CAFE: Changing the aroma of Cuban-American Politics

CAFE members meet with Democrat Congressman James McGovern in Washington, DC last month // CAFE

The story of the relationship between the United States and Cuba over the past 40 years can be defined by the economic embargo established by President John F. Kennedy in 1962; an embargo that continues to exist today. Generations of Cubans, Cuban-Americans, and Americans have discussed the efficacy of this unilateral measure. Fifty years later one thing seems to be clear; the embargo has been a monumental failure.

In spite of overwhelming evidence, old-fashioned politics often linked to the ‘historic’ Miami-based Cuban-American community have prevailed. As a result, the Cuban Diaspora in the US has been traditionally represented as a power group strongly linked to right-wing, extremist positions. For a long time, however, this has not been the case, and now a group of Cuban-Americans have stepped into the public arena in an attempt to correct this false impression.

Cuban-Americans for Engagement (CAFE) was formed earlier this year with the purpose of rectifying the course of US-Cuban relations, by lobbying the governments of both countries in search of openings that will allow improvement in their severely damaged relations.

Musician Benjamin Willis, one of its founding members, commented that behind the creation of the group lies “the need to represent the views of the majority of Cuban-Americans who believe that a policy of engagement would better serve both nations”.

For far too long the monopoly of intolerant Cuban-Americans has dictated the agenda when it comes to US policy towards Cuba. In Willis’ words, it is imperative “to deconstruct the mythology associated with the island” so that the public sees this other face of the Cuban-American community.

The term “Engagement” is central to the objectives of CAFE. Arturo López-Levy, another founding member of the group commented: “An engagement policy is the optimal policy towards a country in transition. Cuba is not North Korea in the Caribbean. There is significant democratizing potential for an engagement policy”.

The members of CAFE are well aware that they face an uphill struggle. Convincing either government to change their traditional stances will not be easy. In the case of the US, a Republican victory in the forthcoming presidential elections in November could lead to more prohibitions and obstacles, instead of bringing the desired opening. The need to foster the dialogue between the two governments, independently of who is in charge comes November, remains CAFE’s principal aim.

With this in mind, members of CAFE visited Washington last month with the plan of presenting their project to the US Congress, the State Department, and the Cuban Interests Section in the United States. Wherever they went they were cordially received. According to Benjamin Willis, US congressional functionaries seemed, “genuinely interested in the fact that there are Cuban-Americans who are not in favor of the embargo and don’t agree with the Cuban-American congressional cabal that always argues for a hard-line approach”.

As for the Cuban Government, Willis pointed out that the “officials at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington listened to our concerns and were receptive to the topics”.

To some, the welcome given by Cuban officers in Washington might come as a surprise. The truth is that, on the island, news of CAFE’s engagements and meetings undertaken during their visit to Washington DC was reported in the Cuban press. Even the newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party, Granma, dedicated a section to the event.

In reality, as Lopez-Levy correctly argues, “democracy promotion should not be interpreted as regime change. Normal academic, cultural and educational exchanges have democratizing effects on their own merits”. This new strategy may go a long way into achieving some necessary changes in Cuba without losing the free health and education provision that has distinguished Cuba for the past five decades. After all, an uncontrolled economic transition a la-USSR with a fire-sale of public assets may lead to unemployment, lack of education, and to a widening gap between the have and the have nots, which must be avoided by any means.

Obama’s administration should see the creation of CAFE as a sign of the times; as a bold move from the progressive sections of the Cuban-American community to bring both countries closer than they have been for half a century; and as an opportunity to ditch old-fashioned and isolationist policies.

On the other side of the Florida straits, Raul Castro’s government should also take advantage of this opportunity and recognize that in the fast paced world we are living in, it is advisable to implement measured changes while surrounded by friends who have at heart the interests of the Cuban and American people, and not with multi-national corporations calling the shots.

The US administration, the old Cuban-American guard from Miami, and the Cuban government must all be brought up to speed to the present day. The Cold War is long since over, and so are the Eastern and Western blocs. There is no reason to continue this stalemate. Should they all listen, perhaps before long we will see Obama and Castro sitting at the same table and discussing the future of the bilateral relations between these two countries; a relationship with democracy and without embargo.

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• http://twitter.com/HumbertoCapiro Humberto Capiro

  Lift the Cuba Embargo ? WHAT EMBARGO!
  By Humberto (Bert) Corzo*

  In this article I analyze the
  arguments of lifting the Cuba embargo, which are more rhetorical than real,
  answering each one of the specific considerations of those that support the end
  of it.
  EFFECT OF THE EMBARGO
  The United States Government has always exempted from the
  embargo medicine and humanitarian supplies to the Cuban people, as long as such
  aid is distributed by independent non-governmental organizations (NGO) such as
  the Catholic Church and international organizations such as Pastors for Peace.

  Since 1992, the U.S. has approved 36 of 38 license
  requests for commercial sales of medicines and medical equipment to Cuba. During
  the period from 1993 to 1996, the U.S. has licensed over $150 million in
  humanitarian assistance, more than the total worldwide foreign aid received by
  Cuba in those years. This total does not include the millions of dollars in
  medicine and food sent to Cuba in the form of “care packages” from relatives
  living in the U.S. [1]
  In the year 2000 the Department of Commerce approved the
  export to Cuba of approximately $550 million in medicines, medical equipment,
  cash remittances, gift parcels and food (cash remittances and gift parcels
  account for about 75% of the total amount).  The United States government’s
  embargo has had little effect on the Cuban economy, since it only represents 5 %
  of Cuba’s commerce with the rest of the world. The embargo only affects the
  American companies and their subsidiaries. The rest of the countries, 180 since
  the last count in 2007, are free to conduct business with Cuba and are doing so,
  as confirmed by imports surpassing $13.78 billions during 2007 [2]. In reality
  there is not such embargo since in the year 2000 the United States Congress
  lifted the prohibition of the sale of agricultural products and medicines to
  Cuba, thereby allowing Castro’s regime to buy everything it needs by paying in
  cash.
  CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ACADEMIC PAPER WITH FOOTNOTES &
  EVERYTHING!
  http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y09/abril09/09_O_3.html

• http://twitter.com/HumbertoCapiro Humberto Capiro

  AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: RESTRICTIONS ON  FREEDOM OF
  EXPRESSION IN CUBA- First published in 2010 by Amnesty International
  Publications 
  In recent years the Cuban government has taken some limited steps
  to address long-standing suppression of freedom of expression in the country.
  While welcome, these changes have had only a limited effect. The legal,
  bureaucratic and administrative infrastructure built up over the years to
  silence government opponents and maintain the one party system remains
  largely intact. Those who voice views beyond those permitted by the
  authorities continue to be intimidated and harassed, arbitrarily detained2 or
  imprisoned after unfair, often summary, trials.The principle that no one
  should be imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their opinions is one of
  the most widely accepted norms of international human rights law. Yet over
  the years, hundreds of prisoners of conscience have been imprisoned in Cuba
  for the peaceful expression of their views. Some were imprisoned following large-scale crackdowns on political dissent; others were individually
  targeted. At the time of writing, 54 prisoners of conscience continued to be
  held by the Cuban authorities for peacefully exercising their right to
  freedom of expression. Harassment, intimidation, arbitrary detention and
  criminal prosecutions, all continue to be used to restrict the expression of
  views critical of the government. Those targeted are dissidents and critics,
  in many cases independent journalists and political and human rights
  activists.
   
  TO FIND ORIGINAL ARTICLE, COPY & PASTE TITLE TO BROWSER
   

• bristoled

  When we visited Cuba 4 years ago, much to our surprise, we found lots of Canadians, enjoying the weather and using the health facilities.

  It was also a surprise to find many people picking up hire cars, travelling around the island, and staying in B&B.

  It was also interesting to see some of the other Caribbean islands, which may well have more freedom, but also worse education, healthcare and crime, alongside much extreme wealth, often associated with tax dodging.

  It should not be forgotten that Cuba offers education facilities for many in the Carribean, and help, as in the case of the Haiti earthquake.

  CAFE is a very welcome move.

• olympic

  Cuba is full of americans claiming to be Canadians who simply enter via the Bahamas, Mexico or Canada – as per usual with US vicious and malicious foreign policy, those nations that do not accept bullying by Washington and do not ‘tow the line’ will be subject to some form of economic punishment, which in the case of Cuba is particularly cruel.

  obama is yet another slave to right wing hysterical republican policy and upset Cuban ‘exiles’ in Miami who seem to have undue influence on US/Cuban policy.

• olympic

  You are quite evidently living in denial and obviously have a personal issue with Cuba.
  Perhaps you should compare Cuba to nations like Jamaica or Haiti, then that might put things into context for you.

• olympic

  Have you seen the reports on US human rights violations, or those of China, Mexico, Haiti, etc? 

  I’d rather live in Cuba anyday than in the US.

• elghuraba

  Interesting but sceptical at the same time as 1) Even though CAFE is made up of people from Cuban descent, that does not mean they necessarily know the truth about the on ground realities 2) Cuba will be towing the neoliberal line in no time and everything they fought for would be at loss. The article concludes on a naive hope that they won’t should negotiations prevail, but we all know political pragmatism prevails in this world. Especially if you’re a smaller, “poorer” country.

  Some of the comments made in the comments section raise questions of whether Cuba has remained true to it’s provisional aims however grassroots movements cannot remain grassroots forever. What’s more the instigators who are now held captive may have dubious goals in mind, as Lao Tzu said “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.”

• tyke87

   And the untouchable Israel have so many human rights violations against them that the Coaltion changed the UK law so that certain Israelis could visit the UK without fear of arrest.

• franvalc

  I certainly do not want to seem apologetic about the Cuban Government.
  I do not accept the violation of human rights, such as freedom of speech, expression etc.
  However, we might be recalled some basic human rights that Cuba can surely be proud of, unlike many Western Democracies¨: the rights of education, health, nutrition to name only the very basic ones.
  You see, I am from Mexico, where we are being bullied to believe we live in a almost perfect democracy: yes we have elections but they are tricked. We have a population of 110M of which at least 60M live in poverty, another 15M in extreme poverty (i.e. cannot buy enough food), a huge majority of the population, with no hope of any decent education, let´s not speak about health. Try to express any serious views against corruption, panacea of the heads and crowns of our institutions, and you simply disappear. Yes, disappear: the police will say they know nothing, the army will tell you the same, the marina will say the same … you have disappeared. Yet, here in Mexico, we will hold election on 1st July … because we are a democracy … but … do not worry, they have already counted the votes …
  Cuba is by no means paradise on earth but I don´t think the US can possibly be the ¨arbitre¨ in deciding who is democratic and who is not. Don´t the US have their poor too? their homeless? their jobless? their pennyless folks?
  In Cuba, you have no beggers, no one sleeps rough in the streets or can´t afford a doctor … so who is there to give the world a lesson?