The Brookings Institution is as mainstream and prestigious as you get on the Democratic leaning side of Washington think tanks.
Its President is Strobe Talbott, a leading foreign policy adviser in the Clinton Administration and a long time friend of our former President and of our prospective Secretary of State.
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Talbott served on Brookings' Partnership for the Americas Commission. On Monday he hosted a C-Span broadcast public presentation of its remarkable report entitled "Rethinking U.S.–Latin American Relations: A Hemispheric Partnership for a Turbulent World".
Their first recommendation on Cuba "that should be implemented immediately by the US government":
* Lift all restrictions on travel to Cuba by Americans.Many of the proposals made in its Cuba section are not new to experts in bilateral relations, but their source is. The Commission, half from the US and half from Latin America and the Caribbean, eschews the usual judgmental rhetoric and focuses on addressing problems with a Hemisphere impact. The co-chairs are Ernesto Zedillo, Former President of Mexico and Thomas R. Pickering, Former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
If the Obama Administration and Congress want a blueprint for how to proceed with Cuba, this is it.
Go here for the full text, Cuba section pp 28-30
A streaming video of the presentation can be seen on the C-Span archives and will be available on the Brookings website.
Overview:and recommendations below:
"The last section addresses U.S. relations with Cuba. Though this issue is of a smaller order of magnitude than the other four areas, it is addressed here because Cuba has long been a subject of intense interest in U.S. foreign policy and a stumbling block for U.S. relations with other countries in the hemisphere.
The report puts forward these recommendations for the next U.S. administration and Congress:
U.S.–Cuban relations:
* Lift all restrictions on travel to Cuba by Americans.
* Repeal all aspects of the “communications embargo” (radio, TV, Internet) and readjust regulations governing trade in low-technology communications equipment.
* Remove caps and targeting restrictions on remittances.
* Take Cuba off the State Department’s State Sponsors of Terrorism List.
* Promote knowledge exchange and reconciliation by permitting federal funding of cultural, academic, and sports exchanges.
* Provide assistance to the Cuban people in recovering from natural and human-made disasters.
* Encourage enhanced official contact and cooperation between U.S. and Cuban diplomats and governments.
* End opposition to the reengagement of the international community with Cuba in regional and global economic and political organizations.
* Work with the members of the European Union and other countries to create a multilateral fund for civil society that will train potential entrepreneurs in management and innovation."