Could a slight thaw in US-Cuba relations be in the offing?

COMMENTARY
Could a slight thaw in US-Cuba relations be in the offing?
by Michael Lettieri,
COHA Research Associate
Wednesday, November 2, 2005

In an almost unprecedented move on October 28, Cuba publicly agreed to
allow three USAID officials to visit the island to assess the recent
heavy damage inflicted by Hurricane Wilma.

While Cuba’s Fidel Castro has asserted that this action in no way
constitutes an acceptance of U.S. foreign aid by the fiercely proud
Havana regime, it nevertheless might suggest that Washington could be
seeing the first fruits of its rare move to a more constructive Latin
America policy.

Although it most likely will turn out to be illusory, the tiny softening
of relations between Havana and Washington could have been spurred by
several long overdue personnel moves within the State Department.

The appointment of Thomas Shannon to succeed widely reviled ideologue
Roger Noriega as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric
Affairs, and the earlier resignation of the controversial White House
Latin American advisor Otto Reich, marked the end of the reign of the
hard-line anti-Castro duo, and may signal a possible inauguration of a
more rational strategy of regional engagement, even though longtime Cuba
basher Caleb McCarry has been appointed Cuba Transition Coordinator.

The replacement of James Cason as head of the U.S. Interests Section in
Havana with Michael Parmly eliminated another anti-Cuban militant whose
tell-tale opportunism and venomous tactics, along with those of Noriega
and Reich, had help bring disrepute to the Bush administration’s Latin
American diplomacy.

Indeed, it was Parmly’s “respectful” letter that helped persuade
Castro’s recent change of heart, and it is unlikely that the letter
would have been ever sent without Shannon’s imprimatur.

Renewing even low-level, businesslike ties could have an impact. Such a
détente could in turn increase pragmatic collaboration in such fields as
drug interdiction, medical issues, immigration and fisheries.

Recently, former DEA Director Asa Hutchinson mildly complained that
there is no cooperation between the U.S. and Cuba in regards to
anti-narcotics efforts owing to “the lack of formal channels and
relations between the two nations,” and other DEA officials note that
“our international presence is not in Cuba, and this is just the policy
of this country.”

Yet Havana has indicated an openness to cooperation in this area, as
Cuban anti-drug officials have observed that there is “a mutual
responsibility in the fight against drugs – it doesn’t matter if the
problem is with the producing or consuming countries.”

The DEA’s position suggests that if up to this point Cuba’s offers of
cooperation were rejected on political rather than logistical grounds,
perhaps the reestablishment of an even minimal cross-strait engagement
could lead to enhanced performance.

With the Summit of the Americas (which will take place November 4-5 in
Mar del Plata, Argentina) fast approaching, it is of the highest
importance that the U.S. rehabilitate its regional diplomatic cachet,
since it is no secret that up to now the Bush White House’s Latin
American policy has achieved a level of rejection and repudiation that
has been unrivaled since the period when Elliot Abrams grossly
mishandled regional affairs during the Reagan administration and then
perjured himself before a congressional committee.

This new possible thaw in the U.S.-Cuban standoff indicates that if such
a change in course is occurring, it is because the administration may
have taken an inventory of how destructive its current regional policy
is to authentic U.S. hemispheric issues. Washington has in the past
allowed the Miami rightwing exile community to exercise a virtual veto
power over U.S.-Cuba relations, granting its front groups access to at
least $60 million in public funds, despite the negligible results they
have achieved.

Breaking that linkage will be necessary if any fundamental shift to a
rational policy of advancing well thought-out U.S. national interest is
to take place.

A recent Latinobarómetro survey suggests that Latin America may be
receptive to a U.S. overture calling for warmer relations, if Washington
indicates a genuine change of strategy, a change of tactics, and a
change of heart.

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, founded in 1975, is an independent,
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organization. It has been described on the Senate floor as being “one of
the nation’s most respected bodies of scholars and policy makers.” For
more information, visit www.coha.org or email coha@coha.org.

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