian authorities
discovered dozens of suspected mass migrant graves and human rights
groups reported continued forced labor in the nation's lucrative palm
oil, construction and electronics industries. As recently as April, the
U.S. ambassador to Malaysia, Joseph Yun, urged the country to take
prosecution of human trafficking violations more seriously.
U.S. officials have denied that political considerations influenced
Malaysia's rankings.
"No, no, no," said Sewall, when asked by reporters last Monday whether
Malaysia was upgraded to facilitate trade negotiations. She said the
decision was based on how Malaysia was dealing with trafficking.
Representative Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who authored a 2000
law that led to the creation of J/TIP, said in an interview that the
office's authority is being undermined by the president's agenda. "It's
so politicized," he said.
If Malaysia had remained on Tier 3, it would have posed a potential
barrier to Obama's proposed trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
That deal is a crucial part of his pivot to Asia policy. Congress
approved legislation in June giving Obama expanded trade negotiating
powers but prohibiting deals with Tier 3 countries such as, at that
time, Malaysia.
Congressional sources and current and former State Department officials
said experts in the J/TIP office had recommended keeping Malaysia on
Tier 3, highlighting a drop in human-trafficking convictions in the
country to three last year from nine in 2013. They said, according to
the sources, that some of Malaysia's efforts to end forced labor
amounted to promises rather than action.
The analysts also clashed over Cuba's record with the State Department's
Western Hemisphere Affairs Bureau, whose view took precedence in the
final report.
Human rights groups and people with knowledge of the negotiations over
the rankings said an unearned upgrade for Cuba, especially at a time of
intense attention due to the historic diplomatic thaw between Washington
and Havana, could undermine the integrity of the report.
Cuba had been on the "border line" for an upgrade in recent years, a
former State Department official said. And although Cuba ended up with
an upgrade, the final report remained highly critical, citing concerns
about Cuba's failure to deal with a degree of alleged forced labor in
medical missions that Havana sends to developing countries.
China was another source of friction. J/TIP's analysts called for
downgrading China, the world's second-biggest economy, to Tier 3,
criticizing Beijing for failing to follow through on a promise to
abolish its "re-education through labor" system and to adequately
protect trafficking victims from neighboring countries such as North
Korea. The final report put China on Tier 2 Watch List.
SHOWING DEFERENCE
But the candor of J/TIP can run afoul of other important diplomatic
priorities, particularly in countries beset by instability or corruption
where U.S. diplomats are trying to build relationships. That leads every
year to sometimes contentious back-and-forth over the rankings with
far-flung embassies and regional bureaus – the diplomatic centers of
gravity at the State Department.
"There is supposed to be some deference to the expertise of the office,"
said Mark Lagon, J/TIP's ambassador-at-large from 2007 to 2009 and now
president of Freedom House, an advocacy group in Washington. If the
office is now losing more disputes over rankings than it is winning,
that would be "an unfortunate thing," he said.
Most U.S. diplomats are reluctant to openly strike back at critics
inside and outside of the administration who accuse them of letting
politics trump human rights, the sources said.
But privately, some diplomats say that J/TIP staffers should avoid
acting like "purists" and keep sight of broader U.S. interests,
including maintaining open channels with authoritarian governments to
push for reform and forging trade deals that could lift people out of
poverty.
From the start, J/TIP has tried to be impartial. It is based in a
building a few blocks away from State Department, adding to the sense of
two separate identities and cultures.
But establishing genuine independence has been difficult. At first, the
heads of regional bureaus, representing the business and political
interests of U.S. embassies, would join the J/TIP team around a table
and have almost an equal say in deciding country rankings in the final
report.
John Miller, a former Republican congressman from Washington state named
by President George W. Bush to head the bureau from 2002 to 2006,
overhauled that structure.
"I said 'no way'," Miller said in an interview. By 2004, decisions on
how to rank countries were made by his office. Diplomats who objected
could appeal to then deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage. "He
rarely overruled me," said Miller. Armitage, who is no longer in a
government job, did not respond to a request for comment sent through
his office.
Laura Lederer, who helped set the office up as senior human trafficking
adviser from 2002 to 2007, said its job was "to assess and rate
countries solely on their progress in addressing the prevention of
trafficking, the prosecution of traffickers, and protection and
assistance of victims."
But officials who worked in the office over the past 15 years
acknowledge that countries with sensitive diplomatic or trade
relationships with the United States sometimes received special
treatment following pressure from local embassies and other
constituencies within the department.
One such country is Mexico – a key trading partner whose cooperation is
also needed against drug trafficking and illegal immigration. It was
kept at Tier 2 despite the anti-trafficking unit's call for a worse
grade, according to officials in Washington and Mexico City.
The controversy over this year's report comes at a time when J/TIP lacks
a congressionally confirmed leader.
The prior chief, ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca, left in November of
last year. His deputy, Alison Friedman, then resigned to join a
non-profit anti-slavery organization. And then it took until mid-July
for Obama to nominate Georgia federal prosecutor Susan Coppedge as the
next ambassador-at-large.
The lack of a director can increase the unit's exposure to political
influence, said Lederer.
Some say the perceived hit to the integrity of the 2015 report could do
lasting damage.
"It only takes one year of this kind of really deleterious political
effect to kill its credibility," said Mark Taylor, a former senior
coordinator for reports and political affairs at J/TIP from 2003 to 2013.
(Reporting by Jason Szep and Matt Spetalnick; Additional reporting by
Patricia Zengerle in Washington, Dave Graham in Mexico City, Michael
Martina in Beijing, and Dan Trotta in Havana; Editing by Martin Howell)
Source: Special Report: State Department watered down human trafficking
report - Yahoo News -
http://news.yahoo.com/special-report-state-department-watered-down-human-trafficking-192533858.html;_ylt=AwrC1CltmcBVCQ8AjgrQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBzdWd2cWI5BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxMAR2dGlkAwRzZWMDc3I-
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Two dozen Cuban migrants land in Key West - police
Two dozen Cuban migrants land in Key West: police
AFP
A group of 24 Cuban migrants landed early Monday on a beach in Key West
on the southern tip of Florida after crossing from Cuba in a makeshift
boat, local authorities said.
Some were treated for exposure to diesel fuel fumes, but the migrants --
23 men and a woman -- were smiling in photographs posted by the Key West
police after their arrival at about 4:00 am.
"They said that they all came in the tiny makeshift boat named Mariana,
which was just off the sea wall," police said on the department's
Facebook page.
Key West, the last in a string of islands extending from the Florida
mainland, is the closest US point to Cuba, about 150 kilometers (90
miles) away.
Cuban migrants, unlike those from any other nation, are allowed to stay
in the United States if they succeed in reaching land, but are
repatriated if picked up at sea.
The US Coast Guard has reported a surge in attempted crossings as
US-Cuban relations have improved, raising questions about how long
Washington will continue to grant special treatment to Cuban migrants.
Since October, approximately 3,000 Cubans have attempted the dangerous
crossing by sea, according to the Coast Guard.
Source: Two dozen Cuban migrants land in Key West: police -
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/two-dozen-cuban-migrants-land-in-key-west-police/ar-BBlm9ts?srcref=rss
AFP
A group of 24 Cuban migrants landed early Monday on a beach in Key West
on the southern tip of Florida after crossing from Cuba in a makeshift
boat, local authorities said.
Some were treated for exposure to diesel fuel fumes, but the migrants --
23 men and a woman -- were smiling in photographs posted by the Key West
police after their arrival at about 4:00 am.
"They said that they all came in the tiny makeshift boat named Mariana,
which was just off the sea wall," police said on the department's
Facebook page.
Key West, the last in a string of islands extending from the Florida
mainland, is the closest US point to Cuba, about 150 kilometers (90
miles) away.
Cuban migrants, unlike those from any other nation, are allowed to stay
in the United States if they succeed in reaching land, but are
repatriated if picked up at sea.
The US Coast Guard has reported a surge in attempted crossings as
US-Cuban relations have improved, raising questions about how long
Washington will continue to grant special treatment to Cuban migrants.
Since October, approximately 3,000 Cubans have attempted the dangerous
crossing by sea, according to the Coast Guard.
Source: Two dozen Cuban migrants land in Key West: police -
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/two-dozen-cuban-migrants-land-in-key-west-police/ar-BBlm9ts?srcref=rss
Clinton fights GOP opponents, family history on Cuba
Clinton fights GOP opponents, family history on Cuba
By Eric Bradner and Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 2351 GMT (0651 HKT) July 31, 2015
Clinton criticizes Bush's 'right to rise' slogan 01:48
Miami, Florida (CNN)Hillary Clinton undid some family history and hit
two of her Republican opponents in their own backyards on Friday as she
called for an end to the Cuba embargo.
The former secretary of state became the first major presidential
candidate to come to the heart of America's Cuban exile community to
make her case that Congress should lift the Cuban embargo.
That wasn't the only reason Clinton picked Miami, though. It's also home
to two top Republican presidential contenders: Bush, the former Florida
governor, and Sen. Marco Rubio. Bush lives nearby, and Rubio teaches a
class at Florida International University -- which hosted Clinton's speech.
The location offered an implicit contrast that Clinton had already made
directly earlier Friday morning, when she and Bush spoke within minutes
of each other at the National Urban League's conference in Fort Lauderdale.
"The real test of a candidates' commitment is not whether we come to
speak," Clinton said, "it is whether we are still around after the
cameras are gone and the votes are counted. It is whether our positions
live up to our rhetoric and too often we see a mismatch between what
some candidates say in venues like this and what they actually do when
they are elected."
RELATED: Hillary Clinton knocks Jeb Bush's 'right to rise' at Urban
League speech
Then, she made the 45-minute drive into Miami to draw a contrast with
Republicans on Cuban policy, saying the future of the U.S.-Cuban
relationship is at stake in the upcoming presidential election.
"We have arrived at a decisive moment. The Cuban people have waited long
enough for progress to come," Clinton said Friday. "Even many
Republicans on Capitol Hill are starting to recognize the urgency of
moving forward. It's time for their leaders to either get on board or
get out of the way."
She called out by name Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House
Speaker John Boehner, urging the two to "step up and answer the pleas of
the Cuban people."
And then she took a shot at the entire GOP field of presidential
contenders, saying that their support for the embargo will "play right
into the hard-liners' hands. They would reverse the progress we made."
"They have it backwards. Engagement is not a gift to the Castros, it's a
threat to the Castros," Clinton said.
Clinton's position mirrors one President Barack Obama took weeks
earlier, calling for an end to the embargo as he announced the opening
of a U.S. embassy in Havana.
RELATED: Obama announces re-establishment of U.S.-Cuba diplomatic ties
But it was a major change from the position both Clinton and her husband
have taken before.
It was then-President Bill Clinton who in 1996 signed into law a
requirement that Congress approve the lifting of any part of the Cuba
embargo.
The move made political sense at the time: Clinton was running for
re-election and the bipartisan bill landed on his desk after the Cuban
military shot down two U.S. civilian planes over the Straits of Florida,
killing four members of the Cuban-American exile group Brothers to the
Rescue.
"We will not tolerate attacks on United States citizens," Bill Clinton
said at the time, "and we will stand with those both inside and outside
Cuba who are working for a peaceful transition to freedom and democracy."
Hillary Clinton said the embargo should remain in place during her 2008
presidential campaign.
"Until there is some recognition on the part of whoever is in charge of
the Cuban government that they have to move toward democracy and freedom
for the Cuban people, it will be very difficult for us to change our
policy," she said then.
Clinton acknowledged Friday that she'd previously supported the embargo.
But she said watching closer ties between Cuba and America as the Obama
administration in 2009 made it easier for Cuban-Americans to visit and
send money to people on the island led her to recommend, by the end of
her tenure as secretary of state, that the embargo be lifted.
Dropping it, she said, would "strip the Castro regime of its excuses and
force it to grapple with the demands and the aspirations of the Cuban
people," and to "figure out how to adapt to a rapidly transforming society."
RELATED: Shift in Cuba politics boosts Obama, challenges Rubio
Hillary Clinton is visiting a changed Florida, two decades after her
original remarks.
The Cuban-American vote, once solidly Republican, has shifted to the
left as younger generations with fewer direct ties to Castro's Cuba make
up an ever-growing portion of the population. A Florida International
University survey of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County, home of the
nation's largest Cuban exile community, found that a majority favor
lifting the embargo.
Meanwhile, Cuban-Americans make up a smaller portion of Florida's Latino
population, as Puerto Ricans and other groups grow in numbers.
The changing trends weren't the only upside for Clinton: At least 20
television cameras, the majority from Hispanic outlets, were present for
Friday's speech. Just like Clinton's support for a path to citizenship
for undocumented immigrants, her position on Cuba is in line with the
majority of Latinos -- a key voting bloc in several 2016 swing states.
Despite Florida's changing demographics and the Cuban-American
diaspora's softened view of the embargo, Republican presidential
contenders remain stiffly opposed to lifting it -- and they're earning
some supporters for it.
Daniela Ferrera, a 17-year-old Miami resident, protested outside
Clinton's event, saying she'll support Rubio because he "actually
believes in freedom for the Cuban people."
Ferrera's family left Cuba in a boat with her family when she was 3. She
became a U.S. citizen in 2001 and will be eligible to vote in 2016, she
said.
Of Clinton, she said, "I respect her as a person, however I don't see
eye-to-eye with her on this issue and frankly, I think she is wrong on
this issue."
She said Clinton should "strengthen, strengthen the sanctions if
anything, because right now they are not really strong and they need to
be stronger."
Bush responded in a statement Friday, saying "It's insulting to many
residents of Miami for Hillary Clinton to come here to endorse a retreat
in the struggle for democracy in Cuba."
"This city has become a home and a refuge to thousands and thousands of
Castro's victims," he said. "Secretary Clinton's call to abandon the
embargo -- and the principles of democracy and freedom for the Cuban
people -- in exchange for nothing in return from the regime in Havana
adds insult to the pain they and their families feel."
Rubio called Clinton's position "a grave mistake," issuing a call for
Cuban democracy that echoed Bill Clinton's 1996 position.
"Unilateral concessions to the Castros will only strengthen a brutal,
anti-American regime 90 miles from our shore," Rubio said in a statement.
"President Obama and Secretary Clinton must learn that appeasement only
emboldens dictators and repressive governments, and weakens America's
global standing in the 21st century," he said. "As president, I will
stand with the Cuban people and only support an end to the embargo that
is accompanied by real democratic reform."
Source: Clinton fights GOP opponents, family history on Cuba -
CNNPolitics.com -
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/31/politics/hillary-clinton-cuba-embargo-gop-history/
By Eric Bradner and Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 2351 GMT (0651 HKT) July 31, 2015
Clinton criticizes Bush's 'right to rise' slogan 01:48
Miami, Florida (CNN)Hillary Clinton undid some family history and hit
two of her Republican opponents in their own backyards on Friday as she
called for an end to the Cuba embargo.
The former secretary of state became the first major presidential
candidate to come to the heart of America's Cuban exile community to
make her case that Congress should lift the Cuban embargo.
That wasn't the only reason Clinton picked Miami, though. It's also home
to two top Republican presidential contenders: Bush, the former Florida
governor, and Sen. Marco Rubio. Bush lives nearby, and Rubio teaches a
class at Florida International University -- which hosted Clinton's speech.
The location offered an implicit contrast that Clinton had already made
directly earlier Friday morning, when she and Bush spoke within minutes
of each other at the National Urban League's conference in Fort Lauderdale.
"The real test of a candidates' commitment is not whether we come to
speak," Clinton said, "it is whether we are still around after the
cameras are gone and the votes are counted. It is whether our positions
live up to our rhetoric and too often we see a mismatch between what
some candidates say in venues like this and what they actually do when
they are elected."
RELATED: Hillary Clinton knocks Jeb Bush's 'right to rise' at Urban
League speech
Then, she made the 45-minute drive into Miami to draw a contrast with
Republicans on Cuban policy, saying the future of the U.S.-Cuban
relationship is at stake in the upcoming presidential election.
"We have arrived at a decisive moment. The Cuban people have waited long
enough for progress to come," Clinton said Friday. "Even many
Republicans on Capitol Hill are starting to recognize the urgency of
moving forward. It's time for their leaders to either get on board or
get out of the way."
She called out by name Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House
Speaker John Boehner, urging the two to "step up and answer the pleas of
the Cuban people."
And then she took a shot at the entire GOP field of presidential
contenders, saying that their support for the embargo will "play right
into the hard-liners' hands. They would reverse the progress we made."
"They have it backwards. Engagement is not a gift to the Castros, it's a
threat to the Castros," Clinton said.
Clinton's position mirrors one President Barack Obama took weeks
earlier, calling for an end to the embargo as he announced the opening
of a U.S. embassy in Havana.
RELATED: Obama announces re-establishment of U.S.-Cuba diplomatic ties
But it was a major change from the position both Clinton and her husband
have taken before.
It was then-President Bill Clinton who in 1996 signed into law a
requirement that Congress approve the lifting of any part of the Cuba
embargo.
The move made political sense at the time: Clinton was running for
re-election and the bipartisan bill landed on his desk after the Cuban
military shot down two U.S. civilian planes over the Straits of Florida,
killing four members of the Cuban-American exile group Brothers to the
Rescue.
"We will not tolerate attacks on United States citizens," Bill Clinton
said at the time, "and we will stand with those both inside and outside
Cuba who are working for a peaceful transition to freedom and democracy."
Hillary Clinton said the embargo should remain in place during her 2008
presidential campaign.
"Until there is some recognition on the part of whoever is in charge of
the Cuban government that they have to move toward democracy and freedom
for the Cuban people, it will be very difficult for us to change our
policy," she said then.
Clinton acknowledged Friday that she'd previously supported the embargo.
But she said watching closer ties between Cuba and America as the Obama
administration in 2009 made it easier for Cuban-Americans to visit and
send money to people on the island led her to recommend, by the end of
her tenure as secretary of state, that the embargo be lifted.
Dropping it, she said, would "strip the Castro regime of its excuses and
force it to grapple with the demands and the aspirations of the Cuban
people," and to "figure out how to adapt to a rapidly transforming society."
RELATED: Shift in Cuba politics boosts Obama, challenges Rubio
Hillary Clinton is visiting a changed Florida, two decades after her
original remarks.
The Cuban-American vote, once solidly Republican, has shifted to the
left as younger generations with fewer direct ties to Castro's Cuba make
up an ever-growing portion of the population. A Florida International
University survey of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County, home of the
nation's largest Cuban exile community, found that a majority favor
lifting the embargo.
Meanwhile, Cuban-Americans make up a smaller portion of Florida's Latino
population, as Puerto Ricans and other groups grow in numbers.
The changing trends weren't the only upside for Clinton: At least 20
television cameras, the majority from Hispanic outlets, were present for
Friday's speech. Just like Clinton's support for a path to citizenship
for undocumented immigrants, her position on Cuba is in line with the
majority of Latinos -- a key voting bloc in several 2016 swing states.
Despite Florida's changing demographics and the Cuban-American
diaspora's softened view of the embargo, Republican presidential
contenders remain stiffly opposed to lifting it -- and they're earning
some supporters for it.
Daniela Ferrera, a 17-year-old Miami resident, protested outside
Clinton's event, saying she'll support Rubio because he "actually
believes in freedom for the Cuban people."
Ferrera's family left Cuba in a boat with her family when she was 3. She
became a U.S. citizen in 2001 and will be eligible to vote in 2016, she
said.
Of Clinton, she said, "I respect her as a person, however I don't see
eye-to-eye with her on this issue and frankly, I think she is wrong on
this issue."
She said Clinton should "strengthen, strengthen the sanctions if
anything, because right now they are not really strong and they need to
be stronger."
Bush responded in a statement Friday, saying "It's insulting to many
residents of Miami for Hillary Clinton to come here to endorse a retreat
in the struggle for democracy in Cuba."
"This city has become a home and a refuge to thousands and thousands of
Castro's victims," he said. "Secretary Clinton's call to abandon the
embargo -- and the principles of democracy and freedom for the Cuban
people -- in exchange for nothing in return from the regime in Havana
adds insult to the pain they and their families feel."
Rubio called Clinton's position "a grave mistake," issuing a call for
Cuban democracy that echoed Bill Clinton's 1996 position.
"Unilateral concessions to the Castros will only strengthen a brutal,
anti-American regime 90 miles from our shore," Rubio said in a statement.
"President Obama and Secretary Clinton must learn that appeasement only
emboldens dictators and repressive governments, and weakens America's
global standing in the 21st century," he said. "As president, I will
stand with the Cuban people and only support an end to the embargo that
is accompanied by real democratic reform."
Source: Clinton fights GOP opponents, family history on Cuba -
CNNPolitics.com -
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/31/politics/hillary-clinton-cuba-embargo-gop-history/
Did Hillary Clinton change position on the Cuba embargo?
Did Hillary Clinton change position on the Cuba embargo?
By Amy Sherman on Monday, August 3rd, 2015 at 5:17 p.m.
Hillary Clinton gave a speech in Miami in which she called for lifting
the Cuba embargo -- and she did it on the home turf of embargo
supporters and GOP rivals former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.
"The Cuba embargo needs to go, once and for all," she said at Florida
International University July 31.
The anti-Democratic America Rising PAC accused Clinton of making a
"sudden flip flop on Cuba."
Well, it wasn't exactly sudden.
We decided to put Clinton's statements since 2000 on the embargo on our
Flip-O-Meter, which doesn't pass judgment on changing stances but
evaluates whether a candidate has flipped and to what extent. Some
voters see some flips as a sign of inconsistency, while others view
flips as a sign that a politician has the ability to compromise or adapt
their positions to the wishes of constituents.
First, a word about lifting the embargo, which would require action by
Congress. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act
which prevents the embargo from being lifted until Cuba holds free and
fair elections, frees political prisoners and allows for a free press
and labor unions. Cuba did release some prisoners as part of the deal
with the United States but has not met all of these conditions.
2000
Clinton spoke about Cuba in 2000 when she was running to be the U.S.
senator from New York. After a speech to the Council on Foreign
Relations in October that year, an audience member asked Clinton for her
position on the embargo.
"I believe before the United States should lift the embargo, Castro
should make some good faith show of moving toward ending repression,
freeing political prisoners and some steps toward democratization," she
said.
Clinton also said that while she supported increasing food and medicine
exports to Cuba and allowing more travel, "I'm not ready to vote to lift
the embargo."
2008
During her first presidential bid in 2008, Clinton favored maintaining
the embargo. (So did Obama at the time, though he would later change his
stance.)
In July 2007, Obama said in a debate he would meet with Cuban leader
Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The next day Clinton
said that was "irresponsible and, frankly, naive."
In a December 2007 debate, Clinton said: "Until there is some
recognition on the part of whoever is in charge of the Cuban government
that they have to move toward democracy and freedom for the Cuban
people, it will be very difficult for us to change our policy."
In January 2008 in a statement accompanying a questionnaire released by
the Cuban American National Foundation, Clinton said now is "not the
time to consider wholesale or broad changes to our Cuba policy."
In a debate on Univision in February 2008, Clinton said "as president, I
would be ready to reach out and work with a new Cuban government, once
it demonstrated that it truly was going to change that direction."
2014 to 2016
In her 2014 book Hard Choices, Clinton wrote that near the end of her
tenure as secretary of state, she recommended that Obama review the
embargo. She wrote that the embargo "wasn't achieving its goals, and it
was holding back our broader agenda across Latin America. After 20 years
of observing and dealing with the U.S.-Cuba relationship, I thought we
should shift the onus onto the Castros to explain why they remained
undemocratic and abusive."
When Obama made his announcement on Dec. 17 about the change in Cuba
policy, Clinton said she supported the change.
The speech in Miami was Clinton's first major speech as a presidential
candidate about Cuba policy. It occurred amid the backdrop of polls that
show the majority of Americans support normalizing relations with Cuba.
During her speech, Clinton explained that she had supported the embargo
in the past. The Helms-Burton law was signed after the Cuban Air Force
shot down the Brothers to the Rescue plane, killing volunteers on board.
Clinton said "with their deaths in mind, I supported the Helms-Burton
Act to tighten the embargo."
But she said that the embargo was a "failed policy" and said she agrees
with Obama's call on Congress to drop the embargo.
"That last step about the embargo is crucial, because without dropping
it, this progress could falter," she said. "The Cuba embargo needs to
go, once and for all."
She also said that if Congress won't act to make it easier for more
Americans to go to Cuba, she will use her executive authority to do so.
Our conclusion
In her 2000 campaign for Senate, Clinton clearly stated that she wasn't
ready to lift the Cuba embargo. During her first bid for president in
2007, she repeatedly called for reforms in Cuba before any such changes
to the embargo.
But by 2014, she was a critic of the embargo and said it hadn't achieved
it's goals.
In a speech in Miami on July 31, Clinton forcefully stated that she
believes it is time to drop the embargo.
Clinton has made a full change of position, so we rate it a Full Flop.
Source: Did Hillary Clinton change position on the Cuba embargo? |
PolitiFact Florida -
http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2015/aug/03/hillary-clinton/hillary-clinton-cuba-embargo-change-position-did/
By Amy Sherman on Monday, August 3rd, 2015 at 5:17 p.m.
Hillary Clinton gave a speech in Miami in which she called for lifting
the Cuba embargo -- and she did it on the home turf of embargo
supporters and GOP rivals former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.
"The Cuba embargo needs to go, once and for all," she said at Florida
International University July 31.
The anti-Democratic America Rising PAC accused Clinton of making a
"sudden flip flop on Cuba."
Well, it wasn't exactly sudden.
We decided to put Clinton's statements since 2000 on the embargo on our
Flip-O-Meter, which doesn't pass judgment on changing stances but
evaluates whether a candidate has flipped and to what extent. Some
voters see some flips as a sign of inconsistency, while others view
flips as a sign that a politician has the ability to compromise or adapt
their positions to the wishes of constituents.
First, a word about lifting the embargo, which would require action by
Congress. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act
which prevents the embargo from being lifted until Cuba holds free and
fair elections, frees political prisoners and allows for a free press
and labor unions. Cuba did release some prisoners as part of the deal
with the United States but has not met all of these conditions.
2000
Clinton spoke about Cuba in 2000 when she was running to be the U.S.
senator from New York. After a speech to the Council on Foreign
Relations in October that year, an audience member asked Clinton for her
position on the embargo.
"I believe before the United States should lift the embargo, Castro
should make some good faith show of moving toward ending repression,
freeing political prisoners and some steps toward democratization," she
said.
Clinton also said that while she supported increasing food and medicine
exports to Cuba and allowing more travel, "I'm not ready to vote to lift
the embargo."
2008
During her first presidential bid in 2008, Clinton favored maintaining
the embargo. (So did Obama at the time, though he would later change his
stance.)
In July 2007, Obama said in a debate he would meet with Cuban leader
Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The next day Clinton
said that was "irresponsible and, frankly, naive."
In a December 2007 debate, Clinton said: "Until there is some
recognition on the part of whoever is in charge of the Cuban government
that they have to move toward democracy and freedom for the Cuban
people, it will be very difficult for us to change our policy."
In January 2008 in a statement accompanying a questionnaire released by
the Cuban American National Foundation, Clinton said now is "not the
time to consider wholesale or broad changes to our Cuba policy."
In a debate on Univision in February 2008, Clinton said "as president, I
would be ready to reach out and work with a new Cuban government, once
it demonstrated that it truly was going to change that direction."
2014 to 2016
In her 2014 book Hard Choices, Clinton wrote that near the end of her
tenure as secretary of state, she recommended that Obama review the
embargo. She wrote that the embargo "wasn't achieving its goals, and it
was holding back our broader agenda across Latin America. After 20 years
of observing and dealing with the U.S.-Cuba relationship, I thought we
should shift the onus onto the Castros to explain why they remained
undemocratic and abusive."
When Obama made his announcement on Dec. 17 about the change in Cuba
policy, Clinton said she supported the change.
The speech in Miami was Clinton's first major speech as a presidential
candidate about Cuba policy. It occurred amid the backdrop of polls that
show the majority of Americans support normalizing relations with Cuba.
During her speech, Clinton explained that she had supported the embargo
in the past. The Helms-Burton law was signed after the Cuban Air Force
shot down the Brothers to the Rescue plane, killing volunteers on board.
Clinton said "with their deaths in mind, I supported the Helms-Burton
Act to tighten the embargo."
But she said that the embargo was a "failed policy" and said she agrees
with Obama's call on Congress to drop the embargo.
"That last step about the embargo is crucial, because without dropping
it, this progress could falter," she said. "The Cuba embargo needs to
go, once and for all."
She also said that if Congress won't act to make it easier for more
Americans to go to Cuba, she will use her executive authority to do so.
Our conclusion
In her 2000 campaign for Senate, Clinton clearly stated that she wasn't
ready to lift the Cuba embargo. During her first bid for president in
2007, she repeatedly called for reforms in Cuba before any such changes
to the embargo.
But by 2014, she was a critic of the embargo and said it hadn't achieved
it's goals.
In a speech in Miami on July 31, Clinton forcefully stated that she
believes it is time to drop the embargo.
Clinton has made a full change of position, so we rate it a Full Flop.
Source: Did Hillary Clinton change position on the Cuba embargo? |
PolitiFact Florida -
http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2015/aug/03/hillary-clinton/hillary-clinton-cuba-embargo-change-position-did/
The Untold Story of the U.S. and Cuba’s Middleman
The Untold Story of the U.S. and Cuba's Middleman
New documents show how hard Switzerland worked to keep the Cold War from
turning hot.
BY JOHN HUDSONAUGUST 3, 2015JOHN.HUDSON@JOHN_HUDSON
On the day the United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic ties
after a half-century of acrimony, the scene at the newly opened Cuban
Embassy in Washington was euphoric. A boisterous band played the Cuban
national anthem as a three-man honor guard marched onto the front lawn
and mounted the island nation's flag. Five hundred dignitaries,
including senior U.S. diplomats, a large visiting Cuban delegation, and
U.S. lawmakers filled the nearly century-old mansion. Even Hollywood
B-lister Danny Glover made an appearance.
But on that same day in mid-July, less than two miles away, another
historic milestone occurred without a single reporter or media
photographer to document it. In silence, the Swiss ambassador to the
United States, Martin Dahinden, took out a screwdriver and removed a
small golden plate from the Swiss Embassy that identified the Swiss
government as the "protecting power" of Cuban interests in the United
States.
With a few turns of the screw, Switzerland was out of a job after 54
years of playing the middleman between Havana and Washington — the
longest stretch of time that the Swiss government, and perhaps any
government in history, has represented the interests of a foreign power
in another country. Due to the resumption of diplomatic ties, Cuba and
the United States no longer need Switzerland to communicate with each
other, ending an assignment the Swiss formally accepted in 1961 when
President Dwight Eisenhower cut off ties with Fidel Castro's communist
regime.
Lost in the fanfare surrounding the July 20 opening of the embassies in
Havana and Washington was the unusually outsized role that Switzerland
played between the longtime adversaries. Now, in a new set of documents
provided to Foreign Policy by the Swiss government, historians are
getting a fresh look at the Central European government's nail-biting
role in everything from the Cuban missile crisis to the mass exodus of
Cuban refugees to the United States in the 1960s and '70s.
"This is a rich and relatively untold story of a government that
dedicated itself to pushing diplomacy and engagement between Washington
and Havana, even during the most antagonistic of times," said Peter
Kornbluh, a historian and co-author of Back Channel to Cuba, an
exhaustive book on the secret negotiations between the United States and
Cuba during the Cold War.
Typically, the role of a "protecting power" like Switzerland is fairly
mundane, filled with processing passport and visa documents, relaying
diplomatic notes, and looking after the citizens of the relevant
country. But during the dark days of the Cold War, Swiss archives show,
a generation of diplomats cultivated exceptionally close relationships
with Castro and senior U.S. officials and helped de-escalate a conflict
that nearly triggered World War III.
The very existence of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba — a seven-story building
on Havana's seaside Malecón boulevard — owes a massive debt to its
former Swiss caretakers.
According to Swiss records, the Cuban government attempted to
nationalize the U.S. Embassy in 1964 and convert it into the Cuban
Ministry of Fishing. If not for the stubborn resistance of the former
Swiss ambassador to Havana, Emil Stadelhofer, the United States may have
permanently lost ownership of the imposing seaside edifice.
"It took a lot of courage, but for Stadelhofer, Cuba was the role of his
life," Dahinden, the current Swiss ambassador to the United States, told
Foreign Policy.
The tense standoff was set in motion on Feb. 2, 1964, when the U.S.
Coast Guard arrested four Cuban fishing vessels and detained their
crews. In response, Cuba cut off the water supply to the U.S. naval base
at Guantánamo Bay and made moves to occupy and confiscate the U.S.
Embassy building in Havana. According to Swiss archives, that's when
Stadelhofer intervened personally. He barred the embassy door shut and
declared that "this was diplomatic property and that the Vienna
Convention would be violated only over his body." He warned the Cubans
that Switzerland would consider this "the most unfriendly and severest act."
"Stadelhofer drew a red line. Without him being in the right place at
the right time, things may have been different," said Dahinden. After
the tense standoff, the authorities backed off, and the incident marked
the last time Cuba tried to nationalize the U.S. Embassy.
"What strikes me as most interesting and important is that the Swiss
played a far more important role than being a caretaker, or 'protecting
power,' said Kornbluh, after reviewing the Swiss documents. "They became
a key player and trusted interlocutor in ongoing efforts to bridge the
Cold War gap and bring Washington and Havana closer together."
Beyond mountain ranges, money-laundering, and instant hot chocolate mix,
Americans typically associate Switzerland with its implacable
neutrality: a distinction that is at times regarded as refreshing and
principled or cowardly and bloodless. But for a country populated by
French, German, Italian, and Romansh speakers — and sandwiched between
the imperial strongholds of Europe — Switzerland's neutrality guaranteed
its survival during a chaotic 20th century.
With the country neutral during both world wars, Switzerland's
experience in representing foreign countries ballooned during World War
II as it accepted more than 200 mandates from belligerent parties
needing to communicate with sworn enemies.
When the Eisenhower administration first proposed, in 1960, that
Switzerland represent the United States in Cuba, it caught the Swiss off
guard, according to government documents, "especially given the small
size of the Swiss diplomatic mission compared with the staff of other
countries such as the United Kingdom." But the government's
long-standing experience as a protecting power of foreign governments,
dating back to the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War, made it an attractive
candidate.
After Switzerland agreed to represent the United States, the first
priority of Swiss diplomats on the Caribbean island was to educate
Castro's new revolutionary government on the international laws
governing a protecting-power relationship — and add staff as quickly as
possible. "Nine Swiss personnel were dispatched immediately to replace
the 60 or so U.S. officials," according to Swiss records.
The Cuban missile crisis, in particular, was a proving ground for Swiss
diplomats — and a crucial example of how Washington relied on
Stadelhofer's close ties to Castro.
During his time on the island, Stadelhofer nurtured a surprisingly close
personal relationship with El Comandante, who was known to drop by
his residence and consult with the diplomat day or night. "Stadelhofer
was a man who had very direct access to Fidel Castro. They met
frequently and had social contacts," said Dahinden. That rapport would
be key as the world's two superpowers — the United States and the Soviet
Union, which served as Cuba's communist patron — came closer to a
nuclear war than at any other time in history.
In October 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy imposed a blockade on
all military equipment to Cuba and demanded that the Soviet Union remove
missiles detected on the island. Even after Moscow relented and removed
the missiles in exchange for the removal of American ballistic missiles
in Italy and Turkey, the crisis wasn't over: The United States needed to
send reconnaissance planes over Cuba to verify that the arms were no
longer there. But to establish a clear picture of the sites in the dark,
U.S. pilots would have to deploy military flares, which could easily be
mistaken for bombs and prompt a counterattack from Cuba.
According to Swiss archives, the Cubans needed to be convinced that
America's air campaign was strictly for surveillance purposes. But given
the CIA's botched attempt to overthrow the Castro regime in the
disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion a year earlier, Washington had zero
credibility with the Cuban government.
As a result, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk contacted the Swiss
ambassador to the United States, August Lindt, with an urgent request.
"If I have called you it is to ask a favor of you that only you, as the
Swiss representative in charge of our interests in Cuba, can provide,"
said Rusk, according to an account in a memoir by Swiss diplomat Edouard
Brunner. Lindt was asked to assure Castro that the reconnaissance
flights were peaceful and that the military flares should not warrant a
response from Cuban air defenses. After the conversation, Lindt
immediately called Stadelhofer in Havana, who forwarded the message to
Castro. Within an hour, Stadelhofer called Lindt back confirming that
the message had been transmitted to Castro. Lindt was then able to call
Rusk and assure him that no military response should be feared. On Oct.
28, the Cuban missile crisis ended with an exchange of letters between
Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Reflecting on the intense
flash point in his notes, Brunner noted, "and thus could be avoided,
thanks to this rapidly conveyed message, an escalation of the crisis."
But that wasn't the only time the Swiss were helpful in a pinch. After
the Cuban missile crisis subsided, the most pressing job of the Swiss
was facilitating the safe passage of Cuban refugees to the United
States. This responsibility expanded greatly in late September 1965,
when Castro declared that any Cubans who desired to leave the country
for Florida were free to do so by their own means. As a result,
thousands of Cubans set sail from the port of Camarioca in substandard
vessels that often capsized, in some cases with children on board.
According to Swiss records, Stadelhofer was "moved by the drownings" and
pressed for an alternative solution. Washington, also alarmed by the
number of deaths at sea, authorized the Swiss to negotiate an airlift
from the resort town of Varadero to Miami.
By December, the Swiss had helped secure an agreement between Havana and
Washington to provide two flights each day for five days a week,
enabling the departure of 3,000 to 4,000 Cubans monthly from the
Varadero military airport. The arrangement held for the next seven years
and became the most labor-intensive aspect of Switzerland's
protecting-power mandate in Cuba. Some tasks were mundane, like
interviewing each person who wanted to leave to help gain Washington's
approval. Other issues were trickier, like when Cuba initially refused
to let 700 Americans and their relatives in Cuba leave the country.
But by the end of the operation's run in April 1973, a massive number of
Cubans had been airlifted into the United States: 260,737 in all.
According to Swiss records, Stadelhofer's efforts maintaining the lift
garnered the attention of the British ambassador in Cuba at the time,
who confided to the Swiss: "Your ambassador is the most outstanding
diplomat in Havana. He did miracles. But he is tired now. You should
take him away before he has a breakdown."
Four years after the airlift, in 1977, a partial rapprochement between
Washington and Havana resulted in the formal establishment of the U.S.
Interests Section in Cuba. Although the Swiss flag continued to fly over
the former U.S. Embassy building, American diplomats returned to Cuba,
which reduced the United States' reliance on Swiss diplomacy.
Beyond Cuba, the Swiss saw their protecting-power mandates elsewhere in
the world decline as open conflict between nation-states became much
more infrequent. With the resumption of full diplomatic ties between the
United States and Cuba on July 20 of this year, Switzerland currently
has only four protecting-power mandates: It represents the United States
in Iran, Georgia in Russia, Russia in Georgia, and Iran in Egypt.
Although Switzerland's diplomatic efforts between the United States and
Cuba have been largely thankless over the decades, U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry did express his gratitude in a July 1 speech in Vienna
announcing the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba. "I also want to
thank the government of Switzerland," said Kerry, "for the essential
role that they have played in serving as the United States' protecting
power in Cuba for more than 50 years."
In Washington, where embassy parties and receptions celebrating far less
significant milestones are ubiquitous, Switzerland's modesty stands out.
On the day its protecting-power mandate ended, four Swiss colleagues
simply stood outside the Swiss Embassy and watched the ambassador remove
the Cuban Interests Section sign from the building. "The Swiss media
were interested in having an event, but we decided against it," said
Dahinden. "We did it amongst ourselves. Four or five people."
A photograph from the occasion screams "anticlimactic" in a way that
words can't convey. But for Dahinden, that's the way it should be.
"This is very much part of our diplomatic culture in Switzerland," he
said. "You're not working well when you're at the forefront. You need to
work in a very discreet way."
Source: The Untold Story of the U.S. and Cuba's Middleman | Foreign
Policy -
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/08/03/the-untold-story-of-the-u-s-and-cubas-middleman/
New documents show how hard Switzerland worked to keep the Cold War from
turning hot.
BY JOHN HUDSONAUGUST 3, 2015JOHN.HUDSON@JOHN_HUDSON
On the day the United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic ties
after a half-century of acrimony, the scene at the newly opened Cuban
Embassy in Washington was euphoric. A boisterous band played the Cuban
national anthem as a three-man honor guard marched onto the front lawn
and mounted the island nation's flag. Five hundred dignitaries,
including senior U.S. diplomats, a large visiting Cuban delegation, and
U.S. lawmakers filled the nearly century-old mansion. Even Hollywood
B-lister Danny Glover made an appearance.
But on that same day in mid-July, less than two miles away, another
historic milestone occurred without a single reporter or media
photographer to document it. In silence, the Swiss ambassador to the
United States, Martin Dahinden, took out a screwdriver and removed a
small golden plate from the Swiss Embassy that identified the Swiss
government as the "protecting power" of Cuban interests in the United
States.
With a few turns of the screw, Switzerland was out of a job after 54
years of playing the middleman between Havana and Washington — the
longest stretch of time that the Swiss government, and perhaps any
government in history, has represented the interests of a foreign power
in another country. Due to the resumption of diplomatic ties, Cuba and
the United States no longer need Switzerland to communicate with each
other, ending an assignment the Swiss formally accepted in 1961 when
President Dwight Eisenhower cut off ties with Fidel Castro's communist
regime.
Lost in the fanfare surrounding the July 20 opening of the embassies in
Havana and Washington was the unusually outsized role that Switzerland
played between the longtime adversaries. Now, in a new set of documents
provided to Foreign Policy by the Swiss government, historians are
getting a fresh look at the Central European government's nail-biting
role in everything from the Cuban missile crisis to the mass exodus of
Cuban refugees to the United States in the 1960s and '70s.
"This is a rich and relatively untold story of a government that
dedicated itself to pushing diplomacy and engagement between Washington
and Havana, even during the most antagonistic of times," said Peter
Kornbluh, a historian and co-author of Back Channel to Cuba, an
exhaustive book on the secret negotiations between the United States and
Cuba during the Cold War.
Typically, the role of a "protecting power" like Switzerland is fairly
mundane, filled with processing passport and visa documents, relaying
diplomatic notes, and looking after the citizens of the relevant
country. But during the dark days of the Cold War, Swiss archives show,
a generation of diplomats cultivated exceptionally close relationships
with Castro and senior U.S. officials and helped de-escalate a conflict
that nearly triggered World War III.
The very existence of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba — a seven-story building
on Havana's seaside Malecón boulevard — owes a massive debt to its
former Swiss caretakers.
According to Swiss records, the Cuban government attempted to
nationalize the U.S. Embassy in 1964 and convert it into the Cuban
Ministry of Fishing. If not for the stubborn resistance of the former
Swiss ambassador to Havana, Emil Stadelhofer, the United States may have
permanently lost ownership of the imposing seaside edifice.
"It took a lot of courage, but for Stadelhofer, Cuba was the role of his
life," Dahinden, the current Swiss ambassador to the United States, told
Foreign Policy.
The tense standoff was set in motion on Feb. 2, 1964, when the U.S.
Coast Guard arrested four Cuban fishing vessels and detained their
crews. In response, Cuba cut off the water supply to the U.S. naval base
at Guantánamo Bay and made moves to occupy and confiscate the U.S.
Embassy building in Havana. According to Swiss archives, that's when
Stadelhofer intervened personally. He barred the embassy door shut and
declared that "this was diplomatic property and that the Vienna
Convention would be violated only over his body." He warned the Cubans
that Switzerland would consider this "the most unfriendly and severest act."
"Stadelhofer drew a red line. Without him being in the right place at
the right time, things may have been different," said Dahinden. After
the tense standoff, the authorities backed off, and the incident marked
the last time Cuba tried to nationalize the U.S. Embassy.
"What strikes me as most interesting and important is that the Swiss
played a far more important role than being a caretaker, or 'protecting
power,' said Kornbluh, after reviewing the Swiss documents. "They became
a key player and trusted interlocutor in ongoing efforts to bridge the
Cold War gap and bring Washington and Havana closer together."
Beyond mountain ranges, money-laundering, and instant hot chocolate mix,
Americans typically associate Switzerland with its implacable
neutrality: a distinction that is at times regarded as refreshing and
principled or cowardly and bloodless. But for a country populated by
French, German, Italian, and Romansh speakers — and sandwiched between
the imperial strongholds of Europe — Switzerland's neutrality guaranteed
its survival during a chaotic 20th century.
With the country neutral during both world wars, Switzerland's
experience in representing foreign countries ballooned during World War
II as it accepted more than 200 mandates from belligerent parties
needing to communicate with sworn enemies.
When the Eisenhower administration first proposed, in 1960, that
Switzerland represent the United States in Cuba, it caught the Swiss off
guard, according to government documents, "especially given the small
size of the Swiss diplomatic mission compared with the staff of other
countries such as the United Kingdom." But the government's
long-standing experience as a protecting power of foreign governments,
dating back to the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War, made it an attractive
candidate.
After Switzerland agreed to represent the United States, the first
priority of Swiss diplomats on the Caribbean island was to educate
Castro's new revolutionary government on the international laws
governing a protecting-power relationship — and add staff as quickly as
possible. "Nine Swiss personnel were dispatched immediately to replace
the 60 or so U.S. officials," according to Swiss records.
The Cuban missile crisis, in particular, was a proving ground for Swiss
diplomats — and a crucial example of how Washington relied on
Stadelhofer's close ties to Castro.
During his time on the island, Stadelhofer nurtured a surprisingly close
personal relationship with El Comandante, who was known to drop by
his residence and consult with the diplomat day or night. "Stadelhofer
was a man who had very direct access to Fidel Castro. They met
frequently and had social contacts," said Dahinden. That rapport would
be key as the world's two superpowers — the United States and the Soviet
Union, which served as Cuba's communist patron — came closer to a
nuclear war than at any other time in history.
In October 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy imposed a blockade on
all military equipment to Cuba and demanded that the Soviet Union remove
missiles detected on the island. Even after Moscow relented and removed
the missiles in exchange for the removal of American ballistic missiles
in Italy and Turkey, the crisis wasn't over: The United States needed to
send reconnaissance planes over Cuba to verify that the arms were no
longer there. But to establish a clear picture of the sites in the dark,
U.S. pilots would have to deploy military flares, which could easily be
mistaken for bombs and prompt a counterattack from Cuba.
According to Swiss archives, the Cubans needed to be convinced that
America's air campaign was strictly for surveillance purposes. But given
the CIA's botched attempt to overthrow the Castro regime in the
disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion a year earlier, Washington had zero
credibility with the Cuban government.
As a result, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk contacted the Swiss
ambassador to the United States, August Lindt, with an urgent request.
"If I have called you it is to ask a favor of you that only you, as the
Swiss representative in charge of our interests in Cuba, can provide,"
said Rusk, according to an account in a memoir by Swiss diplomat Edouard
Brunner. Lindt was asked to assure Castro that the reconnaissance
flights were peaceful and that the military flares should not warrant a
response from Cuban air defenses. After the conversation, Lindt
immediately called Stadelhofer in Havana, who forwarded the message to
Castro. Within an hour, Stadelhofer called Lindt back confirming that
the message had been transmitted to Castro. Lindt was then able to call
Rusk and assure him that no military response should be feared. On Oct.
28, the Cuban missile crisis ended with an exchange of letters between
Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Reflecting on the intense
flash point in his notes, Brunner noted, "and thus could be avoided,
thanks to this rapidly conveyed message, an escalation of the crisis."
But that wasn't the only time the Swiss were helpful in a pinch. After
the Cuban missile crisis subsided, the most pressing job of the Swiss
was facilitating the safe passage of Cuban refugees to the United
States. This responsibility expanded greatly in late September 1965,
when Castro declared that any Cubans who desired to leave the country
for Florida were free to do so by their own means. As a result,
thousands of Cubans set sail from the port of Camarioca in substandard
vessels that often capsized, in some cases with children on board.
According to Swiss records, Stadelhofer was "moved by the drownings" and
pressed for an alternative solution. Washington, also alarmed by the
number of deaths at sea, authorized the Swiss to negotiate an airlift
from the resort town of Varadero to Miami.
By December, the Swiss had helped secure an agreement between Havana and
Washington to provide two flights each day for five days a week,
enabling the departure of 3,000 to 4,000 Cubans monthly from the
Varadero military airport. The arrangement held for the next seven years
and became the most labor-intensive aspect of Switzerland's
protecting-power mandate in Cuba. Some tasks were mundane, like
interviewing each person who wanted to leave to help gain Washington's
approval. Other issues were trickier, like when Cuba initially refused
to let 700 Americans and their relatives in Cuba leave the country.
But by the end of the operation's run in April 1973, a massive number of
Cubans had been airlifted into the United States: 260,737 in all.
According to Swiss records, Stadelhofer's efforts maintaining the lift
garnered the attention of the British ambassador in Cuba at the time,
who confided to the Swiss: "Your ambassador is the most outstanding
diplomat in Havana. He did miracles. But he is tired now. You should
take him away before he has a breakdown."
Four years after the airlift, in 1977, a partial rapprochement between
Washington and Havana resulted in the formal establishment of the U.S.
Interests Section in Cuba. Although the Swiss flag continued to fly over
the former U.S. Embassy building, American diplomats returned to Cuba,
which reduced the United States' reliance on Swiss diplomacy.
Beyond Cuba, the Swiss saw their protecting-power mandates elsewhere in
the world decline as open conflict between nation-states became much
more infrequent. With the resumption of full diplomatic ties between the
United States and Cuba on July 20 of this year, Switzerland currently
has only four protecting-power mandates: It represents the United States
in Iran, Georgia in Russia, Russia in Georgia, and Iran in Egypt.
Although Switzerland's diplomatic efforts between the United States and
Cuba have been largely thankless over the decades, U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry did express his gratitude in a July 1 speech in Vienna
announcing the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba. "I also want to
thank the government of Switzerland," said Kerry, "for the essential
role that they have played in serving as the United States' protecting
power in Cuba for more than 50 years."
In Washington, where embassy parties and receptions celebrating far less
significant milestones are ubiquitous, Switzerland's modesty stands out.
On the day its protecting-power mandate ended, four Swiss colleagues
simply stood outside the Swiss Embassy and watched the ambassador remove
the Cuban Interests Section sign from the building. "The Swiss media
were interested in having an event, but we decided against it," said
Dahinden. "We did it amongst ourselves. Four or five people."
A photograph from the occasion screams "anticlimactic" in a way that
words can't convey. But for Dahinden, that's the way it should be.
"This is very much part of our diplomatic culture in Switzerland," he
said. "You're not working well when you're at the forefront. You need to
work in a very discreet way."
Source: The Untold Story of the U.S. and Cuba's Middleman | Foreign
Policy -
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/08/03/the-untold-story-of-the-u-s-and-cubas-middleman/
Antique Cuban cars - Why auto collectors are holding off
Antique Cuban cars: Why auto collectors are holding off
"Because they've been cut off for so long, they've morphed into their
own species. It's not a Cadillac. It's something else."
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera | @MCaruso_Cabrera
Contrary to popular belief, car collectors will not be descending on
Cuba to buy up the thousands of antique American cars still on the road
in the Caribbean nation
"We just don't see it," said McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty Insurance,
which specializes in insuring collector cars.
Cuba is a bubble of anachronisms, one of the most obvious being the
thousands American cars from the 1940s and 1950s, which still make up a
significant form of transportation for the island nation.
Read MoreCuban students learn about U.S. entrepreneurship
The time-warp feel to the place stems from the imposition of the U.S.
embargo in 1962, during which American companies were no longer
permitted to do any business in Cuba. Once in place, it was not possible
to get new American cars or parts.
Fidel Castro's autocratic socialism was the final nail in the coffin of
the new car market—Cubans weren't permitted to buy cars. They could only
be given them by the government. And the government never had enough
money to import cars en masse from Europe or Asia. During the Soviet
era, Russia sent Ladas, which, despite being newer, didn't last as long
as the American cars.
Experts who spoke to CNBC expressed deep admiration for the ingenuity
that has kept the American cars on the road, but it's that very same
ingenuity that will likely cut into the value of the cars. "They're
known to be held together by duct tape and bailing twine," said David
Magers, CEO of Mecum Auctions.
"From our perspective, there's not a lot of enthusiasm for bringing
those cars to the U.S. market," Magers said.
The "intrinsic value in collector cars is in the originality of its
parts," said Steve Linden, an appraiser of collectible automobiles. Most
important, he said, are "original body, panels, engines, transmissions."
It doesn't take long for an expert to see that there's little that's
original left in the American cars on the roads of Cuba—most of which
are General Motors models—except the body.
Hagerty recalled one of his first experiences with the island's cars on
a trip their 15 years ago: "When I went, I jumped in a 1956 Cadillac,
and it looked really good. The guy turned the key and it had a Peugeot
diesel engine."
Hagerty likened it to a "Galapagos Island" of cars. "Because they've
been cut off for so long, they've morphed into their own species. It's
not a Cadillac. It's something else."
Read MoreAre muscle cars a good investment?
To use an example of how that affects valuation, Linden said a
quintessential American car like a 1957 Chevy Bel Air four-door sedan,
in perfect condition with original parts, could sell for as much as
$50,000. The same model in Cuba, with a large dollop of Bondo body
filler and substitute parts, would probably sell for only $5,000.
Additionally, the sweet spot of car collecting has moved from the 1950s
to the 1960s. "What's hot right now are the American muscle cars of the
late '60s and '70s," Magers said. Models such as Ford Mustangs from 1965
to 1973, Dodge Challengers, Chargers and Daytonas are hot, plus the
Shelby Plymouth Superbird.
The greatest interest is likely to come from Cuban exiles who are proud
to buy a car that is quintessentially Cuban, and representative of the
era. Hagerty said that a car from there "will be considered on the
merits of it being a 'Cuban' car, not a classic collectible."
At the same time, Hagerty said he expects there to be a great desire by
the Cubans themselves to keep them on the island "as an example of the
last vestige of the spirit of survival. There's something down there
about these cars that means more to them than just a car."
"It's like jazz," he said. "It's one of their art forms."
Source: Antique Cuban cars: Why auto collectors are holding off -
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/03/antique-cuban-cars-why-auto-collectors-are-holding-off.html
"Because they've been cut off for so long, they've morphed into their
own species. It's not a Cadillac. It's something else."
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera | @MCaruso_Cabrera
Contrary to popular belief, car collectors will not be descending on
Cuba to buy up the thousands of antique American cars still on the road
in the Caribbean nation
"We just don't see it," said McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty Insurance,
which specializes in insuring collector cars.
Cuba is a bubble of anachronisms, one of the most obvious being the
thousands American cars from the 1940s and 1950s, which still make up a
significant form of transportation for the island nation.
Read MoreCuban students learn about U.S. entrepreneurship
The time-warp feel to the place stems from the imposition of the U.S.
embargo in 1962, during which American companies were no longer
permitted to do any business in Cuba. Once in place, it was not possible
to get new American cars or parts.
Fidel Castro's autocratic socialism was the final nail in the coffin of
the new car market—Cubans weren't permitted to buy cars. They could only
be given them by the government. And the government never had enough
money to import cars en masse from Europe or Asia. During the Soviet
era, Russia sent Ladas, which, despite being newer, didn't last as long
as the American cars.
Experts who spoke to CNBC expressed deep admiration for the ingenuity
that has kept the American cars on the road, but it's that very same
ingenuity that will likely cut into the value of the cars. "They're
known to be held together by duct tape and bailing twine," said David
Magers, CEO of Mecum Auctions.
"From our perspective, there's not a lot of enthusiasm for bringing
those cars to the U.S. market," Magers said.
The "intrinsic value in collector cars is in the originality of its
parts," said Steve Linden, an appraiser of collectible automobiles. Most
important, he said, are "original body, panels, engines, transmissions."
It doesn't take long for an expert to see that there's little that's
original left in the American cars on the roads of Cuba—most of which
are General Motors models—except the body.
Hagerty recalled one of his first experiences with the island's cars on
a trip their 15 years ago: "When I went, I jumped in a 1956 Cadillac,
and it looked really good. The guy turned the key and it had a Peugeot
diesel engine."
Hagerty likened it to a "Galapagos Island" of cars. "Because they've
been cut off for so long, they've morphed into their own species. It's
not a Cadillac. It's something else."
Read MoreAre muscle cars a good investment?
To use an example of how that affects valuation, Linden said a
quintessential American car like a 1957 Chevy Bel Air four-door sedan,
in perfect condition with original parts, could sell for as much as
$50,000. The same model in Cuba, with a large dollop of Bondo body
filler and substitute parts, would probably sell for only $5,000.
Additionally, the sweet spot of car collecting has moved from the 1950s
to the 1960s. "What's hot right now are the American muscle cars of the
late '60s and '70s," Magers said. Models such as Ford Mustangs from 1965
to 1973, Dodge Challengers, Chargers and Daytonas are hot, plus the
Shelby Plymouth Superbird.
The greatest interest is likely to come from Cuban exiles who are proud
to buy a car that is quintessentially Cuban, and representative of the
era. Hagerty said that a car from there "will be considered on the
merits of it being a 'Cuban' car, not a classic collectible."
At the same time, Hagerty said he expects there to be a great desire by
the Cubans themselves to keep them on the island "as an example of the
last vestige of the spirit of survival. There's something down there
about these cars that means more to them than just a car."
"It's like jazz," he said. "It's one of their art forms."
Source: Antique Cuban cars: Why auto collectors are holding off -
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/03/antique-cuban-cars-why-auto-collectors-are-holding-off.html
Monday, August 3, 2015
Most of our people pretend - Angel Santiesteban
Angel Santiesteban: Most of our people pretend
Posted on August 3, 2015
Interview with Ángel Santiesteban after his conditional release – Cuba 2015.
Havana, Cuba, Augusto César San Martín — The writer Ángel Santiesteban
Prats suffers with every word he writes. "I classify my work as social,"
he declares in an interview given to Cubanet. "It's always about the
environment that surrounds the Cuban," he adds.
And "suffering" is the best word to describe a people numb with fear,
according to the writer who won the Short Story Prize from the National
Union of Artists and Writers in Cuba (UNEAC).
"Most of our people pretend; they hope that this will pass and that they
don't encounter that wall. They don't brave any consesquences they might
receive for confronting the dictatorship," he expressed.
Named by Reporters Without Borders as one of the 100 Information Heroes
in 2014, Santiesteban was released from prison under a cautionary
measure that can reverse his current limited freedom.
The author of several books of short stories, he received the Franz
Kafka Novels of the Drawer Prize for his novel, "The Summer When God Was
Sleeping," where he recounts highlights that mark Cuban society: the
participation of Cubans in the war in Africa, prison and the rafters.
Perhaps this last is a reckoning with his past for the 14 months he
remained a prisoner at the age of 17, accused of conspiracy for saying
goodbye, on the coast, to the family that failed as rafters.
He confessed to Cubanet that he carries fears with him in order to
defend his ideas. They are in his blog, The Children That Nobody Wanted,
and in the fear of dragging his family along when he's repressed by the
police.
He states that the two and one-half years in prison made him grow as a
writer, a human being, and revealed to him the courage of Cuban
freemasonry, to which he belongs.
His memory for the offenses he received has the same power as his
disposition to reconcile with his adversaries. He suggested that I
invite them to a rapprochement, even though conciliation appears difficult.
Disoriented in time like every ex-prisoner, he brings with him a
thousand prison demons that will sleep with him for the rest of his
days. Perhaps he doesn't know that they'll be persistent companions, but
he is convinced that they are there, watching over his spiritual damage
on the orders of those who imprisoned him.
The writer describes death threats by the police, arrests, insults,
psychological damage to his family and imprisonment – a scenario that
could well accommodate negative feelings. But in the hour that we share
in one of the offices of the Great Masonic Temple, Ángel Santiesteban
Prats doesn't show the least hint of rancor.
Published in Cubanet.
Translated by Regina Anavy
Source: Angel Santiesteban: Most of our people pretend | Translating
Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/angel-santiesteban-most-of-our-people-pretend/
Posted on August 3, 2015
Interview with Ángel Santiesteban after his conditional release – Cuba 2015.
Havana, Cuba, Augusto César San Martín — The writer Ángel Santiesteban
Prats suffers with every word he writes. "I classify my work as social,"
he declares in an interview given to Cubanet. "It's always about the
environment that surrounds the Cuban," he adds.
And "suffering" is the best word to describe a people numb with fear,
according to the writer who won the Short Story Prize from the National
Union of Artists and Writers in Cuba (UNEAC).
"Most of our people pretend; they hope that this will pass and that they
don't encounter that wall. They don't brave any consesquences they might
receive for confronting the dictatorship," he expressed.
Named by Reporters Without Borders as one of the 100 Information Heroes
in 2014, Santiesteban was released from prison under a cautionary
measure that can reverse his current limited freedom.
The author of several books of short stories, he received the Franz
Kafka Novels of the Drawer Prize for his novel, "The Summer When God Was
Sleeping," where he recounts highlights that mark Cuban society: the
participation of Cubans in the war in Africa, prison and the rafters.
Perhaps this last is a reckoning with his past for the 14 months he
remained a prisoner at the age of 17, accused of conspiracy for saying
goodbye, on the coast, to the family that failed as rafters.
He confessed to Cubanet that he carries fears with him in order to
defend his ideas. They are in his blog, The Children That Nobody Wanted,
and in the fear of dragging his family along when he's repressed by the
police.
He states that the two and one-half years in prison made him grow as a
writer, a human being, and revealed to him the courage of Cuban
freemasonry, to which he belongs.
His memory for the offenses he received has the same power as his
disposition to reconcile with his adversaries. He suggested that I
invite them to a rapprochement, even though conciliation appears difficult.
Disoriented in time like every ex-prisoner, he brings with him a
thousand prison demons that will sleep with him for the rest of his
days. Perhaps he doesn't know that they'll be persistent companions, but
he is convinced that they are there, watching over his spiritual damage
on the orders of those who imprisoned him.
The writer describes death threats by the police, arrests, insults,
psychological damage to his family and imprisonment – a scenario that
could well accommodate negative feelings. But in the hour that we share
in one of the offices of the Great Masonic Temple, Ángel Santiesteban
Prats doesn't show the least hint of rancor.
Published in Cubanet.
Translated by Regina Anavy
Source: Angel Santiesteban: Most of our people pretend | Translating
Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/angel-santiesteban-most-of-our-people-pretend/
Causes and Dangers of the Government’s Erratic Course
Causes and Dangers of the Government's Erratic Course / Dimas Castellano
Posted on August 2, 2015
The Antecedents
The Revolutionaries who took power in 1959 substituted the 1940
Constitution for the Fundamental Law of the Cuban State*, the Prime
Minister assumed the powers of the Head of Government, and the Council
of Ministers replaced the Congress. Measures for "the benefit of the
people" were decreed that legitimized the power acquired through force.
At the same time, civil society was dismantled and civic and political
liberties cut. Power was concentrated in the leader, private property
passed into the hands of the state, institutionality was undone, and the
condition of being a citizen disappeared.
Economic inefficiency was superseded by Soviet subsidies until the
collapse the socialist bloc sunk the country into a profound crisis. In
response, the government introduced some provisional reforms subordinate
to political power. With the triumph of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela a new
godfather emerged, and the Cuban government, freed from the pressure of
the crisis, put a stop to the reforms. Between that moment and the
substitution of the Leader of the Revolution [when Raul Castro stepping
in for Fidel Castro], between July 2006 and February 2008, economic
deterioration determined the start of new changes within a context of
modernizing the model.
The Failure
The transfer of power among the same forces that had held it since 1959
preordained that the order, depth and speed of the changes would remain
subordinate again to political interests. This condition disabled the
Minimal Plan of Reforms put forth by General Raúl Castro, which aimed to
achieve a strong and efficient agriculture, reduce imports, increase
exports, attract investments, halt illegalities, check corruption,
deflate the public payrolls, and propel self-employment.
The subordination became instititutionalized during the First Conference
of the Cuban Communist Party that took place in 2012. These proceedings
revitalized the line suggested by Fidel Castro when, during the Cultural
Congress of 1961, he asked, "What are the rights of revolutionary and
non-revolutionary writers and artists?" and which he answered himself by
saying, "Within the Revolution, everything; against the Revolution,
nothing. And this would not be any exceptional law for the artists and
for the writers. This is a general principle for all citizens." As it
was not difficult to predict, in the absence of democracy, the change of
form to preserve the content did not provide the expected result: the
efficiency in preserving power could not be transferred to the economy.
Three years after commencing the modernization of the model, the decline
has continued: farm production is deficient; sugar quotas are not
reached; the reduction of imports and increase of exports are pending
subjects; foreign investments have not reached the expected levels; the
relationship between wages and cost of living worsens; illegalities
continue their inexorable pace; and the limitations placed on
self-employment and "cooperatives" have impeded these sectors taking off.
The Transfer of Power
For biological reasons, the generation that took power in 1959 will exit
the political scene in the next three years. This generation is
confronting the need to legitimize its successors through different
pathways than those through which they legitimized themselves. To do
this, they would have to reform the state, including the constitution
and the electoral law, against which emerge two simultaneous obstacles:
the failure to modernize the model, and the reestablishment of relations
with the United States.
The first obstacle is economic stagnation, a situation quite different
from when they assumed power in 1959, and confiscated warehouses allowed
power that had been acquired by force to be legitimized through the
distribution of pre-produced goods. Added to this was the ever-growing
exodus from Cuba, uncontrolled corruption, and the rise in citizen
discontent, all of which prevents a transfer of power in conditions of
prosperity.
The second obstacle is the White House's new policy towards Cuba. The
package of measures announced on 17 December 2014 will have an impact on
the empowerment of Cubans, which is the weakest factor in changes for
the Cuba of today. Throughout the unfolding of this process, the concept
of the "external enemy" will begin to be eclipsed, hence the foreign
contradiction — which played such a useful role in preserving power —
will gradually be replaced by the contradiction between the Cuban people
and government, which complicates the transfer of power.
If to these two great hindrances is added that the government is
responsible for all that has occurred, good or bad, throughout more than
half a century; that during this time the nomenklatura has acquired
vested interests; that there are within it diverging opinions about how
far the reforms should go; that the average age of its members militates
against the vitality needed to undertake profound changes; and that for
decades they have been able to govern unopposed — then the conclusion is
that the government is not prepared to take on the contradictory
propositions of making the reforms that the country requires,
reestablishing relations with the United States, and preserving power.
In this contradiction, which will continue setting the pace of the
process in the short term, is contained, from my point of view, the
explanation of the government's erratic course:
On 17 December 2014, the Cuban president challenged the US government to
adopt mutual measures for improving the bilateral climate, and advancing
towards the normalization of ties between the countries (a step
forward). On 28 January 2015, at the Third Summit of the Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States [CELAC], he set forth four demands
and said, "If these problems are not resolved, this diplomatic
rapprochement between Cuba and the United States will not make sense (a
step backward). On 11 April, at the Seventh Summit of the Americas, Raul
Castro reduced the demands and said that the principal obstacles to
opening the embassies was the removal of Cuba from the list of state
sponsors of terrorism, and the provision of banking facilities to enable
financial transactions by the Cuban Interests Section in Washington (a
step forward). Even though on 12 May, during goodbyes to French
President François Hollande, he declared that when Cuba is finally
removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism we will be able to
name ambassadors, then on 20 and 21 May, during the third round of
talks, the Cuban delegation entrenched itself in their interpretation of
the Vienna Convention regarding the limits, the form, and the conduct
becoming to North American diplomats (a step backward).
The American position could not have come as a surprise. Prior to
departing for the summit in Panama, Barack Obama said, "Our new policy
towards Cuba will also facilitate a greater connection to the Cuban
people, including a greater flow of resources and information to them,
and this is already showing results. We have seen an increase in contact
between the people of Cuba and the United States, and the enthusiasm of
the Cuban people towards these changes shows that we are taking the
right path." During the summit, Obama said, "Civil society is the
conscience of our nations. It is the catalyzing force of change. It is
the reason for which strong nations do not fear active citizens. Strong
nations accept, support and empower active citizens… And when we engage
with a civil society, it is because we believe that our relationship
should be with governments and with the people they represent." He made
similar statements during the meeting he had with civil society
representatives from Latin America, and in his personal encounter
with Raúl Castro.
For her part, US delegation chief Roberta Jacobson, prior to the third
round of negotiations, said during her appearance before the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee that the relationship of the US Interests
Section in Havana "with the broadest cross-section" of Cubans "will grow
once diplomatic relations are established with Cuba."
That is to say, if despite those declarations there was progress in the
removal of Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and the
provision of facilities for banking transactions in Washington, it makes
no sense to delay the opening of the embassies because of some
"interpretation" of the Vienna Convention.
Upon the conclusion of the third round of talks, the difference between
the two delegations could be seen. In the press conference, in answer to
the question about a fourth round, Josefina Vidal — from the Cuban side
— responded that there has been progress, but that there remained
pending topics to discuss forthwith. Meanwhile, Roberta Jacobson said
more or less that for those topics another meeting was not necessary.
Her position was that the diplomats would conduct themselves such as
they do in other regimes similar to that of Cuba, where US diplomats
have permission to travel within the country for periods that vary
"between 24 hours and 10 days."
The Dangers of the Erratic Course
The government of Cuba, for the reasons outlined, decided to introduce
changes too late. For this reason the interrelation between economic
stagnation, wage insufficiency, generalized corruption, popular
discontent, and a growing exodus are incompatible with the slowness of
the changes.
If this slow march is appreciated by the power structure as a guarantee
of its stability, it is not so by Cuban society. The insistence on
preserving power and the delay in initiating transformations have led to
an extremely complex situation, internally and externally, which
requires political will to act in keeping with the gravity of the matter.
To not act as a consequence of this scenario could lead to a fatal
result, because an abrupt exit — for whatever reason that might cause it
— would lead to a situation in which there would be no peaceful
transition, and in which all, without exception, would be losers. Should
this occur, the responsibility would fall on those who still hold the
reins of power.
The prospect of relations with the United States — the most significant
political event for Cuba since the 1959 Revolution — has generated an
opportunity that should not be wasted. It is useful to the Cuban
government, being that it provides it with "an honorable way out"; it is
useful to US interests, for its own reasons; but above all, it is useful
to Cubans, because it is a favorable context for their empowerment, and
for them to once again become citizens.
Originally published in Diario de Cuba, 24 Jun 2015
Translated by: Alicia Barraqué Ellison
26 June 2015
Source: Causes and Dangers of the Government's Erratic Course / Dimas
Castellano | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/causes-and-dangers-of-the-governments-erratic-course-dimas-castellano/
Posted on August 2, 2015
The Antecedents
The Revolutionaries who took power in 1959 substituted the 1940
Constitution for the Fundamental Law of the Cuban State*, the Prime
Minister assumed the powers of the Head of Government, and the Council
of Ministers replaced the Congress. Measures for "the benefit of the
people" were decreed that legitimized the power acquired through force.
At the same time, civil society was dismantled and civic and political
liberties cut. Power was concentrated in the leader, private property
passed into the hands of the state, institutionality was undone, and the
condition of being a citizen disappeared.
Economic inefficiency was superseded by Soviet subsidies until the
collapse the socialist bloc sunk the country into a profound crisis. In
response, the government introduced some provisional reforms subordinate
to political power. With the triumph of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela a new
godfather emerged, and the Cuban government, freed from the pressure of
the crisis, put a stop to the reforms. Between that moment and the
substitution of the Leader of the Revolution [when Raul Castro stepping
in for Fidel Castro], between July 2006 and February 2008, economic
deterioration determined the start of new changes within a context of
modernizing the model.
The Failure
The transfer of power among the same forces that had held it since 1959
preordained that the order, depth and speed of the changes would remain
subordinate again to political interests. This condition disabled the
Minimal Plan of Reforms put forth by General Raúl Castro, which aimed to
achieve a strong and efficient agriculture, reduce imports, increase
exports, attract investments, halt illegalities, check corruption,
deflate the public payrolls, and propel self-employment.
The subordination became instititutionalized during the First Conference
of the Cuban Communist Party that took place in 2012. These proceedings
revitalized the line suggested by Fidel Castro when, during the Cultural
Congress of 1961, he asked, "What are the rights of revolutionary and
non-revolutionary writers and artists?" and which he answered himself by
saying, "Within the Revolution, everything; against the Revolution,
nothing. And this would not be any exceptional law for the artists and
for the writers. This is a general principle for all citizens." As it
was not difficult to predict, in the absence of democracy, the change of
form to preserve the content did not provide the expected result: the
efficiency in preserving power could not be transferred to the economy.
Three years after commencing the modernization of the model, the decline
has continued: farm production is deficient; sugar quotas are not
reached; the reduction of imports and increase of exports are pending
subjects; foreign investments have not reached the expected levels; the
relationship between wages and cost of living worsens; illegalities
continue their inexorable pace; and the limitations placed on
self-employment and "cooperatives" have impeded these sectors taking off.
The Transfer of Power
For biological reasons, the generation that took power in 1959 will exit
the political scene in the next three years. This generation is
confronting the need to legitimize its successors through different
pathways than those through which they legitimized themselves. To do
this, they would have to reform the state, including the constitution
and the electoral law, against which emerge two simultaneous obstacles:
the failure to modernize the model, and the reestablishment of relations
with the United States.
The first obstacle is economic stagnation, a situation quite different
from when they assumed power in 1959, and confiscated warehouses allowed
power that had been acquired by force to be legitimized through the
distribution of pre-produced goods. Added to this was the ever-growing
exodus from Cuba, uncontrolled corruption, and the rise in citizen
discontent, all of which prevents a transfer of power in conditions of
prosperity.
The second obstacle is the White House's new policy towards Cuba. The
package of measures announced on 17 December 2014 will have an impact on
the empowerment of Cubans, which is the weakest factor in changes for
the Cuba of today. Throughout the unfolding of this process, the concept
of the "external enemy" will begin to be eclipsed, hence the foreign
contradiction — which played such a useful role in preserving power —
will gradually be replaced by the contradiction between the Cuban people
and government, which complicates the transfer of power.
If to these two great hindrances is added that the government is
responsible for all that has occurred, good or bad, throughout more than
half a century; that during this time the nomenklatura has acquired
vested interests; that there are within it diverging opinions about how
far the reforms should go; that the average age of its members militates
against the vitality needed to undertake profound changes; and that for
decades they have been able to govern unopposed — then the conclusion is
that the government is not prepared to take on the contradictory
propositions of making the reforms that the country requires,
reestablishing relations with the United States, and preserving power.
In this contradiction, which will continue setting the pace of the
process in the short term, is contained, from my point of view, the
explanation of the government's erratic course:
On 17 December 2014, the Cuban president challenged the US government to
adopt mutual measures for improving the bilateral climate, and advancing
towards the normalization of ties between the countries (a step
forward). On 28 January 2015, at the Third Summit of the Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States [CELAC], he set forth four demands
and said, "If these problems are not resolved, this diplomatic
rapprochement between Cuba and the United States will not make sense (a
step backward). On 11 April, at the Seventh Summit of the Americas, Raul
Castro reduced the demands and said that the principal obstacles to
opening the embassies was the removal of Cuba from the list of state
sponsors of terrorism, and the provision of banking facilities to enable
financial transactions by the Cuban Interests Section in Washington (a
step forward). Even though on 12 May, during goodbyes to French
President François Hollande, he declared that when Cuba is finally
removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism we will be able to
name ambassadors, then on 20 and 21 May, during the third round of
talks, the Cuban delegation entrenched itself in their interpretation of
the Vienna Convention regarding the limits, the form, and the conduct
becoming to North American diplomats (a step backward).
The American position could not have come as a surprise. Prior to
departing for the summit in Panama, Barack Obama said, "Our new policy
towards Cuba will also facilitate a greater connection to the Cuban
people, including a greater flow of resources and information to them,
and this is already showing results. We have seen an increase in contact
between the people of Cuba and the United States, and the enthusiasm of
the Cuban people towards these changes shows that we are taking the
right path." During the summit, Obama said, "Civil society is the
conscience of our nations. It is the catalyzing force of change. It is
the reason for which strong nations do not fear active citizens. Strong
nations accept, support and empower active citizens… And when we engage
with a civil society, it is because we believe that our relationship
should be with governments and with the people they represent." He made
similar statements during the meeting he had with civil society
representatives from Latin America, and in his personal encounter
with Raúl Castro.
For her part, US delegation chief Roberta Jacobson, prior to the third
round of negotiations, said during her appearance before the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee that the relationship of the US Interests
Section in Havana "with the broadest cross-section" of Cubans "will grow
once diplomatic relations are established with Cuba."
That is to say, if despite those declarations there was progress in the
removal of Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and the
provision of facilities for banking transactions in Washington, it makes
no sense to delay the opening of the embassies because of some
"interpretation" of the Vienna Convention.
Upon the conclusion of the third round of talks, the difference between
the two delegations could be seen. In the press conference, in answer to
the question about a fourth round, Josefina Vidal — from the Cuban side
— responded that there has been progress, but that there remained
pending topics to discuss forthwith. Meanwhile, Roberta Jacobson said
more or less that for those topics another meeting was not necessary.
Her position was that the diplomats would conduct themselves such as
they do in other regimes similar to that of Cuba, where US diplomats
have permission to travel within the country for periods that vary
"between 24 hours and 10 days."
The Dangers of the Erratic Course
The government of Cuba, for the reasons outlined, decided to introduce
changes too late. For this reason the interrelation between economic
stagnation, wage insufficiency, generalized corruption, popular
discontent, and a growing exodus are incompatible with the slowness of
the changes.
If this slow march is appreciated by the power structure as a guarantee
of its stability, it is not so by Cuban society. The insistence on
preserving power and the delay in initiating transformations have led to
an extremely complex situation, internally and externally, which
requires political will to act in keeping with the gravity of the matter.
To not act as a consequence of this scenario could lead to a fatal
result, because an abrupt exit — for whatever reason that might cause it
— would lead to a situation in which there would be no peaceful
transition, and in which all, without exception, would be losers. Should
this occur, the responsibility would fall on those who still hold the
reins of power.
The prospect of relations with the United States — the most significant
political event for Cuba since the 1959 Revolution — has generated an
opportunity that should not be wasted. It is useful to the Cuban
government, being that it provides it with "an honorable way out"; it is
useful to US interests, for its own reasons; but above all, it is useful
to Cubans, because it is a favorable context for their empowerment, and
for them to once again become citizens.
Originally published in Diario de Cuba, 24 Jun 2015
Translated by: Alicia Barraqué Ellison
26 June 2015
Source: Causes and Dangers of the Government's Erratic Course / Dimas
Castellano | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/causes-and-dangers-of-the-governments-erratic-course-dimas-castellano/
More Than 50 Activists Arrested Sunday In The March Of The Ladies In White
More Than 50 Activists Arrested Sunday In The March Of The Ladies In
White / 14ymedio
Posted on August 2, 2015
The writer Angel Santiesteban with the Ladies in White at the Gandhi
Park at the exit of the church of Santa Rita (Photo Luis Lazaro Guanche)
14ymedio, Havana, 2 August 2015 – This afternoon, after Sunday's march
of the Ladies in White on Fifth Avenue in Miramar, Havana, 40 members of
this organization and about 15 activists were arrested.
The arrests came after a massive act of repudiation against the Ladies
in White, as reported to 14ymedio by several witnesses present at the
scene. Among those detained are the blogger Lia Villares, the government
opponent Raul Borges and independent journalist Juan González Febles.
The Ladies in White have denounced the increased repression around the
walk organized every Sunday at the conclusion of Mass in the church of
Santa Rita, in Miramar. This time most of the arrests occurred on the
28th Street at the corner of 3rd, when the activists had left the
immediate vicinity of the parish.
Meanwhile in Colón, Matanzas province, nine Ladies in White carried out
their march for the freedom of political prisoners under a strong police
operation. So far there have been no arrests reported in the province.
Source: More Than 50 Activists Arrested Sunday In The March Of The
Ladies In White / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/more-than-50-activists-arrested-sunday-in-the-march-of-the-ladies-in-white-14ymedio/
White / 14ymedio
Posted on August 2, 2015
The writer Angel Santiesteban with the Ladies in White at the Gandhi
Park at the exit of the church of Santa Rita (Photo Luis Lazaro Guanche)
14ymedio, Havana, 2 August 2015 – This afternoon, after Sunday's march
of the Ladies in White on Fifth Avenue in Miramar, Havana, 40 members of
this organization and about 15 activists were arrested.
The arrests came after a massive act of repudiation against the Ladies
in White, as reported to 14ymedio by several witnesses present at the
scene. Among those detained are the blogger Lia Villares, the government
opponent Raul Borges and independent journalist Juan González Febles.
The Ladies in White have denounced the increased repression around the
walk organized every Sunday at the conclusion of Mass in the church of
Santa Rita, in Miramar. This time most of the arrests occurred on the
28th Street at the corner of 3rd, when the activists had left the
immediate vicinity of the parish.
Meanwhile in Colón, Matanzas province, nine Ladies in White carried out
their march for the freedom of political prisoners under a strong police
operation. So far there have been no arrests reported in the province.
Source: More Than 50 Activists Arrested Sunday In The March Of The
Ladies In White / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/more-than-50-activists-arrested-sunday-in-the-march-of-the-ladies-in-white-14ymedio/
Clinton Needs to Read Up on the Castros
Clinton Needs to Read Up on the Castros
The embargo does not block the sale of books to Cuba, or isolate its
economy from the world.
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
Getting to the left of Vermont senator and avowed socialist Bernie
Sanders is no easy feat. But Hillary Clinton's speech in Miami Friday
was an excellent effort. What could be more reassuring to the extreme
fringe of the Democratic Party (i.e., primary voters) than a candidate
who uses the talking points of Fidel and Raúl Castro to explain Cuban
isolation and misery?
The problem for the rest of the electorate is what the speech says about
Mrs. Clinton's foreign-policy judgment. Her remarks do not inspire
confidence that she has a strategy for dealing with the intransigent
Castro dictatorship.
Things are not going well for Mrs. Clinton. Gallup reported on July 24
that Mr. Sanders's favorability rating had doubled since March to 24%
while Hillary Clinton's had dropped five points to 43% since April. The
loss of momentum calls for creativity. Playing the Cuba card is a way to
win back the far left, as well as to bring in campaign donations from
unprincipled corporatists eager to go into business with the regime.
Mrs. Clinton's call for the U.S. Congress to lift the embargo "once and
for all" is neither new nor unique; she advocated doing that a year ago
at the Council on Foreign Relations. It's a view shared by a variety of
Americans across the political spectrum, including libertarians who
believe the U.S. government shouldn't have the power to dictate where
they can travel any more than it should fund the Inter-American
Development Bank, which undoubtedly wants to add the crooked Castros to
its "client" list.
But when Mrs. Clinton said on Friday that "we must decide between
engagement and embargo, between embracing fresh thinking and returning
to Cold War deadlock," she was applying the same reasoning the Obama
administration uses to argue that the U.S. needs to either accept the
nuclear deal with Iran or go to war. This is a false dichotomy that
doesn't hold for Cuba policy any more than it holds for dealing with Tehran.
Mrs. Clinton called on House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell to "answer the pleas of the Cuban people." Cubans
"want a closer relationship with America," she said. They "want to read
our books, surf our Web, and learn from our people. They want to bring
their country into the 21st century."
The Cuban regime couldn't have crafted a better "blame America"
narrative for the island's isolation. If polls suggest Americans are
buying it, it's because the dictatorship has done such a good job of
spreading propaganda in American universities and media. Mrs. Clinton,
after serving as secretary of state for four years, should know better.
The embargo does not block the export of books to Cuba because
informational material is exempt. Cubans cannot read "our" books because
Cuba controls the reading material that enters the country and imprisons
for "dangerousness" anyone caught with nonapproved texts.
There is no such thing as "our Web," and the U.S. embargo does not
restrict Cubans' access to the Internet. Most Cubans cannot get
computers. Most of those who do have them are denied access to the World
Wide Web. It's only the party faithful who get approval.
As to learning from "our people," Cuba tightly controls interaction with
foreigners, and those who step out of line can go to jail. Try getting a
visa from Cuba if you have been labeled a "counterrevolutionary," as I
have. These policies are expressly designed to block Cubans from
communicating with each other and with outsiders to keep them from
organizing politically or socially.
The unconditional end of the embargo will do nothing to change this. On
the contrary, it may strengthen the dictator's hand if it results in
fresh capital flowing to the island.
Since President Obama announced in December that he would restore
diplomatic relations and liberalize travel to the island, state security
arrests have sharply increased, according to human rights groups. Mrs.
Clinton's line that, if elected, she will press for the settlement of
claims for property confiscated during the revolution would be more
plausible if she pledged to do it before lifting the embargo.
In a July 26 blog post, Cuban-born author and columnist Carlos Alberto
Montaner noted that Mr. Obama's steps toward normalization have not
altered Cuba's "state military capitalism." Some 2,500 medium-size and
large businesses, including the tourism industry, remain in the hands of
the armed forces. Mr. Montaner reminded readers that to generate foreign
currency, Cuba also rents out its doctors and dentists around the world
as slave labor and depends on remittances from émigrés.
With this income, the regime funds the jackboots and maintains the
repression. Or as Mr. Montaner put it, "One ferocious dog is enough to
keep 200 sheep terrified."
If Mrs. Clinton wants to lift the embargo on libertarian grounds she may
have a case. But arguing that doing so will liberate the Cuban people is
either disingenuous or just plain dumb.
Write to O'Grady@wsj.com.
Source: Clinton Needs to Read Up on the Castros - WSJ -
http://www.wsj.com/articles/clinton-needs-to-read-up-on-the-castros-1438551451
The embargo does not block the sale of books to Cuba, or isolate its
economy from the world.
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
Getting to the left of Vermont senator and avowed socialist Bernie
Sanders is no easy feat. But Hillary Clinton's speech in Miami Friday
was an excellent effort. What could be more reassuring to the extreme
fringe of the Democratic Party (i.e., primary voters) than a candidate
who uses the talking points of Fidel and Raúl Castro to explain Cuban
isolation and misery?
The problem for the rest of the electorate is what the speech says about
Mrs. Clinton's foreign-policy judgment. Her remarks do not inspire
confidence that she has a strategy for dealing with the intransigent
Castro dictatorship.
Things are not going well for Mrs. Clinton. Gallup reported on July 24
that Mr. Sanders's favorability rating had doubled since March to 24%
while Hillary Clinton's had dropped five points to 43% since April. The
loss of momentum calls for creativity. Playing the Cuba card is a way to
win back the far left, as well as to bring in campaign donations from
unprincipled corporatists eager to go into business with the regime.
Mrs. Clinton's call for the U.S. Congress to lift the embargo "once and
for all" is neither new nor unique; she advocated doing that a year ago
at the Council on Foreign Relations. It's a view shared by a variety of
Americans across the political spectrum, including libertarians who
believe the U.S. government shouldn't have the power to dictate where
they can travel any more than it should fund the Inter-American
Development Bank, which undoubtedly wants to add the crooked Castros to
its "client" list.
But when Mrs. Clinton said on Friday that "we must decide between
engagement and embargo, between embracing fresh thinking and returning
to Cold War deadlock," she was applying the same reasoning the Obama
administration uses to argue that the U.S. needs to either accept the
nuclear deal with Iran or go to war. This is a false dichotomy that
doesn't hold for Cuba policy any more than it holds for dealing with Tehran.
Mrs. Clinton called on House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell to "answer the pleas of the Cuban people." Cubans
"want a closer relationship with America," she said. They "want to read
our books, surf our Web, and learn from our people. They want to bring
their country into the 21st century."
The Cuban regime couldn't have crafted a better "blame America"
narrative for the island's isolation. If polls suggest Americans are
buying it, it's because the dictatorship has done such a good job of
spreading propaganda in American universities and media. Mrs. Clinton,
after serving as secretary of state for four years, should know better.
The embargo does not block the export of books to Cuba because
informational material is exempt. Cubans cannot read "our" books because
Cuba controls the reading material that enters the country and imprisons
for "dangerousness" anyone caught with nonapproved texts.
There is no such thing as "our Web," and the U.S. embargo does not
restrict Cubans' access to the Internet. Most Cubans cannot get
computers. Most of those who do have them are denied access to the World
Wide Web. It's only the party faithful who get approval.
As to learning from "our people," Cuba tightly controls interaction with
foreigners, and those who step out of line can go to jail. Try getting a
visa from Cuba if you have been labeled a "counterrevolutionary," as I
have. These policies are expressly designed to block Cubans from
communicating with each other and with outsiders to keep them from
organizing politically or socially.
The unconditional end of the embargo will do nothing to change this. On
the contrary, it may strengthen the dictator's hand if it results in
fresh capital flowing to the island.
Since President Obama announced in December that he would restore
diplomatic relations and liberalize travel to the island, state security
arrests have sharply increased, according to human rights groups. Mrs.
Clinton's line that, if elected, she will press for the settlement of
claims for property confiscated during the revolution would be more
plausible if she pledged to do it before lifting the embargo.
In a July 26 blog post, Cuban-born author and columnist Carlos Alberto
Montaner noted that Mr. Obama's steps toward normalization have not
altered Cuba's "state military capitalism." Some 2,500 medium-size and
large businesses, including the tourism industry, remain in the hands of
the armed forces. Mr. Montaner reminded readers that to generate foreign
currency, Cuba also rents out its doctors and dentists around the world
as slave labor and depends on remittances from émigrés.
With this income, the regime funds the jackboots and maintains the
repression. Or as Mr. Montaner put it, "One ferocious dog is enough to
keep 200 sheep terrified."
If Mrs. Clinton wants to lift the embargo on libertarian grounds she may
have a case. But arguing that doing so will liberate the Cuban people is
either disingenuous or just plain dumb.
Write to O'Grady@wsj.com.
Source: Clinton Needs to Read Up on the Castros - WSJ -
http://www.wsj.com/articles/clinton-needs-to-read-up-on-the-castros-1438551451
Cuban cigarmakers look to light up U.S. market
Cuban cigarmakers look to light up U.S. market
Last Updated Aug 2, 2015 12:52 PM EDT
Many American cigar smokers dream of smoking a Cuban, legally. We're
talking about Cuban cigars, which have been banned in the U.S. since the
1962 trade embargo against the Castro government. But as both countries
now try to normalize relations, Cuban cigars soon may be available to
American consumers. Mark Strassmann followed a trail of smoke to Havana:
Along Havana's waterfront, no one asks politely before lighting up. No
one complains about the smell or the smoke. The annual Habanos festival
is the most cigar-friendly spot on the planet, an international
celebration of Cuba's pride: its cigars.
"Cuba and cigars go together. It's like France and wine -- they're one
and the same," said David Savona.
For two decades, Savona has written about cigars AND Cuba for Cigar
Aficionado, where he's now executive editor. He and Strassmann took a
drive down Havana's famed Malecón esplanade -- the sort of thing you'd
read about in his lifestyle magazine.
"The humidity, the sunshine, the open air -- it just begs for a cigar,"
Savona said.
Cuban cigars, often called "Cubans," come wrapped in mystique. Fidel
Castro made them his trademark -- before quitting for health reasons.
Winston Churchill loved the cigars, as did President Kennedy. Before he
enacted the trade embargo against Cuba in 1962, he stocked his private
humidor with 1,200 Petit Upmanns.
On July 1, President Obama announced an end to the diplomatic isolation
of Cuba, and on August 14 the American flag will fly once again at the
U.S. Embassy in Havana. The president has also called on Congress to
lift the embargo.
These steps could once again allow the sale of Cuban cigars in the U.S.
Not surprisingly, Savona's magazine has supported an end to the embargo.
Strassmann asked, "Will it make a significant difference to Cuba in any
way?"
"I would think so," Savona replied. "We're talking about the world's
largest market for premium cigars. They've been denied the legal channel
to be there for all these years, so certainly it's important for the
Cuban industry, the Cuban cigar industry, to one day be in the United
States."
At La Corona, one of Cuba's largest cigar factories, workers hand-roll
30,000 cigars a day, five million a year. They blend different tobacco
leaves for the most famous brands in the world -- Cohiba, Montecristo,
Hoyo de Monterrey -- with each cigar essentially a sculpture.
"Absolutely," said Savona. "It's a work of art. Very hard to do. Imagine
if someone gave you a pile of leaves right now and said turn that into a
cigar. You'd have a hard time. I'd have a hard time!"
Those leaves come from Pinar del Rio province, western Cuba, often
considered the world's premier tobacco-growing region.
If a Cuban cigar's soul is in the soil, it's also in 38-year-old Hirochi
Robaina's blood. The Robaina family has been growing tobacco here since
1845. Hirochi's grandfather built most of the operation.
"The Cuban cigars are the best," Robaina said. And his cigars, he says,
are the best in Cuba. "So, if it's the best in Cuba, it's the best in
the world," he said.
"You're very proud of that cigar!" said Strassmann.
"I'm very happy," he said, because "all the experience of my family is
inside this cigar."
Hirochi hopes his cigars will soon end up in the United States where,
despite health concerns, cigar sales have almost quadrupled in the last
20 years.
"The United States is a 45-minute flight," he said. "So, very easy for
our country to send cigars to the United States."
On this day, the United States came to HIM -- a cigar club from Florida.
For Marcus Daniel, the trip to the Robaina Plantation was more than a
pilgrimage. Daniel, an American who owns a cigar shop in Naples, has
traveled here a dozen times. He and Hirochi Robaina see business
opportunities emerging in the U.S.
"The open secret in cigarmaking is that you've got to have good
relationships with the growers," Daniel said. "You need the growers.
You've got to have the best tobacco."
"Is it an advantage to have made some of these relationships already?"
asked Strassmann.
"Well, the early bird gets the worm, so we'll see!" replied Daniels. "I
feel it's like two lovers that are ready to meet. There's a romance
here. Both sides really want it to take place, and now it would just be
nice to see it happen."
If it happens, the Cuban tobacco industry believes it would dominate the
$6.7 billion U.S. cigar market, predicting a 25-to-30 percent share in
the first year, and in time, a 70 percent share.
Is that realistic, asked Strassmann, or are the Cubans in for a surprise?
"I think they're not taking a full consideration of how good those
cigars made outside of Cuba are today," said Savona. "Cigar of the Year
this year is Nicaraguan. The Cigar of the Year from a couple years ago
was from the Dominican Republic. It'll be no better time in cigar
history to be a cigar smoker than when that Cuban product is one day
sold side-by-side with those from the Dominican [Republic], Nicaragua,
Honduras and elsewhere."
Legans Cubans have been a long time coming, but nothing about cigars is
supposed to feel rushed.
And it's good news if you believe the only thing better than a great
cigar ... is another one.
Source: Cuban cigarmakers look to light up U.S. market - CBS News -
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cuban-cigarmakers-look-to-light-up-u-s-market/
Last Updated Aug 2, 2015 12:52 PM EDT
Many American cigar smokers dream of smoking a Cuban, legally. We're
talking about Cuban cigars, which have been banned in the U.S. since the
1962 trade embargo against the Castro government. But as both countries
now try to normalize relations, Cuban cigars soon may be available to
American consumers. Mark Strassmann followed a trail of smoke to Havana:
Along Havana's waterfront, no one asks politely before lighting up. No
one complains about the smell or the smoke. The annual Habanos festival
is the most cigar-friendly spot on the planet, an international
celebration of Cuba's pride: its cigars.
"Cuba and cigars go together. It's like France and wine -- they're one
and the same," said David Savona.
For two decades, Savona has written about cigars AND Cuba for Cigar
Aficionado, where he's now executive editor. He and Strassmann took a
drive down Havana's famed Malecón esplanade -- the sort of thing you'd
read about in his lifestyle magazine.
"The humidity, the sunshine, the open air -- it just begs for a cigar,"
Savona said.
Cuban cigars, often called "Cubans," come wrapped in mystique. Fidel
Castro made them his trademark -- before quitting for health reasons.
Winston Churchill loved the cigars, as did President Kennedy. Before he
enacted the trade embargo against Cuba in 1962, he stocked his private
humidor with 1,200 Petit Upmanns.
On July 1, President Obama announced an end to the diplomatic isolation
of Cuba, and on August 14 the American flag will fly once again at the
U.S. Embassy in Havana. The president has also called on Congress to
lift the embargo.
These steps could once again allow the sale of Cuban cigars in the U.S.
Not surprisingly, Savona's magazine has supported an end to the embargo.
Strassmann asked, "Will it make a significant difference to Cuba in any
way?"
"I would think so," Savona replied. "We're talking about the world's
largest market for premium cigars. They've been denied the legal channel
to be there for all these years, so certainly it's important for the
Cuban industry, the Cuban cigar industry, to one day be in the United
States."
At La Corona, one of Cuba's largest cigar factories, workers hand-roll
30,000 cigars a day, five million a year. They blend different tobacco
leaves for the most famous brands in the world -- Cohiba, Montecristo,
Hoyo de Monterrey -- with each cigar essentially a sculpture.
"Absolutely," said Savona. "It's a work of art. Very hard to do. Imagine
if someone gave you a pile of leaves right now and said turn that into a
cigar. You'd have a hard time. I'd have a hard time!"
Those leaves come from Pinar del Rio province, western Cuba, often
considered the world's premier tobacco-growing region.
If a Cuban cigar's soul is in the soil, it's also in 38-year-old Hirochi
Robaina's blood. The Robaina family has been growing tobacco here since
1845. Hirochi's grandfather built most of the operation.
"The Cuban cigars are the best," Robaina said. And his cigars, he says,
are the best in Cuba. "So, if it's the best in Cuba, it's the best in
the world," he said.
"You're very proud of that cigar!" said Strassmann.
"I'm very happy," he said, because "all the experience of my family is
inside this cigar."
Hirochi hopes his cigars will soon end up in the United States where,
despite health concerns, cigar sales have almost quadrupled in the last
20 years.
"The United States is a 45-minute flight," he said. "So, very easy for
our country to send cigars to the United States."
On this day, the United States came to HIM -- a cigar club from Florida.
For Marcus Daniel, the trip to the Robaina Plantation was more than a
pilgrimage. Daniel, an American who owns a cigar shop in Naples, has
traveled here a dozen times. He and Hirochi Robaina see business
opportunities emerging in the U.S.
"The open secret in cigarmaking is that you've got to have good
relationships with the growers," Daniel said. "You need the growers.
You've got to have the best tobacco."
"Is it an advantage to have made some of these relationships already?"
asked Strassmann.
"Well, the early bird gets the worm, so we'll see!" replied Daniels. "I
feel it's like two lovers that are ready to meet. There's a romance
here. Both sides really want it to take place, and now it would just be
nice to see it happen."
If it happens, the Cuban tobacco industry believes it would dominate the
$6.7 billion U.S. cigar market, predicting a 25-to-30 percent share in
the first year, and in time, a 70 percent share.
Is that realistic, asked Strassmann, or are the Cubans in for a surprise?
"I think they're not taking a full consideration of how good those
cigars made outside of Cuba are today," said Savona. "Cigar of the Year
this year is Nicaraguan. The Cigar of the Year from a couple years ago
was from the Dominican Republic. It'll be no better time in cigar
history to be a cigar smoker than when that Cuban product is one day
sold side-by-side with those from the Dominican [Republic], Nicaragua,
Honduras and elsewhere."
Legans Cubans have been a long time coming, but nothing about cigars is
supposed to feel rushed.
And it's good news if you believe the only thing better than a great
cigar ... is another one.
Source: Cuban cigarmakers look to light up U.S. market - CBS News -
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cuban-cigarmakers-look-to-light-up-u-s-market/
Economic sanctions on Cuba to thaw slowly
Economic sanctions on Cuba to thaw slowly
Aug. 1, 2015
The Copa, it turns out, is not the hottest spot north of Havana. That
distinction belongs to the blast furnace that doubles as the ground
transportation staging area at Miami International Airport, where
thousands of Cuban visitors could soon be reunited with families
separated by 54 years of political and economic estrangement.
For now, President Barack Obama's decision to re-establish diplomatic
ties with the Island that Time Forgot has largely humanitarian
implications. Most of the economic sanctions imposed by the United
States on Cuba in 1962 — and toughened by the Helms-Burton Act in 1996 —
will remain in place at an annual cost of about $1.2 billion to the U.S.
and nearly $700 million to Cuba.
There has been a discernible thaw among younger Cuban-Americans in their
attitude toward former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and his 84-year-old
brother Raul, who succeeded him in 2006. But given the unrelenting
antipathy among Cuba's aging but still politically powerful expatriate
community in Miami, there is little likelihood that the main economic
components of the embargo will be loosened before next year's U.S.
presidential election.
Florida's 29 electoral votes are too important to ignore.
Sweet and sour
Due in part to reporting by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer,
the United States in the late 19th century was drawn into a war with
Spain that eventually led to Cuban independence and a major American
stake in the island's large agricultural sector.
By the mid-1920s, more than half of Cuba's sugar industry was American
owned, and nearly all of its considerable output was exported to the
United States. Overall, the U.S. accounted for about two-thirds of Cuban
trade during dictator Fulgencio Batista's seven-year reign of corruption
and terror in the 1950s.
As the Cold War heated up after Castro assumed power in 1959, American
attempts to topple him ranged from the sadly tragic (the Bay of Pigs
invasion in 1961) to the lamely comic, like providing the Cuban leader
with exploding cigars and beard-eviscerating shoe dust.
For his part, Castro returned the disfavor by nationalizing U.S.
industries, allowing the Soviet Union to deploy nuclear missiles south
of Havana, and encouraging 125,000 Cubans (many of whom were alleged to
be criminals) to overrun South Florida in the Mariel boatlift of 1980.
Frozen in time
As of 2012, per capita economic output in Cuba was 80% lower than in the
U.S., the legacy of a command economy, the loss of financial support
from the now-defunct Soviet Union, and U.S. economic sanctions that
failed to achieve their political objective.
Because the sanctions can be circumvented through third parties,
however, the U.S. is still Cuba's fifth-largest trading partner, a
position solidified by President George W. Bush's decision to allow the
sale of agricultural commodities. Obama has chipped away at the
sanctions through executive orders, allowing the export of some
telecommunications and medical services.
In 2010, Fidel Castro was reported to have told an American journalist
that "the Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore." It never worked
for the Cuban people, of course, and the baby steps that Raul Castro has
taken to loosen state control have done little to end political
oppression and human rights violations. Even after granting a few
economic freedoms, Cuba remains closer to North Korea than to Vietnam or
China in adopting market-based principles.
Not to be deterred, investors are anxiously lining up in anticipation of
the promised end of Raul Castro's presidency in 2018. Some American cash
already has flowed to the island, primarily in telecom and banking.
But in a 2013 paper published by the Council on Foreign Relations,
authors Julia Sweig and Michael Bustamante warned that Cuba's aging
population and "dilapidated physical infrastructure" will make economic
rapprochement a lengthy process.
"Cuba's ongoing changes do not resemble the rapid transition scenario
envisioned in the 1996 Helms-Burton legislation that conditioned the
removal of the U.S. embargo on multiparty elections and the restitution
of private property that was nationalized in the 1960s," they wrote. "In
this respect, Washington remains more frozen in time than Havana."
If so, that would be quite an accomplishment.
Tom Saler is an author and freelance financial journalist in Madison. He
can be reached at www.tomsaler.com.
Source: Tom Saler - Historical Perspectives Tom Saler - Economic
sanctions on Cuba to thaw slowly -
http://www.jsonline.com/business/economic-sanctions-on-cuba-to-thaw-slowly-b99547619z1-320382411.html
Aug. 1, 2015
The Copa, it turns out, is not the hottest spot north of Havana. That
distinction belongs to the blast furnace that doubles as the ground
transportation staging area at Miami International Airport, where
thousands of Cuban visitors could soon be reunited with families
separated by 54 years of political and economic estrangement.
For now, President Barack Obama's decision to re-establish diplomatic
ties with the Island that Time Forgot has largely humanitarian
implications. Most of the economic sanctions imposed by the United
States on Cuba in 1962 — and toughened by the Helms-Burton Act in 1996 —
will remain in place at an annual cost of about $1.2 billion to the U.S.
and nearly $700 million to Cuba.
There has been a discernible thaw among younger Cuban-Americans in their
attitude toward former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and his 84-year-old
brother Raul, who succeeded him in 2006. But given the unrelenting
antipathy among Cuba's aging but still politically powerful expatriate
community in Miami, there is little likelihood that the main economic
components of the embargo will be loosened before next year's U.S.
presidential election.
Florida's 29 electoral votes are too important to ignore.
Sweet and sour
Due in part to reporting by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer,
the United States in the late 19th century was drawn into a war with
Spain that eventually led to Cuban independence and a major American
stake in the island's large agricultural sector.
By the mid-1920s, more than half of Cuba's sugar industry was American
owned, and nearly all of its considerable output was exported to the
United States. Overall, the U.S. accounted for about two-thirds of Cuban
trade during dictator Fulgencio Batista's seven-year reign of corruption
and terror in the 1950s.
As the Cold War heated up after Castro assumed power in 1959, American
attempts to topple him ranged from the sadly tragic (the Bay of Pigs
invasion in 1961) to the lamely comic, like providing the Cuban leader
with exploding cigars and beard-eviscerating shoe dust.
For his part, Castro returned the disfavor by nationalizing U.S.
industries, allowing the Soviet Union to deploy nuclear missiles south
of Havana, and encouraging 125,000 Cubans (many of whom were alleged to
be criminals) to overrun South Florida in the Mariel boatlift of 1980.
Frozen in time
As of 2012, per capita economic output in Cuba was 80% lower than in the
U.S., the legacy of a command economy, the loss of financial support
from the now-defunct Soviet Union, and U.S. economic sanctions that
failed to achieve their political objective.
Because the sanctions can be circumvented through third parties,
however, the U.S. is still Cuba's fifth-largest trading partner, a
position solidified by President George W. Bush's decision to allow the
sale of agricultural commodities. Obama has chipped away at the
sanctions through executive orders, allowing the export of some
telecommunications and medical services.
In 2010, Fidel Castro was reported to have told an American journalist
that "the Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore." It never worked
for the Cuban people, of course, and the baby steps that Raul Castro has
taken to loosen state control have done little to end political
oppression and human rights violations. Even after granting a few
economic freedoms, Cuba remains closer to North Korea than to Vietnam or
China in adopting market-based principles.
Not to be deterred, investors are anxiously lining up in anticipation of
the promised end of Raul Castro's presidency in 2018. Some American cash
already has flowed to the island, primarily in telecom and banking.
But in a 2013 paper published by the Council on Foreign Relations,
authors Julia Sweig and Michael Bustamante warned that Cuba's aging
population and "dilapidated physical infrastructure" will make economic
rapprochement a lengthy process.
"Cuba's ongoing changes do not resemble the rapid transition scenario
envisioned in the 1996 Helms-Burton legislation that conditioned the
removal of the U.S. embargo on multiparty elections and the restitution
of private property that was nationalized in the 1960s," they wrote. "In
this respect, Washington remains more frozen in time than Havana."
If so, that would be quite an accomplishment.
Tom Saler is an author and freelance financial journalist in Madison. He
can be reached at www.tomsaler.com.
Source: Tom Saler - Historical Perspectives Tom Saler - Economic
sanctions on Cuba to thaw slowly -
http://www.jsonline.com/business/economic-sanctions-on-cuba-to-thaw-slowly-b99547619z1-320382411.html
Driving Caterpillar’s success in Cuba
Driving Caterpillar's success in Cuba
Bill Lane, the Washington Director at Caterpillar, is responsible for
the company's international advocacy in support of competitiveness,
trade liberalization and economic growth.
BY TOM HUDSON
Before Bill Lane worked the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C., and a
dozen other national capitals, he was a kid in what today is Palmetto
Bay. Lane moved to Dade County in 1959, the same year, coincidentally,
that Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba.
Today, Lane works on trade issues for Caterpillar. He's the senior
director of global government and corporate affairs. He also calls
himself a lobbyist. He works to open up new markets for Caterpillar's
agriculture, mining and construction equipment. With Caterpillar, he has
traveled to Cuba three times. His first trip came in 1998 just after
Pope John Paul II visited. He also went in 2004 and traveled there in
April, five months after President Barack Obama announced the effort to
normalize diplomatic relations.
WLRN's The Sunshine Economy spoke with Lane upon his return to
Washington. Here are edited excerpts from that on-air conversation:
Q: How did your most recent visit to Cuba for Caterpillar compare to
earlier visits?
A: In many ways it was similar to what it was in 2004. For us, the
biggest difference was actually the food. There are a lot of private
bistros that have been established, and the food was four-star. For the
hotels, there were still some problems as far as power reliability. But
like anyone [who] visits Cuba, you tend to focus on the 60-year-old cars
that are driving on 60-year-old roads. The only difference is that when
you have Caterpillar executives, we don't focus on the cars. We focus on
the old roads, and we'd like to see new roads.
Q: In addition to the food differences, what about the engagement
regarding commerce?
A: People are optimistic. People are excited about the future and that
goes [through] a cross-section of the Cubans that we talked to — from
the folks that are dealing in the hospitality sector, the folks that are
promoting the Port of Mariel, the business representatives or just the
folks on the street. People are excited. They think Barack Obama is our
greatest president.
I have to say, when you're in Panama, you hear that Jimmy Carter was our
greatest president, and when you're in China, you often hear that
Richard Nixon was our greatest president. But [Cubans] really are
excited about what's going on. They're giving the president a lot of
credit. And they are welcoming business, particularly American business,
like we see all over the world.
Q: How are they welcoming that business in Cuba?
A: The question on how successful this new policy will be depends
largely on the Cubans. If they welcome foreign investment in trade and
commerce, I think Cuba is going to be a magnet for investment. If they
try to totally control it, I think it's going to stymie some of the
positive impacts of the initiative.
They're setting up economic zones. They're talking about the need for
infrastructure [and] the need for more power. They're talking about
building four new mines in Cuba. They have a lot of nickel production in
Cuba.
We haven't been down in Cuba in decades. But our competitors have. So
the Europeans dominate the mining sector. The Japanese dominate the
construction sector. The Chinese have been trying to make inroads in
Cuba. What we found was while the U.S. has been trying to isolate Cuba,
what's happened is, we've isolated ourselves.
This was really a learning exercise for us, and we came back excited.
Q: Opponents of the re-engagement on the part of the Obama
administration point out that the rest of the world does business with
Cuba and its economy is still in the shape that it's in.
A: [They] have a good point, and this is why it's important for the
Cubans to change some of their policies. But in fairness, a million
Canadian tourists go to Cuba [while only] about 100,000 American
visitors go to Cuba. That's going to ramp up quickly. People are
intrigued about what a trip to Cuba would be all about. You add one to
three million American visitors a year to Cuba and you're going to see a
huge increase in commerce. If the Cubans welcome investment, that's
going to ramp up exponentially. On top of that, I think you're going to
see the multilateral institutions. [Once diplomatic relations are
reestablished] then they'll take greater strides as far as normalizing
business. That means all [of a] sudden, the World Bank the Inter
American Bank and other multilateral institutions will have the green
light to start investing in Cuba. So they'll be a lot more opportunities
for development.
Q: What does that look like — normalizing commerce between the United
States and Cuba — from Caterpillar's perspective.?
A: We're going to do this by the numbers. We want to take extreme
caution to make sure we know we follow the law. We had a spirited debate
whether we could even take Caterpillar hats down to Cuba to hand them
out as souvenirs. We were advised against it, so we didn't. We tried to
be very cautious.
Remember the musical The Music Man? The key there is you have to know
the territory. Well, we don't know the territory, and so our for our
first venture to Cuba, [our priority] is to start scoping out the
opportunities there and what the market potential is and whether it's
what we expected or is it more. Right now, it is falling in the category
of more. [In addition], our foundation is looking at ways to try to help
the Cuban people with cultural initiatives.
They love baseball down there, and they are great at it. They have a
league that plays in the winter that spans the island. So we're looking
at all sorts of ways that we can be helpful to the Cuban people while we
learn more about the business opportunities.
Q: When you're using that "Music Man" business strategy and getting to
know the territory in Cuba, I have imagined a big part of that is
getting to know the regulations. Do you believe that the regulations are
stable enough for the kind of commerce opportunities that some think
exist in Cuba for a company like Caterpillar?
A: Not yet. That's going to be the next phase because you've got U.S.
restrictions and you have Cuban restrictions and they're changing.
Listening to the presentation [about] the economic zone in Mariel, you
would think you were sitting in downtown New York hearing the governor
of New York. In fact, the governor of New York was down at the same time
we were there. [The presentation was] talking about why you should
invest in New York. The only difference is Cuba's not putting ads on TV
like the state of New York is. Countries are trying to attract capital.
They're trying to attract commerce. And they see that this is the path
to economic growth and prosperity.
Q: Did you get a sense of the policy framework that Cuba is going to
employ when it comes to greeting the new openness that the Obama
administration is trying to ply?
A: Not to the degree where you call it a deep dive. More than anything
else we are trying to get a feel for [if] things going to move slowly or
move quickly. [Obama's] move was bold and it was decisive. [On
Caterpillar's most recent trip to Cuba], the question was, would the
Cubans to be trying to take a slow approach, or would they be welcoming?
Our feeling was that this is going to move very, very quickly once
diplomatic relations are reestablished. The Cubans are keenly aware of
what regulations the president can change on his own and what
regulations require Congress to participate.
Even where you think there is a fair amount of opposition to this new
policy, it's really subdued, in our opinion. Whether that is maintained
or not will depend on whether the Cubans embrace reform our way or
whether they try to control it.
Q: You mentioned that your takeaway from your recent trip to Cuba was,
you thought that the Cubans were getting prepared for some pretty quick
changes after the diplomatic relations are normalized. We've heard from
Cabinet secretaries, including U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker,
that it's a go-slow strategy after 54 years. What you felt and saw on
the ground was a much different kind of expectation than what we're
hearing from top administration officials.
A: With Cuba, when someone says "go slow," there's a whole new
definition. We waited 54 years for this. We have taken our time to the
"nth" degree, and now is the time to move forward. The last thing we
want to happen, though, is have the U.S. go slow, have this influx of
capital come into Cuba, and have all that business go to our non-U.S.
competitors.
The guidance that we would give any American company is, now is the time
to get to Cuba. Start scoping out what the opportunities are so that
when the opportunities truly avail themselves, you can participate
rather than [be] on the outside looking in.
Listen to this conversation, which aired on "The Sunshine Economy" at:
http://wlrn.org/post/sunshine-economy-commerce-communists.
BILL LANE
Personal: 62 years old; married to Jan Pursell Lane for nearly 40 years.
Current role: Leads a global team of 38 government affairs professionals
in 12 countries. In that capacity, Lane is responsible for Caterpillar's
international advocacy in support of competitiveness, trade
liberalization and economic growth.
Additional roles: Lane has held numerous leadership positions in
Washington and was most recently chairman of the Russia PNTR coalition
and the U.S. Latin America Trade Coalition, a group that supported Free
Trade Agreements with Colombia and Panama. He is also co-president of
the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, a coalition supporting a robust
international affairs budget.
Career before his current role: Started as an accountant at
Caterpillar's York, Pennsylvania, facility. Worked construction on five
different dams in Pennsylvania during summers while attending college.
Education: Bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting/business from
Penn State. He was a Penn State Alumni Fellow.
Connection to South Florida: Grew up in Kendall from 1959 to 1969. Went
to Palmetto/Howard Drive Elementary, Palmetto Junior and Senior High
School. Parents Ted and Marilyn Lane started St. Andrew Episcopal Church
in Kendall. Attended the first Miami Dolphins football game.
Interests: All things Caterpillar and all things Penn State.
About Caterpillar: For 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making
sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every
continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar, which is based in Peoria,
Illinois, to help them develop infrastructure, energy and
natural-resource assets. With 2014 sales and revenues of $55.184
billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction
and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas
turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The company principally
operates through its three product segments — construction industries,
resource industries and energy and transportation — and also provides
financing and related services through its financial products segment.
Website: caterpillar.com.
Source: Driving Caterpillar's success in Cuba | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article29829844.html
Bill Lane, the Washington Director at Caterpillar, is responsible for
the company's international advocacy in support of competitiveness,
trade liberalization and economic growth.
BY TOM HUDSON
Before Bill Lane worked the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C., and a
dozen other national capitals, he was a kid in what today is Palmetto
Bay. Lane moved to Dade County in 1959, the same year, coincidentally,
that Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba.
Today, Lane works on trade issues for Caterpillar. He's the senior
director of global government and corporate affairs. He also calls
himself a lobbyist. He works to open up new markets for Caterpillar's
agriculture, mining and construction equipment. With Caterpillar, he has
traveled to Cuba three times. His first trip came in 1998 just after
Pope John Paul II visited. He also went in 2004 and traveled there in
April, five months after President Barack Obama announced the effort to
normalize diplomatic relations.
WLRN's The Sunshine Economy spoke with Lane upon his return to
Washington. Here are edited excerpts from that on-air conversation:
Q: How did your most recent visit to Cuba for Caterpillar compare to
earlier visits?
A: In many ways it was similar to what it was in 2004. For us, the
biggest difference was actually the food. There are a lot of private
bistros that have been established, and the food was four-star. For the
hotels, there were still some problems as far as power reliability. But
like anyone [who] visits Cuba, you tend to focus on the 60-year-old cars
that are driving on 60-year-old roads. The only difference is that when
you have Caterpillar executives, we don't focus on the cars. We focus on
the old roads, and we'd like to see new roads.
Q: In addition to the food differences, what about the engagement
regarding commerce?
A: People are optimistic. People are excited about the future and that
goes [through] a cross-section of the Cubans that we talked to — from
the folks that are dealing in the hospitality sector, the folks that are
promoting the Port of Mariel, the business representatives or just the
folks on the street. People are excited. They think Barack Obama is our
greatest president.
I have to say, when you're in Panama, you hear that Jimmy Carter was our
greatest president, and when you're in China, you often hear that
Richard Nixon was our greatest president. But [Cubans] really are
excited about what's going on. They're giving the president a lot of
credit. And they are welcoming business, particularly American business,
like we see all over the world.
Q: How are they welcoming that business in Cuba?
A: The question on how successful this new policy will be depends
largely on the Cubans. If they welcome foreign investment in trade and
commerce, I think Cuba is going to be a magnet for investment. If they
try to totally control it, I think it's going to stymie some of the
positive impacts of the initiative.
They're setting up economic zones. They're talking about the need for
infrastructure [and] the need for more power. They're talking about
building four new mines in Cuba. They have a lot of nickel production in
Cuba.
We haven't been down in Cuba in decades. But our competitors have. So
the Europeans dominate the mining sector. The Japanese dominate the
construction sector. The Chinese have been trying to make inroads in
Cuba. What we found was while the U.S. has been trying to isolate Cuba,
what's happened is, we've isolated ourselves.
This was really a learning exercise for us, and we came back excited.
Q: Opponents of the re-engagement on the part of the Obama
administration point out that the rest of the world does business with
Cuba and its economy is still in the shape that it's in.
A: [They] have a good point, and this is why it's important for the
Cubans to change some of their policies. But in fairness, a million
Canadian tourists go to Cuba [while only] about 100,000 American
visitors go to Cuba. That's going to ramp up quickly. People are
intrigued about what a trip to Cuba would be all about. You add one to
three million American visitors a year to Cuba and you're going to see a
huge increase in commerce. If the Cubans welcome investment, that's
going to ramp up exponentially. On top of that, I think you're going to
see the multilateral institutions. [Once diplomatic relations are
reestablished] then they'll take greater strides as far as normalizing
business. That means all [of a] sudden, the World Bank the Inter
American Bank and other multilateral institutions will have the green
light to start investing in Cuba. So they'll be a lot more opportunities
for development.
Q: What does that look like — normalizing commerce between the United
States and Cuba — from Caterpillar's perspective.?
A: We're going to do this by the numbers. We want to take extreme
caution to make sure we know we follow the law. We had a spirited debate
whether we could even take Caterpillar hats down to Cuba to hand them
out as souvenirs. We were advised against it, so we didn't. We tried to
be very cautious.
Remember the musical The Music Man? The key there is you have to know
the territory. Well, we don't know the territory, and so our for our
first venture to Cuba, [our priority] is to start scoping out the
opportunities there and what the market potential is and whether it's
what we expected or is it more. Right now, it is falling in the category
of more. [In addition], our foundation is looking at ways to try to help
the Cuban people with cultural initiatives.
They love baseball down there, and they are great at it. They have a
league that plays in the winter that spans the island. So we're looking
at all sorts of ways that we can be helpful to the Cuban people while we
learn more about the business opportunities.
Q: When you're using that "Music Man" business strategy and getting to
know the territory in Cuba, I have imagined a big part of that is
getting to know the regulations. Do you believe that the regulations are
stable enough for the kind of commerce opportunities that some think
exist in Cuba for a company like Caterpillar?
A: Not yet. That's going to be the next phase because you've got U.S.
restrictions and you have Cuban restrictions and they're changing.
Listening to the presentation [about] the economic zone in Mariel, you
would think you were sitting in downtown New York hearing the governor
of New York. In fact, the governor of New York was down at the same time
we were there. [The presentation was] talking about why you should
invest in New York. The only difference is Cuba's not putting ads on TV
like the state of New York is. Countries are trying to attract capital.
They're trying to attract commerce. And they see that this is the path
to economic growth and prosperity.
Q: Did you get a sense of the policy framework that Cuba is going to
employ when it comes to greeting the new openness that the Obama
administration is trying to ply?
A: Not to the degree where you call it a deep dive. More than anything
else we are trying to get a feel for [if] things going to move slowly or
move quickly. [Obama's] move was bold and it was decisive. [On
Caterpillar's most recent trip to Cuba], the question was, would the
Cubans to be trying to take a slow approach, or would they be welcoming?
Our feeling was that this is going to move very, very quickly once
diplomatic relations are reestablished. The Cubans are keenly aware of
what regulations the president can change on his own and what
regulations require Congress to participate.
Even where you think there is a fair amount of opposition to this new
policy, it's really subdued, in our opinion. Whether that is maintained
or not will depend on whether the Cubans embrace reform our way or
whether they try to control it.
Q: You mentioned that your takeaway from your recent trip to Cuba was,
you thought that the Cubans were getting prepared for some pretty quick
changes after the diplomatic relations are normalized. We've heard from
Cabinet secretaries, including U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker,
that it's a go-slow strategy after 54 years. What you felt and saw on
the ground was a much different kind of expectation than what we're
hearing from top administration officials.
A: With Cuba, when someone says "go slow," there's a whole new
definition. We waited 54 years for this. We have taken our time to the
"nth" degree, and now is the time to move forward. The last thing we
want to happen, though, is have the U.S. go slow, have this influx of
capital come into Cuba, and have all that business go to our non-U.S.
competitors.
The guidance that we would give any American company is, now is the time
to get to Cuba. Start scoping out what the opportunities are so that
when the opportunities truly avail themselves, you can participate
rather than [be] on the outside looking in.
Listen to this conversation, which aired on "The Sunshine Economy" at:
http://wlrn.org/post/sunshine-economy-commerce-communists.
BILL LANE
Personal: 62 years old; married to Jan Pursell Lane for nearly 40 years.
Current role: Leads a global team of 38 government affairs professionals
in 12 countries. In that capacity, Lane is responsible for Caterpillar's
international advocacy in support of competitiveness, trade
liberalization and economic growth.
Additional roles: Lane has held numerous leadership positions in
Washington and was most recently chairman of the Russia PNTR coalition
and the U.S. Latin America Trade Coalition, a group that supported Free
Trade Agreements with Colombia and Panama. He is also co-president of
the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, a coalition supporting a robust
international affairs budget.
Career before his current role: Started as an accountant at
Caterpillar's York, Pennsylvania, facility. Worked construction on five
different dams in Pennsylvania during summers while attending college.
Education: Bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting/business from
Penn State. He was a Penn State Alumni Fellow.
Connection to South Florida: Grew up in Kendall from 1959 to 1969. Went
to Palmetto/Howard Drive Elementary, Palmetto Junior and Senior High
School. Parents Ted and Marilyn Lane started St. Andrew Episcopal Church
in Kendall. Attended the first Miami Dolphins football game.
Interests: All things Caterpillar and all things Penn State.
About Caterpillar: For 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making
sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every
continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar, which is based in Peoria,
Illinois, to help them develop infrastructure, energy and
natural-resource assets. With 2014 sales and revenues of $55.184
billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction
and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas
turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The company principally
operates through its three product segments — construction industries,
resource industries and energy and transportation — and also provides
financing and related services through its financial products segment.
Website: caterpillar.com.
Source: Driving Caterpillar's success in Cuba | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article29829844.html
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