Drugs, Cuba and the Summit

The main reason why Cuba should attend the next Summit of the Americas in Cartagena is the fact that it is a Latin American country that both played a historic role in the Caribbean and remains important in the hemisphere. Cuba’s importance is not limited to its role as an exporter of revolutions (which have been, fortunately, unsuccessful); the country’s contributions to culture, science, the arts, politics and education, as well as the quality and stoicism of its people, are also significant. The main reason why it will not attend to the summit is that should both Cuba and President Obama find themselves present at the summit, Obama would most certainly be defeated in Miami — and losing Florida could very well cause him to lose the presidency.

Holding a Summit of the Americas without Obama would be like staging “Hamlet” without the Prince of Denmark. The summit’s principal motive is for the United States to pay a moment’s attention to its closest and most ignored neighbors. Raúl Castro won’t be much missed, but if another summit is organized, he or his successor ought to be invited. The Cold War is over and Cuba is no longer a threat.

It doesn’t make sense that the Cuban reactionaries in Florida — who vote Republican — dictate who will attend the summit, as well as a good part of the United States’ foreign policy for the entire hemisphere. Their intransigence encourages the intransigence of the Cuban government and gives the regime a reason to justify its inflexibility. If the principal function of the summit is to maintain Cuba’s pariah status, and if other members’ priorities are not discussed, it would be better not to convoke another. If the idea is simply to exclude Cuba and focus only on the United States’ interests, we already have the Organization of American States.

And perhaps that organization has lost relevance for that very reason, although its own uninspiring leadership has also contributed. Held hostage to personal commitments, the leadership has weakened the OAS’s role in defending human rights, the freedom of expression and other democratic values. This role may have discomfited the region’s arbitrary governments, but it checked their absolutist impulses. Limiting the OAS’s role could accelerate the organization’s decline.

Another potential struggle at the summit is the move towards a possible decriminalization of marijuana and other illegal substances. Consumption of such substances finances the criminal organizations that have acquired a growing political power in the hemisphere and that promote instability. Many of the countries that will attend the summit would like the current policy to be modified. Some shoulder a very elevated proportion that policy’s costs: it undermines their authority, promotes corruption and increases the power of the mafias. These issues will not be dealt with. The United States has announced that it will only intervene in order to defend the status quo, although simply putting these issues on the table might be a step forward.

The summit will not have an important economic agenda, either. Originally, the possibility of creating a continental free trade area with the participation of all the countries in the hemisphere was foreseen, but Brazil torpedoed that idea and it was abandoned, along with others.

Maybe the real reason Raúl Castro said he preferred not to inconvenience anyone is that he doesn’t consider the summit to be worth attending.