Peace Cigar: Cuba and US Re-establish Diplomatic Relations

Cuba and the United States are lighting a peace pipe. As a result, the “Liberty Island” is receiving substantial economic support, and America is receiving a new ally, detached from Moscow.

Official Washington is embarking on an unprecedented step – the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, broken off in 1961 on the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

At that time, everything almost ended in a third world war.

The American consulate in Havana will already be opening in the coming months.

This step was preceded by the decision of Cuban authorities to free American Alan Gross, detained in 2009 on charges of subversive activities against the Cuban regime. The U.S. in return freed three Cuban agents from prison.

At the same time, the White House confirmed that it was planning to continue supporting Cuban civil society and defending democratic freedom.

However, now the American side intends to carry out its plans through normal diplomatic relations.

Washington made yet one more important decision regarding its relations with Havana – President Barack Obama announced the removal of the economic blockade, which has frozen the Cuban economy for 50 years.

The U.S. introduced the embargo after American companies and other properties were nationalized in the name of the Cuban revolution.

Now, according to Washington officials, the historic initiative should lead to growth in trade between the two countries, a flow of investment to Cuba, the removal of restrictions on travel, and permission to use American credit cards on the island.

In 2000, the U.S. partly weakened the embargo, allowing American companies to sell agricultural products and medical supplies to Cuba, under the condition that payments be made in cash. At the same time, it remained forbidden to sell Cuban products in the United States.

Poor Cuba’s open embrace of successful and influential America is fully understandable. America’s friendly steps, on the other hand, raise some questions.

The American media immediately pointed to several factors, the main one being the necessity for Obama to demonstrate a willingness to make difficult decisions; Obama has more than once been criticized for indecisiveness.

Also, the decision represented an opportunity to solve a security problem: establishing friendly relations with Cuba, which for many years was considered an ally and backer of Russia’s foreign policy aggression. The Pentagon does not want to see Russian fighter jets over the Gulf of Mexico.

‘Perestroika, Cuban Style’

A Havana resident named Carlos is still afraid to give his family name to the press, but all the same was eager to tell Novoe Vremya about several changes in the life of the country.

In recent times, Cuba, known for its low standard of living and large economic problems, had to resort to several reforms.

Now Carlos, like many of his compatriots, can use the Internet, which earlier was for the most part only accessible to foreigners. However, the cost of an hour on the Web costs 4.5 convertible pesos – $4.50 – a large sum of money for poor Cubans. Therefore, despite all the opportunities to use the Internet, Cubans mostly just use it for email, and even that they do conservatively.

Not long before relations between the U.S. and Cuba entered a turning point, and Obama and Raul Castro exchanged a handshake, reforms began on “Liberty Island.”

Its residents received a number of indulgences, among them the right to sell their property and automobiles, which had been prohibited since 1959, when Fidel Castro came to power. The prohibition led to the flourishing of bribery among officials, who controlled the real estate market.

Due to the lack of housing, several generations within families often had to nestle together in single apartments, and divorced couples had to live together for years, until other living arrangements appeared.

Also in recent times, with the permission of the authorities, Cubans began to acquire their own small businesses: for example, organizing hostels for lodging of foreign tourists.

And in early 2013, Cuban authorities stopped requiring exit visas for their citizens, thereby allowing them to travel abroad freely for up to two years.

Before, Cubans who wanted to travel abroad had to receive a special permit for leaving the country, and to overcome a multitude of difficult to fulfill formalities, and they could only travel abroad for fewer than 11 months. In cases where this policy was violated, the authorities could confiscate property.

According to Philip Peters, vice- president of the American research organization, Lexington Institute, and a specialist on Cuban-American relations, with the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries are transitioning to normal immigration policies, in which people can make trips, find work, and send monetary remittances from one country to the other.

And this is only the beginning of the reform in relations.

According to analysts, Cuban authorities were pushed by necessity to move toward reform and soften their stance.

For a long time, Cuba survived on its tight economic connections with countries in the Socialist camp; however, the island was beset by an economic crisis after the dissolution of the USSR.

Even today, visitors to the island remark on the deficit of consumer goods. For example, even hotels for foreigners can lack hair dryers and soap, and to give a good gift to a Cuban, one only need brin some brand-name makeup.

At the same time, Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban leader Raul Castro and a prominent social figure, makes clear that the improvement in relations with Washington in no way signifies that Havana will return to a capitalist system.

“If the U.S. hopes that with these changes Cuba will return to capitalism, to being a servile country to the hegemonic interests of the most powerful financial groups in the United States, then, it must be dreaming,” warned Castro.

She argues that the improvement in relations with the U.S. will allow Cuban authorities to receive more instruments in order to develop social projects, strengthen the health and education systems, develop sports, artistic and scientific projects – that is, those spheres that suffered because of the American embargo.

‘Island of American Freedom’

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama for a long time has been seeking a path toward improving relations with Cuba, argues John Feffer, co-director of the Washington-based research center Foreign Policy in Focus.

In his opinion, three factors pushed American authorities to take this historic step.

First, American public opinion regarding relations with Cuba started improving a long time ago.

Second, President Obama decided to demonstrate decisiveness in foreign policy, something his critics have frequently criticized him for lacking.

At the same time, the sharp hostility between Cuba and the U.S. has given an impetus to the development of left-wing regimes in Latin America.

And third, Pope Francis played a role, actively acting as a middleman in negotiations between the two countries.

Now, the U.S. first and foremost wants to establish cooperation with Cuba in such spheres as the battle with Ebola, drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

Known for its high quality health care system, Cuba is already involved in the battle with Ebola. Namely, it has sent the largest group of medics to Western Africa to fight the disease: about 200 doctors and nurses.

Beyond that, it is in Cuba, at the Havana-based Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine, where the first international courses preparing doctors to combat Ebola have opened. Now, the participation of the U.S. is breathing powerful momentum into the program’s activities.

Meanwhile, the residents of poor Cuba are frozen in joyful anticipation of their future. Carlos welcomes the normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, although being a realist, he does not expect immediate benefits.

“Tourism will benefit most of all from this cooperation,” he believes. “As far as other spheres, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Carlos realizes that the international economy is not in the best condition now. However, if the sanctions are removed, Cubans will require less time and money to obtain goods, he says.

Many Cubans earn approximately $25 per month, and that sum is completely inadequate, Carlos confirms. As before, two currencies function on the island – the peso, and the convertible peso – about equal to $1.

And although Cubans expect that the Internet will become more accessible, already now, they can more openly express their opinions, and can stay in the same hotels that foreigners live in – several years ago, this was prohibited.

“Cuba is becoming more open to the world, and we hope that the world will become more open to Cuba,” Carlos concludes.

Economists also consider it important that when Washington allows trade with Cuba, many goods that are essential to Cubans will be sent there, as well as construction materials and agricultural equipment, of which the country is in dire need.

Yet another significant fact confirmed by observers is that the warming of American-Cuban relations is occurring against the backdrop of worsening relations between Washington and Moscow.

A range of American media sources suppose that Washington made this broad gesture toward Havana, among other things, to decrease Russian influence.

According to the publication The Washington Times, American intelligence is worried about Russian plans to conduct flights over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

Besides that, the publication recalls that in May 2014, Havana and Moscow concluded an agreement aimed at the deepening of military and intelligence cooperation.

Co-chair of the Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Commission of the Russian Federation Dimitri Rogozin already managed to conduct negotiations with Cuban authorities, after which he assuredly confirmed that Cuba was not planning to sacrifice its principles in exchange for Washington’s promises.

Also, a number of American senators came out against the White House’s decision because in their view, Havana is playing a double game, and Washington will come away with too little from the agreement.

“The White House has conceded everything and gained little. They gained no commitment on the part of the Cuban regime to freedom of press or freedom of speech or elections,” argues Sen. Marco Rubio, himself a descendant of Cuban immigrants. “No binding commitment was made to truly open up the Internet. No commitment was made to allowing the establishment of political parties or to even begin the semblance of a transition to a democracy.”

However, in general, analysts are looking at the development of American-Cuban relations with optimism.

“The U.S. will ultimately win from this agreement, in particular in the sphere of trade,” Feffer observes. “A number of American states already export agricultural products to Cuba.”*

*Editor’s note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be verified.