Obama's Cuba Moves Do Little to End the Economic War on Havana

By Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports. Posted April 7, 2009.

A group of U.S. lawmakers visiting Cuba has called on the Obama administration to join every other country in the Western hemisphere in normalizing relations with Cuba. “Most of the members of our delegation believe we need to actually normalize relations and then the details of what that means would follow,” said Representative Barbara Lee, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is leading the Congressional delegation. Most recently, El Salvador’s new president, Mauricio Funes, broke with the U.S. position, saying he would reopen ties in June when he officially takes over. Costa Rica has pledged the same, leaving Washington alone in its half-century-long policy.

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, recently “called on President Obama to appoint a special envoy to initiate direct talks with the island’s communist government and to end U.S. opposition to Cuba’s membership in the Organization of American States.” While his letter was filled with the language of empire and U.S. “interests,” Lugar called on Obama “to recast a policy that has not only failed to promote human rights and democracy, but that also undermines our broader security and political interests in the Western Hemisphere.” Lugar stopped short of calling for a total lifting of the blockade, but his appeal for an envoy could be seen as a step in that direction.

Despite calls from some of Obama’s closest Congressional allies, his administration is unlikely to end the blockade against Cuba. A recent report in the Wall Street Journal cites a senior U.S. official, revealing, “President Obama doesn’t intend to call for lifting of the trade embargo against Cuba, which would require congressional action, nor is any specific diplomatic outreach contemplated.” This point was also made clear by Vice President Joe Biden last month on a visit to Latin America when asked if Obama would lift the blockade. Biden responded bluntly, “No,”

There was a point in Barack Obama’s political career when he advocated for a dramatically different approach to U.S.-Cuba policy than most politicians with a decent shot at winning the White House. In January 2004, Obama said it was time “to end the embargo with Cuba,” and said, “It’s time for us to acknowledge that that particular policy has failed.” After it became clear that Obama might well be within arm’s reach of the presidency, he began to use harder line rhetoric and, as most politicians do, he pandered to the right-wing Cuban-American mafia in Florida (which, by the way, decreasingly represents the views of most Cuban-Americans). “I will maintain the embargo,” he declared on the campaign trail last year in front of the ultra-right-wing Cuban American National Foundation. “It provides us with the leverage to present the regime with a clear choice: if you take significant steps toward democracy, beginning with the freeing of all political prisoners, we will take steps to begin normalizing relations. That’s the way to bring about real change in Cuba -- through strong, smart and principled diplomacy.” While Obama has said he supports “eventual normalization” of U.S.-Cuba relations, his bottom line is this: “Make no mistake – the embargo must remain, and I strongly oppose any aid to the Castro regime.”

See more stories tagged with: barack obama, barbara lee, cuba, wall street journal, joe biden, el salvador, richard lugar, mauricio funes, cuba embargo, foreign relations committ, cuban american national f

Jeremy Scahill, an independent journalist who reports frequently for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!, has spent extensive time reporting from Iraq and Yugoslavia. He is currently a Puffin Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute. Scahill is the author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. His writing and reporting is available at RebelReports.com.

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