Obama's New Cuba Policy
President Barack Obama said Sunday that America’s 48-year economic embargo of Cuba had failed to bring change to the island, and that he hoped the country would move towards embracing democratic values, including freedom of speech and religion, on the path towards launching better relations with the United States.
“The policy we’ve had in place for 50 years hasn’t worked the way we wanted it to – the Cuban people are not free,” Obama said. But after the recent actions taken by his administration – including lifting travel restrictions and remittances for Cuban-Americans with family on the island—Obama said was looking for reciprocal moves by the Cuban government before taking additional steps.
In a press conference at the close of the Summit of the Americas here, Obama returned to many of the themes he struck in his meetings and public appearances over the last four days, particularly the idea that there were “no senior and no junior partners” in the hemisphere. He said he was looking forward to “a new era of partnership.”
Obama said that wanted to discard “old ideologies and stale debates,” but he also emphasized once again that actions counted more than words, and that he was concerned about human rights and political prisoners in Cuba and Venezuela’s “inflammatory” rhetoric about the United States and its meddling in the affairs of its neighbors.
At the same time, he said that Cuba offered a good lesson to the United States in the limits of power. He noted that Cuban doctors were working in countries throughout the region, while too often the discourse the United States had with its southern neighbors focused almost solely on military issues and drug trafficking.
Obama said the United States needed to use its diplomatic and development powers “in more intelligent ways” to bring long term benefits to U.S. relations in the hemisphere. And while some people might criticize his outreach to Chavez, Obama indicated that Venezuela posed not real strategic threat to the United States, and he saw no harm in trying to improve relations.
In a remarkable shift, U.S. relations with Cuba drove the narrative of the entire Summit of the Americas. Much-publicized handshakes, smiles, and the exchanges of a book between Obama and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also gobbled up the spotlight. But the book exchange highlighted a subtle thaw: Before the end of the summit, Washington and Caracas were in talks to return each of their respective ambassadors to the other’s country, after Chavez kicked the U.S. ambassador out of Venezuela seven months ago, and Washington retaliated.
There was no signature initiative or agreement that defined the summit, as in the past. Its successes instead were measured in atmospherics.
“It was a much more respectful summit than in the past,” said Mauricio Cardenas, director of the Latin America initiative at the Brookings Institution. “I think he did very well.”
Obama began his trip with an overnight stay in Mexico City, where he stood with President Felipe Calderon and pledged to fight the drug cartels terrorizing their shared border.
He said he came to listen, and he got an ear full as some of the region’s leaders unloaded with the pent-up grievances and looked to him to turn a new page.
Obama stressed the need to focus on the future, while warning against blaming the United States for all the region’s problems. At times it seemed the other 33 leaders at the summit were not going to move forward unless they had their say.
And talk they did. The outpour swiftly began after Obama’s arrival on the summit’s opening night, which featured a 50-minute dressing-down of the United States from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and harsh words from Argentine President Cristina Kirchner about the “traumatic relations” with Latin Amerca’s northern neighbor.
“You’ve got a new president – this is the opportunity for the leaders to express themselves,” said Peter DeShazo, director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Really the purpose of the visit is for the president to underscore U.S. commitment in the region and desire to work and cooperate with the countries.”
While few seemed to notice, the White House reached out with a handful of policy initiatives over the past four days – some of which are guaranteed to generate disputes in Washington.
In Mexico, Obama called on the Senate to ratify an inter-American arms treaty designed to stem the flow of illegal guns across the region. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid released a cool statement on the move: “We must work with Mexico to curtail the violence and drug trafficking on America’s southern border, and must protect Americans’ Second Amendment rights. I look forward to working with the President to ensure we do both in a responsible way.”
Obama also pledged upwards of $200 million in new spending: $66 million for new helicopters to assist Mexico with combating drug cartel violence, a $100 million microfinance fund to assist poor countries in Latin America, and $30 million for security in the Caribbean.
And the president proposed a regional partnership on energy and climate change.
But the memorable moments of the weekend star two U.S. adversaries.
Obama promised a “new beginning” in U.S. relations with Cuba. Some believe he went further than they had expected. The secretary general of the Organization of the American States, whom Cardenas claimed wouldn’t say anything if it was not cleared by the United States, released a statement saying he was going to talk with the U.S. about reinstating Cuba.
Obama’s interaction with the volatile Hugo Chavez also left a lasting impression.
“These summits are about the personal contact, the personal connection,” Cardenas said.
As far as Obama and Chavez, he added: “You sense that there is communication, you sense that there is chemistry. So I wouldn’t be surprised if from now on we begin seeing small steps, improvements beginning with the exchange of ambassadors.”