Restoring US and Cuba ties not a done deal as Congress may still be a threat

 

Richard Luscombe in Miami, @richlusc, Saturday 13 June 2015 21.09 BST, Source

 

President Obama’s goal of restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba by reopening the US embassy next month and sending secretary of state John Kerry to Havana for a highly symbolic flag-raising ceremony could yet be thwarted in Congress, experts believe.

 

The Obama administration plans to announce early in July details of the deal with Raúl Castro’s communist government that would formally end more than half a century of hostility between the countries, according to a report published on Friday.

 

But analysts of US-Cuba politics say the approval of Congress could still be a major obstacle to the agreement, and doubt whether the Republican controlled Senate and House of Representatives would approve the funding that would be necessary.

 

“Congress has to get on board,” said professor Bruce Bagley, an expert in Cuban affairs at the University of Miami’s department of international studies.

 

“I doubt sincerely we will see any big budgetary moves before President Obama leaves office, certainly not enough to open an entire embassy. It’s not clear it can happen unless Congress approves the money.”

 

Additionally, only Congress has the authority to lift the decades-old US trade embargo with Cuba, and must be notified by the state department at least 15 days in advance of any plan to upgrade the status of the US interests section building in Havana to that of a full-fledged embassy.

 

Formal negotiations between administration officials and Havana have been ongoing since December, when Obama announced groundbreaking and sweeping changes to US policy following 18 months of secret talks and a controversial prisoner exchange. In April, Obama and Castro met face-to-face for the first time at an economic summit in Panama, a significant moment in the new era of diplomacy.

Kerry’s visit, which is still scheduled for 2 July despite him breaking his leg in a bicycle accident in Geneva last month, and the plan for both countries to reopen their embassies, are “proof of progress in the conversation” Bagley said, especially following the US move last month to drop Cuba from the list of countries that sponsored terrorism.

 

“This continued advancement and Kerry’s trip have symbolic value to the US in that they maintain the momentum, and other countries see that the US wants to reestablish relations,” Bagley said.

 

But he acknowledged that deep divisions remain over Cuba’s human rights record and the trade embargo, and that some politicians with strong opinions on Cuba were deeply opposed to Obama’s desire to thaw relations.

 

“There is ferocious opposition from Marco Rubio and others,” he said. “Change will be slow whatever happens.”

 

Rubio, a Florida senator with Cuban parents who is seeking the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential election, is one of the most vocal opponents in congress of the Obama policy. He declared the decision to take Cuba off the terror blacklist as “terrible” and “a chilling message to enemies that the White House is no longer serious about calling terrorism by its proper name.”

 

Rubio has also been a leading proponent of legislation that would prevent taxpayer dollars supporting the more relaxed US policy towards Cuba, or directly benefiting the Cuban economy.

 

“It is not in the interest of the United States or the people of Cuba for the US to become a financier of the Castro regime’s brutality,” he said last week as he announced a bill that would specifically outlaw transactions between American companies and the Cuban military and security forces.

 

Andy Gomez, a Miami-based veteran expert in Cuban studies, said such opposition in Congress could upset Obama’s timetable for progress and even hamper the president’s desired legacy over Cuba, particularly the end of the trade embargo, before he leaves the White House in January 2017.

 

“I think we’re still very far away from reconciliation,” Gomez said. “There are a series of these bills to lessen trade or guarantee no taxpayer money will be used to pay for it.”

 

Gomez said he also suspected Obama might wait until Washington politicians were on summer recess before announcing a new US ambassador to Havana as an administrative appointment, knowing he would not have senate support for a confirmation.

 

“I still have many questions. I want to know what’s in Cuba that’s so interesting to the US. Tourism? Godfather 4?” he said.

 

According to White House sources quoted anonymously in Friday’s report, negotiators have been able to overcome differences in the freedom that US embassy staff would have to travel around Cuba. Only a few minor differences remain, the source said.

 

Gomez also believes Cuba has been working behind the scenes in its discussions with Washington to try to present a more favourable image.

 

“Politically I’ve seen nothing, but Cuba is moving to show the world that it is restructuring economically,” he said.“It’s been said that the US has put everything on the table and Cuba has brought nothing, but Cuba has made some interesting moves.”

Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez shakes hands with Jeff Flake, the Republican senator from Arizona, in Havana on Saturday. Photograph: Alejandro Ernesto/AFP/Getty Images

Cuba’s president, Raul Castro, and Barack Obama in Panama in April. They have pledged to restore full ties. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

I appreciate what America is doing to formalize ties with an enemy state for 50 years. Is this the opportunity America is waiting for to have foot hold to change Cuba's regime some day? After what happen to Guyana recently, I am very nervous about their objectives.

The imperialist way to subjugate a country is cultural imperialism (CI).

CI is cheaper to do and not bloody. The way the west has defeated Islamic countries is through western TV, media, cultural activities, education, etc.

 

With opening of trade, embassies and tourism, Cuba will be gone for channa in 5 years.  They will embrace everything western, including the homo movement being pushed aggressively in the Third World by the west.

 

Western decadence will flow freely.