US-Cuba Relations

The reopening of the Cuban embassy in Washington D.C. and the American embassy in Havana, the result of an advanced negotiation process that’s still in progress, is the realization of an agreement between both countries to normalize bilateral relations permanently.

In a lot of ways this is, indeed, a historic moment of complicated achievement, which puts an end to more than half a century of broken relations between the most powerful military and economic superpower in the world with global hegemonic control, and a nation-state whose strength resides in the universal principles of self-determination and a profound and unwavering sense of national identity.

The importance of the resumption of bilateral relations between the U.S. and Cuba—as we said in a previous editorial—points to a geopolitical and geostrategic change in the American continent, and such a significant change explains the concerns and enthusiasm concerning its various implied aspects: economic, commercial, political, cultural and social.

One can imagine differing speculation about, and interpretations of, the resumption of diplomatic, economic and commercial relations (and as a matter of fact they have been made), but, regardless, it is really about understanding the irreversibility of the process and, objectively, of the establishment of a new American perspective.

For Latin America, always in solidarity with the Cuban people and their struggle for self-determination, this process of negotiation—frankly, perfectly executed in which the belief in independence and national sovereignty has been imposed on the face of the imperial power—has, among its many meanings, a sense of continental American integration that puts an end to Wilson and Monroe’s pan-Americanism.

Cuba’s resistance to the U.S. embargo, a 56-year war against Cuba with relentless economic and political harassment and institutionalized terrorism, unparalleled in world history, of course, proves the magnitude of the political leadership incarnate in Fidel Castro, Cuba’s commander.

Likewise, Barack Obama’s decision to put an end to that absurd conflict, justifiably seeing it as a lost cause—maybe prehistoric—which the American public condemned long ago for being contrary to its own belief and tradition in liberty, also demonstrates that the American president is an excellent leader.

Even more, this decision implies a significant political change from the U.S. towards Latin America, especially when it comes to a nation’s self-determination, respecting the national sovereignty of each nation-state and successful equality in the relations between nations, which is precisely the foundation of the Cuban-American agreement.