All Posts by Anya Landau French

Bogus Cuba Prisoner Swap Rumor Swirls Amid Hopes for Travel, Golf in Cuba

Anya Landau French — Sep 2, 2010

It's tempting to lead with the zany news item about prisoner exchanges manufactured by, whom else, the Cuban American quintet (in Congress), but I'm going to start today's clips on a high note instead, and share with you a stirring op-ed featured in yesterday's edition of Roll Call, penned by Brigidier General John Adams (Ret.) and David Jones:

"U.S. reconciliation with Germany took about a decade after that terrible war introduced words such as “genocide” and “Holocaust” into the global vocabulary and claimed the lives of more than 400,000 U.S. military personnel.

U.S. reconciliation with Vietnam took 20 years after Americans were stunned by news footage of men and women clinging to helicopters making their flight to freedom from rooftops in Saigon. In an act of political foresight, President Bill Clinton, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and then-Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) skillfully navigated the emotional wreckage left by that war and its 58,000-plus U.S. casualties and restored diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1995.

This not only produced an invaluable economic and diplomatic presence for our nation in Southeast Asia, but enabled Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to visit Hanoi in July to commemorate the 15th anniversary of normalization and to express our concern about the human rights record of our former adversary on its own soil.

If we can reconcile with Germany and Vietnam, why not with our neighbor Cuba? Why cling to our failed Cuba policy with its self-isolating diplomacy and unilateral embargo? Our current policy hurts two groups the most: the Cuban and American people. Why don’t we replace it with forms of peaceful engagement that have a proven history of success?"

Not Fidel's Cuba Anymore When Los Aldeanos, Silvito el Libre Perform in Miami

Anya Landau French — Sep 1, 2010

 

As we await news of a potential easing of U.S. travel rules for cultural pursuits in Cuba, it looks like the Cuban government may be loosening things on its end as well. El Nuevo Herald reports that some unlikely Cuban artists will make their way to perform in Miami this fall: rap duo Los Aldeanos, and Silvito el Libre (son of Silvio Rodriguez, who played Carnegie Hall early this summer) will give a concert November 13 at the Miami Dade Auditorium. FundArte and Charity Unlimited are organizing their concert.

Cuban filmaker Alejandro Moya "Iskander", who's in Miami this summer editing a documentary about the two rappers who comprise Los Aldeanos, points out that even though you won't hear the duo on Cuban radio or find their CDs in stores, their underground rap is nonetheless very popular in Havana. Ever Chavez, director of FundArte, describes their lyrics as "honest" and "angry", which he says "reflects their situation. They've been censured, and have seen their shows shut down in their country."

Gisela Hidalgo, from Charity Unlimited, tells El Nuevo Herald, "It's a step forward in the cultural exchange that should exist between the two cities [Miami and Havana], and people-to-people. Five years ago, a grupo like Los Aldeanos wouldn't have been allowed to leave Cuba."

Whether you're a fan of Los Aldeanos or Silvito el Libre or not, this is good news indeed. It shows Havana being pragmatic or fair, or both, and it's just one more indication that we're no longer dealing with Fidel Castro's Cuba. It's time for our policy to reflect that fact, by reaching out to Cubans in and out of government, to build the kind of trust and understanding - including honest disagreement - that we've been missing for decades.

Cuba News Roundup: Fidel Castro, Jeffrey Goldberg, and Laura Pollan

Anya Landau French — Aug 31, 2010

AP Photo/Estudios Revolucion, Cubadebate

Fidel Castro is back indeed, and talking about his near-death experience to La Jornada. And, while taking in a dolphin show at Cuba's national aquarium (he seems pretty fond of the aquarium, doesn't he?), Fidel's undoubtedly been talking about about other life and death subjects - Israel, Iran and what Obama will or won't do in a potential nuclear standoff - with American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, noted Israel expert, and author of a recent article in The Atlantic, The Point of No Return, which Fidel read with intense interest and excerpted for readers in his August 25th reflection. Why they took in the show at the aquarium is frankly beyond me. But I find it interesting that Adela Dworim, president of Cuba's small Hebrew Community, was with them. I'm hoping that Mr. Goldberg might have gained some insight on his trip into the case of Alan Gross that hasn't yet come to light?

Thanks to the tireless new clippers at Cuban Colada for translating this part of the La Jornada interview of Fidel Castro, concerning the internment of gay Cubans in labor camps in the 1960's. Castro called it "a great injustice," and said he assumed the responsibility for it, having not paid attention to what was going on at the time, what with the Cuban missile crisis, bay of pigs, exploding cigars and such on his plate:

"We had so many and such terrible problems of life or death [...] that we didn't pay enough attention to it. [...] It's like when the saint sins, right? It's not the same as when the sinner sins, no?"

Bill Richardson and Jose Cardenas: Did They Really Say That?

Anya Landau French — Aug 27, 2010

 

How about a few Friday funnies this week?

AP's Will Weissert reports from Havana that Cuba's government is ending cigarette rations for the elderly.

Several years ago, authorities fazed out for cigarette rations for everyone under 55. (Think of it like how Joe Miller, Sarah Palin's pick for incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski's Senate seat, explains his stance on phasing out social security: "it's absolutely critical that the government keep its contract with the seniors that are currently dependent" on it.)

"I'm insulted because it's another thing they are taking away from us," one retiree, Angela Jimenez, complained, noting that she'll be forced to quit smoking because of her pension is too small to pay full price for cigarettes. "I don't know how far they're going to go with this."

Pretty far, I'd guess. Last year, the Cuban government began what seemed inevitable, the end of the ration booklet, by taking potatoes and peas off of the ration booklets. But then no other items were eliminated - until now.

On the brighter side, if Governor Bill Richardson gets his way, disgruntled pensioners like Jimenez could find green chilis and salsa in their ration books before the year is out. Earlier this week Richardson told Andrea Mitchell he's not an Obama administration envoy, but rather he's just back in Cuba to sell the spiciest stuff - "chili, salsa and green chilis" - that New Mexico has to offer. Now, elderly ex-smokers, with their seasoned taste buds might actually take to the stuff. I'm just not so sure about the rest of the Cuban population. Cuba is not exactly known for spicy cuisine. (It's not really known for its cuisine, actually.) About the spiciest ingredient one is likely to find in Cuba is the mustard you get on a Cubano sandwich.

Let's hope the governor has better luck springing Alan Gross from jail than he will feeding green chilis to the Cuban people.

Now, while Richardson told CNN he welcomes the Obama administration's expected loosening of Cuba travel rules, five Cuban American lawmakers took their concerns to the President last week. The lawmakers wrote:

"We are deeply troubled that such changes would result in economic benefits to the Cuban regime and would significantly undermine U.S. foreign policy and security objectives."

Writing on Foreign Policy magazine's Shadow Government blog today, Jose Cardenas, a staunch defender of the embargo, offers some unwitting comfort to them:

U.S. Chamber Renews Call for Action on Cuba

Anya Landau French — Aug 25, 2010

Photo: US Chamber of Commerce/Ian Wagreich

While Congress is on recess this month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is working to get Cuba legislation on its agenda when members return in September. Last week, following a New York Times report on changes the Obama administration is expected to make to U.S. Cuba travel rules, the Chamber's Maria Medrano teed up the Chamber's expectations for such a move:

"President Obama’s moves to broaden the scope of travel--as much can be done by executive action—should send a clear signal to Congress that the administration is open to, and has done all it can, to expand engagement with Cuba. These actions by the administration and legislation currently in Congress indicate we are on the brink of changing our strategy toward Cuba. After 50 years of a failing policy it shouldn’t be so hard to make this final leap and lift the travel ban for the good of the Cuban people."

But just to make sure Congress got the message, the Chamber's top lobbyist, Bruce Josten, sent a letter yesterday to the Foreign Affairs Committee, in whose court the bill now sits.

"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region, urges you to schedule a mark-up of H.R. 4645, the “Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act.

It is time to end the unproductive preoccupation with an aging and moribund communist regime, and begin to lay the groundwork for a U.S. role in the future of Cuba. Recent moves in both Havana and Washington indicate that the time is right to adjust U.S. policy toward Cuba in favor of a strategy that will encourage positive change on the island.

Because of the need to reform U.S. policy toward Cuba, the Chamber urges the Committee to report this legislation to the full House swiftly and without amendment so that the House can consider and approve this measure in the very near term."

More Prisoners Released as Cuban Catholic Church Responds to Critics

Anya Landau French — Aug 24, 2010

 

The Cuban Catholic Archdiocese announced today the expected release of six more Cuban political prisoners, bringing the total number of prisoners released by the Raul Castro government since July to 32.

Secretary Clinton has expressed the United States government's willingness to receive some of the recently arrived political prisoners from Spain. But as reporters encountered at yesterday's Daily Press Briefing at the State Department, it's complicated. It's one thing to grant an asylum request to someone who would otherwise be persecuted if you don't grant asylum, it's quite another to grant such a request to someone who no longer actually needs it.

Further complicating the situation is that the wet-foot dry-foot immigration policy - a sort of Green Card fast-track for Cubans who manage to slip into the U.S. illegally (which is significantly easier from just 90 miles away) - might not apply to these ex-political prisoners. Why? Because the only reasonable way to make it in to the U.S. from Spain is to fly in on an airplane, which authorities won't permit you to do without a visa (and there's usually a long line for those). So, the newly-released Cubans may have to make do in Spain for some time yet.

Meanwhile, the editors of the Catholic Church's lay newspaper have issued a forceful response to a group of more than 100 Cuban dissidents, who sent a letter to Pope Benedict to protest the Cuban Catholic church's "regrettable and embarassing" intervention with the Cuban government on behalf of Cuban political prisoners. The signers fault the Church for accepting "forced exile" for the prisoners, which, with families in tow to Spain, they write, amounts to an "exodus".

Hope Springs Eternal in US-Cuban Relations

Anya Landau French — Aug 23, 2010

Photo credit: Darkwind

They say timing is everything. But in U.S.-Cuban relations, timing is often nothing more than a missed opportunity. Everyone has their own theory about these things. Back in 1996, analysts thought it was a most opportune moment for improved relations. The Helms-Burton Act was stalled and President Clinton appeared to have no intention of signing it. And then Cuban migs shot down two civilian aircraft that Cuba claimed had violated its airspace. (The group that sent the planes on their mission that day, Brothers to the Rescue, claim they did not violate Cuban airspace that day -- though indeed they had previously, even overflying and leafletting Havana.) It might have been an opportune moment, but it turned out not to be.

And then there were the early 2000's, when a Republican-controlled Congress repeatedly bucked its President, voting to end enforcement of the decades old travel ban on Cuba. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee even voted out a bill to lift the ban outright. U.S.-Cuban agriculture ties were at their tightest, and U.S. Cuba food export fever was at its highest. But President Bush had committed to embargo supporters, and his veto threats ensured that House and Senate leaders yanked Cuba reforms out of every bill they rode along. And then in 2003, with Congress leading the charge for U.S. policy reform, Cuban authorities rounded up 75 dissident activists and sending them to jail for collaborating with the U.S. enemy. It could have been a transformational moment, but it turned out not to be.

And then of course, in 2006 and 2008, Democrats swept through Congress, and won the presidency. The new president was even on record as opposed to the U.S. embargo of Cuba, and campaigned on a foreign policy that would win back the respect of the world. Though Cuba policy seemed such obvious low-hanging fruit, the new administration and Congress failed to grasp the opportunity, particularly in the midst of crushing domestic and international crises and larger priorities like healthcare legislation. Meanwhile, Fidel Castro fell gravely ill in 2006, retired from sight and from the presidency in Cuba, and his more pragmatic brother officially took the reins in 2008, broaching topics and raising criticisms of the Cuban system never discussed under the elder Castro's watch. It should have been the long awaited breakthrough moment, but it turned out not to be.

And here we are in 2010.

When You've Got Family in Cuba

Anya Landau French — Aug 16, 2010

My home in Cuba

Remember this gem from then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fisk in 2004?

"An individual can decide when they want to travel once every three years and the decision is up to them . . . So if they have a dying relative, they have to figure out when they want to travel."

Naturally, we all applauded a year ago when President Obama finally implemented new rules that meant that U.S. policy would help reunite, instead of further divide, thousands of Cuban families, whether for beach vacations or deathbed visits.

But there was still, of course, a catch. If you have loved ones on the island but you aren't related by blood or by marriage, you're out of luck. That's the position I find myself in today. For years, I've traveled to Cuba to conduct research and to help translate the Cuban reality, warts and all, back to the U.S., where so few of us have the opportunity to get to know the largest island in the Caribbean, or the wonderful people who live there. And in that time, I've made friends so close they have essentially become family to me and I to them. And so it was with deep sadness that I learned this weekend that one of them has passed away.

Fidel Castro Turns 84: Is He or Isn't He Back?

Anya Landau French — Aug 13, 2010

Photo credit: AFP

As Fidel Castro turns 84 today, Havana-based reporter Marc Frank offers a window into how the Cuban people feel about Fidel Castro's return to the limelight this past month.

"The Cuban public, by and large, has welcomed their Commandante back after four years of seclusion with the warmth and sympathy one might bestow on an ailing, but wise grandfather home after a prolonged hospital stay, but in no position any longer to play head of the household."

While some analysts, such as Domingo Amuchastegui, a former Cuban intelligence official who defects in the early 1990's, believe Fidel is reasserting himself and has never given up full control of Cuba, German scholar Bert Hoffman disagrees:

"Fidel's staged performances do not signal his return to power. Instead, his remarks on international issues rather underscore his backing for Ra??l's policies. From leader, Fidel has transformed into legitimator."

Last week, Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez opined that Fidel's reemergence proves he's never coming back.

"We had already started to remember him as something from the past, which was a noble way to forget him. Many were disposed to forgive his mistakes and failures. They had put him on some gray pedestal of the history of the 20th century, capturing his face at its best moment, along with the illustrious dead. But his sudden reappearance upended those efforts. He has come forward again to shamelessly display his infirmities and announce the end of the world, as if to convince us that life after him would be lacking in purpose."

Whatever Fidel Castro might be up to these days, Marc Frank reminds us how the Cuban people take it in stride.

As one joke making the rounds has it, Castro is lying on his death bed with his brother Raul at his side and Cubans at the window chanting, " Fidel, Fidel."

"What are those people doing outside?" Fidel asks.

"Saying farewell," Raul responds.

"Oh, where are they all going?" asks Fidel.

Obama Administration Finally Sending Congress a Signal on Cuba?

Anya Landau French — Aug 10, 2010

Image of Ambassador Ron Kirk available at Cleveland.com

While I was "gone fishin'" over the last couple of weeks, I missed a number of significant developments, starting with Raul Castro's speech to the Cuban National Assembly in which he promised changes to the country's rules governing self-employment, alluding to changes that would allow Cuban entrepreneurs greater flexibility in hiring other Cubans, and opening new sectors to self employment. "The real story will be in the details," wrote Phil Peters at the Cuban Triangle. As unexciting as government regulations can be, the scope of such rules to implement a stated policy are the true measure of a government's action.

This will certainly be true if the rumors swirling in Washington this month that President Obama may be about to relax certain Cuba restrictions actually pan out. Word is (here and here) that the Administration is preparing to issue regulations that would ease restrictions on travel to Cuba, possibly allowing additional airports to participate in the commerce (so far, Miami has most of the traffic, with a few flights from New York and Los Angeles each week), and some relaxation of restrictions on telecommunications. The President has significant latitude within the confines of the codified embargo to relax these and other restrictions; it is often wrongly reported that the Administration's hands are tied by the Helms-Burton Act, which codified the embargo. For a refresher on why that's really not the case, read Jake Colvin's informative monograph here.