The Havana Note http://thehavananote.com/ en Copyright 2010 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:58:56 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss It's the Economy, Stupid http://www.flickr.com/photos/janpaulyap/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Two days before the House Agriculture Committee holds a hearing on U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba (you can follow the hearing live today at 1pm), the U.S. Treasury Department has (coincidentally?) issued a rule that some observers have greeted with enthusiasm:
Today OFAC released a reinterpretation that is very favorable for US Cuba trade, specifically US agricultural companies and farmers. In simple terms, OFAC has amended the Cuban Assets Control Regulations that contains a rewording of the term “payment of cash in advance” for US agricultural sales to Cuba.
The new rule, issued by the Treasury Department office responsible for enforcing sanctions (oh, and tracking terrorist funding networks), seemingly gives Congress and the agriculture community a victory over a 2005 Bush Administration rule which dampened U.S. agriculture exports to the island. And yet – it does no such thing. Why? Because the rule is limited to contracts entered into during fiscal year 2010, after which, the rule snaps back to where it was. And that makes this new rule virtually meaningless. Since I’ve lost most readers already at this point in the post, I might as well feel free to “geek out” and explain exactly what this is all about. (If you bore easily, feel free to skip the next couple paragraphs and tune back in to why this all could lead to you booking a ticket to Havana before the year is out.) ]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/its_the_economy_stupid_1.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/its_the_economy_stupid_1.html Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:58:56 -0500 What She Said (in The Miami Herald) Image credit: A Sure Sign It's not often I find myself with nothing further to say on the matter. But that's what happened when I read this powerful commentary in today's Miami Herald. Elena Freyre, a Cuban American activist based in Miami, says it all, and says it well:
Try Something New: Lift the Travel Ban Originally Published in the Miami Herald BY Elena Freyre cubaid7@bellsouth.net "Only in Miami is Cuba so far away.'' On no other issue are the words of Bette Midler's song truer than on the issue of Cuba travel. The 90 miles between Florida and Cuba are the longest distance between two points, both psychologically and objectively. This issue deserves a truthful and dispassionate examination of the facts. Supporters of the travel ban argue that there is no law that prohibits travel to Cuba, and that, indeed, only tourism to Cuba is presently forbidden by U.S. law. The truth is that a citizen or a legal U.S. resident cannot buy a ticket to travel to Cuba unless licensed by the government. And anyone traveling to Cuba, even with a license, risks a fine and even jail time for violating the law.
]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/what_she_said_in_the_miami_her_1.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/what_she_said_in_the_miami_her_1.html Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:14:42 -0500 Who's a Terrorist Now? Luis Posada Carriles Photo credit: Globovision.com From my time at the State Department (2001-2005), first as a policy planner and later as Secretary Powell’s chief of staff, I came to understand some of the politics of the U.S. terrorism list (State Sponsors of Terrorism—see the Export Administration Act of 1979). These politics existed prior to 9/11 and took on, understandably, a decidedly more aggressive tone afterward. “One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist” and vice versa—so well laid out in modern terms by Welsh journalist Phil Rees in his Dining With Terrorists: Meetings with the World’s Most Wanted Militants—is operable here but not fully explanatory. I found that, with regard to the United States, one has to dig deeper to discover the motivation behind that formulation. And the motivation is not, for example, that Ronald Reagan thought the Contras the descendants of the patriots of the American Revolution and Hezbollah the spawn of the devil (and we know today that he chose to deal with both). ]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/whos_a_terrorist_now.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/whos_a_terrorist_now.html Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:46:12 -0500 Long Way Home Photo credit: camd's photostream Roberto Barbon, a Cuban, was the first Latin player in the history of the Japanese professional baseball league. The New York Times told his amazing story this week. He arrived in the mid fifties hoping to perform well enough to attract attention from a U.S. team, but the Cuban Revolution intervened and Barbon remained to continue a Japanese career that was going well -- in 1958 he made the Pacific League All-Star team by stealing 38 bases and hitting 10 triples, among other achievements. He got married and settled down to a long career; in fact the Times says he's probably "the longest continuously serving figure in Japanese baseball." The Cubans have been sending baseball players abroad for as long as baseball has been played. The U.S. Major Leagues have been enriched by players from all over the world, and particularly by Latin players. But most of them can go home and see their families. Not Cubans, as a rule. Barbon's unique story made me think of all the other Cuban players who can't go home again. ]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/long_way_home.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/long_way_home.html Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:12:56 -0500 In the Mail http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaylon/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Yesterday, I received a message that really touched me:
"Dear Ms. Landau-French, I saw your letter to the editor ["Why U.S. Policy Doesn't Affect Cuba"] in the Washington Post of March 4 and was moved so much I wanted to write you a kudos. I recently spent 2 years living in Havana (my husband worked at the U.S. Interests Section) and I cannot agree with you more on the U.S. 's need to reach out to, rather than isolate, Cuba. Thank you and the U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative for working for the bettering of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. I applaud your work, and hope that very soon, thanks to the efforts of people like you, things will change for the better between our countries."
Here’s hoping that the writer gets her wish. With her permission I’ve posted her sentiments on The Havana Note because I so often wonder what our diplomats and their families posted in Havana REALLY think. It’s their job not to tell us. When I travel to Havana, I press our diplomats - we dialogue, we agree and we disagree. (Funny, that happens when I meet with Cuban diplomats too.) But they don’t make the policy – it falls to them to implement the policy. And so I often check myself, reminded that they are nearly as powerless as I am to effect change. The key value our diplomats bring, especially in a complex posting like Havana, is in their interaction with the host government and people. For as much as our policy hamstrings U.S. diplomats on the island, they are still our eyes and ears. But I wonder, just how often do we get to hear what they really think, and, how often do we listen?]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/in_the_mail_1.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/in_the_mail_1.html Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:18:09 -0500 An Olympic Disappointment (Getty Images) Post by Nicholas Maliska No, I am not referring to the U.S.A.’s heartbreaking overtime loss in the Winter Olympics men’s hockey finals against Canada this past Sunday. Rather, I am talking about the recent announcement by the Cuban National Olympic Committee that Cuba will not be participating in the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games. Set to take place in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico from July 17 to August 1, the 21st Games sought to bring together athletes from all 32 countries in the region. But Cuba’s participation has been uncertain from the start. Cuba’s stated requirements prior to this announcement included: visas for their entire delegation, permission to fly directly and land Cubana de Aviación airlines in Puerto Rico and have guarantees that the planes would not be confiscated. They also requested access to housing, transportation, and facilities on par with those of other delegations, conditions of “security and tranquility,” and the assurance that the Cuban delegation would not “be subject to treatment reserved for citizens from countries considered to be terrorist.” The U.S. tried to address these concerns through various meetings with Cuban and Puerto Rican officials over the past year and the State Department stated it would not try to impede Cuba’s participation. ]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/an_olympic_disappointment.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/an_olympic_disappointment.html Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:54:15 -0500 In The Washington Post: Why U.S. Policy Isn't Affecting Cuba Photo by Anya Landau French, of a Havana art fair where private Cuban entrepreneurs can earn hard currency income selling to foreign tourists Last Friday, The Washington Post editorial board questioned the value of engaging Cuba, following the death of a hunger-striking Cuban prisoner of conscience last week. In light of Orlando Zapata Tamayo's tragic death, the Post asked advocates of greater contact with Cuba how the ongoing “thaw” with the island nation is working out. I offered my thoughts to The Washington Post, which published them today:
Why U.S. policy isn’t affecting Cuba The death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo was an avoidable tragedy, one for which the Cuban government alone is accountable. Yet the Feb. 26 editorial overlooked many Cuban dissidents’ views that that U.S. sanctions harm the people, not the government, of Cuba. Even if Congress eases travel and food export restrictions on Cuba, the larger trade embargo will remain among our toughest restrictions against any other country in the world. The effort to remove U.S. restrictions on travel and food exports to Cuba is not driven by love for Fidel or Raúl Castro but instead by three ideas: the fundamental right of Americans to travel freely without our government’s interference, advancing the national interest at a time when America needs job growth and export opportunities, and a belief that we can do far more good in Cuba by reaching out to rather than isolating the people.
]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/in_the_washington_post_why_us.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/in_the_washington_post_why_us.html Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:50:56 -0500 With Allies Like This... Israel's controversial Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman suggested a not-so-novel approach to the problem of Iran's nuclear ambitions recently. He wants to apply what he calls the Cuban model, in which "the United States alone can do everything in order to stop this (Iranian) program." There are a few immediate contradictions. For starters, Lieberman believes that the Cuban model works best if it includes an international aspect, such that the United States would "shun foreign firms that continue to do business with Iran." That extraterritorial component was added to our Cuban Embargo in 1996 with the passage of the Helms Burton act. But, perhaps unbeknownst to Lieberman, it has been dutifully waived every six months since, at the behest of our allies. Mr. Lieberman may also be surprised to know that one of the first countries to suffer the consequences of such a shunning would be Israel, a leading investor in Cuban agriculture. The USDA reports that Israeli capital has driven a reinvigoration of Cuba's citrus sector, to such an extent that an Israeli-Cuban joint venture now produces a third of the total citrus grown on the island. (Well, if they can make the desert bloom, why not Cuba?) ]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/with_allies_like_this_1.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/with_allies_like_this_1.html Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:56:21 -0500 Spy's Wife Goes After Planes, Again Washington Post Company photo found at http://www.douglasdc3.com/cuba/cuba.htm Ana Margarita Martinez, who unwittingly married a Cuban spy who had infiltrated the Cuban exile community (and fled the U.S. more than a decade ago), has opened a new chapter in her ongoing battle to make the Cuban government pay for her pain and suffering. After her husband's betrayal, Martinez sued the Cuban government in U.S. Court and won a multi-million dollar judgment. But the only way to get her settlement of course, was to systematically sue for any Cuban assets over which the U.S. has authority. Which is exactly what her lawyer did in the spring of 2003, when two Cuban planes were hijacked (in one case by holding a knife to the pilot's throat) and landed in Miami, FL, rather than returned to the Cuban government. The United States and Cuba signed an anti-hijacking accord thirty years ago, when American fugitives would hijack planes and seek political asylum in Cuba (for a tour down memory lane, here's more on 1960s and 1970s Cuba-bound hijackings and steps the U.S. and Cuba took to stop them). So, it was particularly surprising that just two years after the September 11th attacks on America, the U.S. government declined to return the hijacked planes to the island, and instead handed them over to Martinez to auction off and collect on her award. Now, AP reports Martinez is trying to force U.S. charter companies that fly hundreds of thousands of Cuban Americans home for the holidays each year to pay the bill. The charter companies are fighting it in court. Martinez's suit comes shortly after the charters fought off a Florida state legislative effort to make the charters pay huge - $250,000 - bonds to continue booking flights to Cuba. ]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/spys_wife_goes_after_planes_ag.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/03/spys_wife_goes_after_planes_ag.html Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:02:34 -0500 Mixed Messages on Internet Freedom
http://www.flickr.com/photos/llimaorosa/ / CC BY-ND 2.0
Guest Post by Nicholas Maliska As a USAID contractor from Potomac, Maryland, sits in a Cuban jail for – according to Raul Castro – “the illegal distribution of sophisticated satellite communications equipment,” and the U.S. Treasury Department continues to block various platform connections in Cuba, you might wonder what exactly is our policy toward fostering internet connectivity in Cuba? After listening to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's January speech on internet freedom, you might expect that U.S. policies toward Cuba would reflect the following: “We stand for a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas.... And we know from long experience that promoting social and economic development in countries where people lack access to knowledge, markets, capital, and opportunity can be frustrating and sometimes futile work. In this context, the internet can serve as a great equalizer. By providing people with access to knowledge and potential markets, networks can create opportunities where none exist.” ]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/mixed_messages_on_internet_fre_1.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/mixed_messages_on_internet_fre_1.html Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:58:22 -0500 For the Sake of the People, Let’s Stop the Game Most ardent Cuba watchers probably read Dan Erikson’s book The Cuba Wars when it first came out in 2008. Beset by many other commitments, I only got around to reading it after Dan gave me a copy a month or so ago when I appeared on a Cuba panel he hosted at the Inter-American Dialogue where Dan is a Senior Associate. In between The Iraq Papers (an excellent compilation of documents related to the 2003 invasion of Iraq) and Joseph Stiglitz’s Freefall, I squeezed in Dan’s superb narrative about modern U.S.-Cuba relations. As I read, I was well-pleased with the book’s balance, i.e., calling a spade a spade whether the cards were in the Cuban dictatorship’s hand or in Washington’s. Or, too frequently in the hands of those who virtually own U.S. Cuba policy, the tiny but powerful Miami/Dade County crowd. There are at least these three groups sitting around this poker table and a passive fourth, the bulk of the American people, observing the play on occasion but most often oblivious to the entire game. A fifth group, the eleven million people of Cuba, have the patience of Job and probably, for the most part, don’t like poker. ]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/for_the_sake_of_the_people_let_1.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/for_the_sake_of_the_people_let_1.html Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:37:17 -0500 Orlando Zapata Tamayo, 1967-2010 reports that Zapata's death marks "the first time in nearly 40 years that an island activist starved himself to death to protest government abuses." The State Department responded to the death with the following statement:
On Tuesday, February 23, 2010, prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo died following an eleven-week hunger strike. We are deeply saddened to learn of his death, and the U.S. Government extends its heartfelt sympathies to his family, friends, and supporters. Zapata was arrested in 2003 on charges of “contempt for authority.” While in Havana last week, the U.S. delegation for Migration Talks raised Zapata’s incarceration and poor health with Cuban officials and urged them to provide all necessary medical care. ]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/orlando_zapata_tamayo_19672010.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/orlando_zapata_tamayo_19672010.html Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:02:10 -0500 A Sad and Unnecessary Death Bobby Sands, the first of ten hunger strikers who died in Northern Ireland AP reports that Orlando Zapata Tamayo has died as the result of a hunger strike in Cuba. He was designated by Amnesty International as a Prisoner of Conscience after his arrest in 2003. Hunger strikes deliberately pose a no-win dilemma to all systems of incarceration. In Belfast, ten people regarded as heroes by Irish nationalists and many Irish Americans died resisting their self-described political imprisonment. The US deals with the same problem at Guantanamo Bay by forcing a tube down the throat of prisoners on hunger strike, an action which has been condemned by human rights advocates. Last June Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh al Hanashi committed suicide at the east end of Cuba. As reported by the New York Times
“he had been force-fed in a restraint chair…Guantánamo records show that Mr. Hanashi’s weight at one point fell to 87 pounds. Although the death is the first in the Obama administration, there have been five prior deaths at the camp, including four suicides.”
When three prisoners died in 2006 the prison commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris stated: "This was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetric warfare committed against us."]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/a_sad_and_unnecessary_death.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/a_sad_and_unnecessary_death.html Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:47:29 -0500 Enhancing Exports, Ending the Travel Ban Longtime advocate of Cuba policy reform Sam Farr (D-CA) remarked last year that it is a lot easier to get from the United States to Cuba if you're a potato. But if House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson has his way, that will change. Peterson, along with senior Republican Agriculture Committee member Jerry Moran and some thirty of their colleagues, introduced a bill today that would make it easier for American farmers to sell their potatoes and all manner of other produce to Cuba, and also lift the ban on travel that has done more to keep American influence out of Cuba than any Cuban government policy. The bill would clarify the rules by which Cuba pays cash in advance for agricultural sales to Cuba (made legal in 2000), while enabling Cuba to pay that cash directly to US financial institutions rather than passing them through third country institutions. And, as Mr. Farr will be relieved to see, the Travel Restrictions Reform and Export Enhancement Act would do a lot more than fix a policy that hamstrings American farmers. The act would also correct the more fundamental error in policy that has so long infringed on the rights of Americans to make their own decisions about where they travel and why.]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/enhancing_exports_ending_the_t.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/enhancing_exports_ending_the_t.html Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:43:12 -0500 Just Keep Talking Photo at: http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entries/reaching_out_cuban_people/ Last week in Havana, U.S. and Cuban officials met for a second round of bilateral migration talks - talks which customarily happen twice a year following 1994/1995 accords and had been suspended since January 2004. (U.S. and Cuban officials also discussed direct mail service resumption in New York last fall). With no announcement following these latest talks and the Cuban Foreign Ministry accusing the Americans of provocation following the talks, it might seem like we’ve reached an impasse. But have we really? What if the two sides are simply communicating the best way they know how? Just the other day, I caught part of the movie Thirteen Days (about the Cuban Missile Crisis) and I was struck by Secretary McNamara’s insistence that the U.S. should not simply employ customary “rules of engagement”; rather, McNamara insisted, Kennedy and Khrushev were “communicating” with each other, and that communication – rather than escalation - needed to be the focus. ]]> http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/just_keep_talking.html http://thehavananote.com/2010/02/just_keep_talking.html Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:11:37 -0500