Oil exploration in Cuba expected to go ahead
Financial Times
By Marc Frank
August 29, 2010
Preparations for full-scale oil exploration are gaining momentum in Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico waters just 50 miles from the US, testing the limits of the trade embargo on the Caribbean nation.
Cubapetroleo, the state oil monopoly, says seven exploration wells are scheduled for the Cuban waters up to the end of 2012.
A new Chinese deep-water rig, owned by Saipem, a unit of Italian oil company Eni SpA, is scheduled to leave its shipyard by the end of 2010 for the two-month trek to Cuba.
The rig was built to get around the 10 per cent limit on US technology demanded under the US trade embargo of Cuba.
Preparatory work is moving ahead at Mariel, a port west of Havana, the staging area for drilling operations, diplomatic and industry sources said, and some companies have opened bidding for well casing.
“It is ridiculous that Repsol, a Spanish oil company, is paying an Italian firm to build an oil rig in China that will be used next year to explore for oil 50 miles from Florida,” Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas, said.
Ms Stephens, whose Washington-based organisation opposes US sanctions, led the first US energy-related fact-finding mission by congressional staff and experts to Havana in July. They concluded Cuba was determined to sink wells and with them the embargo.
Embargo opponents in Washington are backing legislation that would allow US groups to participate in Cuba’s offshore oil development, while proponents plan legislation that would impose sanctions on the foreign groups that do. Florida politicians, who have banned drilling off their coast, and Cuban-American lawmakers, have raised fears of an accident such as the one on BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig. According to industry and diplomatic sources, companies from Spain, India, Norway and perhaps Malaysia – all US allies – have already contracted the rig, while others, from Vietnam, Venezuela and Brazil are not far behind.
Russian and Chinese companies are negotiating to obtain offshore blocks or partner with the other companies. Repsol drilled the only offshore well in Cuba’s waters in 2004. It said at the time that it had found hydrocarbons, but not in a commercially viable amount. Since then, according to Manuel Marrero Faz, oil adviser to Cuba’s Ministry of Basic Industry, extensive seismic work has revealed 15 sites with a high probability of oil.
Mr Marrero estimates Cuba has up to 20bn barrels of oil in its offshore areas, while the US Geological Survey puts the figure at a more modest 4.6bn barrels and 10,000bn cu feet of gas.
Cuba currently produces about 60,000 barrels of oil per day, all from onshore wells. It imports about 115,000 b/d from ally Venezuela on favourable terms.
The Obama administration has refrained from denouncing Cuba’s drilling plans and appears to favour limited co-operation.
The administration recently said it would allow US companies that handle and clean up oil spills to operate in Cuban waters should the need arise and granted approval for executives from the Houston-based International Association of Drilling Contractors to visit Cuba last week. Lee Hunt, association president, told the Financial Times he was impressed by Cuba’s preparations and regulatory regime, which included measures his group had proposed to the Obama administration after the BP disaster.
He added: “There is one Gulf shared by three countries. We are promoting co-operation between their industries to insure the unfortunate events that occurred in Mexico and more recently in the United States do not happen here”.
Jorge Piñon, a visiting research fellow at the Cuban Research Institute of the Florida International University, said more should be done to wean Cuba from energy dependence on Venezuela and insure safety.
“The United States should enable oil companies working in Cuba access to equipment and technology that would allow the monetisation of Cuba’s hydrocarbon resources in a safe and responsible manner,” Mr Pinon added.
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2010.
source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/63317958-b3af-11df-81aa-00144feabdc0.html
NFTC's Colvin Says House Panel To Decide Fate of Cuba Bill After Recess
By Rossella Brevetti
August 20, 2010
decision on whether to mark up legislation loosening agricultural trade and
travel restrictions against Cuba when Congress returns from the August recess,
Jake Colvin, the National Foreign Trade Council's vice president for global
trade issues, said Aug. 17.
“We expect them to decide to do something when they come
back. I think it's still an open question whether they are going to mark it up in
committee or let it go,” he remarked. The House returns from its recess Sept.
14.
Colvin—who spoke at an NFTC lunch on recent developments in
Cuba—also expressed the hope that an anticipated Obama administration package
of reforms on Cuba would be announced in August. The reforms, Colvin
speculated, are expected to further loosen U.S. travel restrictions on Cuba.
Sarah Stephens, the executive director of the Center for
Democracy in the Americas, told the NFTC event that House Foreign Affairs
Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) has been clear that he wants his
committee to mark up the legislation. “That's the way you are supposed to do it
and that's what he wants to do,” she said.
legislation through the committee “and not in 2011 but now.”
agricultural sales to Cuba and require agricultural exports to Cuba to meet the
same payment requirements as exports to other countries. It would end the
cumbersome requirement applicable to Cuba that payments to U.S. agricultural
sellers must pass through banks in third countries.
to Cuba, reducing the bureaucratic red tape currently required for individuals
to travel to Cuba to facilitate new agriculture sales.
some 50 years. The embargo was aimed at toppling the communist regime formerly
led by Fidel Castro and now by his brother Raul.
was asked about news reports on the possibility that the White House would
loosen Cuba travel restrictions but he declined comment on specifics. “[T]he
president is going to continue to do things that are in the best interest of
the United States and that help to create a more democratic environment and
expand freedoms for the Cuban people,” he said.
President Obama last year announced measures allowing
Cuban-Americans to visit and send money to relatives on the island.
The House Agriculture Committee June 30 voted to approve
H.R. 4645, a measure that would ease U.S. agricultural sales to Cuba and lift
the ban on travel to the island nation. H.R. 4645 was introduced by House
Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.).
an amendment authored by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) that would suspend a Bush
administration policy that requires Cuba to pay cash in advance before any U.S.
farm products leave the United States bound for Cuba. The provision was added
to the fiscal year 2011 Financial Services appropriations bill.
“Requiring cash in advance of shipping rather than delivery
is clearly intended to make it more difficult, if not impossible, for American
farmers to sell their products to Cuba, which is the exact opposite of what
Congress intended when it lifted the more than 40-year-old embargo on food and
medicine sales to Cuba,” Dorgan said in a press statement.
Obama uses recess appointment to send ambassador to El Salvador
By Laura Rozen
August 19, 2010
President Obama filled four vacant posts today by recess appointment, among them Maria del Carmen Aponte to be his ambassador to El Salvador.
Aponte is an attorney, former board member of the National Council of La Raza and former president of the Hispanic National Bar Association. Her nomination to be Obama’s envoy to El Salvador has languished since December.
“At a time when our nation faces so many pressing challenges, I urge members of the Senate to stop playing politics with our highly qualified nominees, and fulfill their responsibilities of advice and consent,” Obama said in a statement announcing the rationale for the recess appointments. “Until they do, I reserve the right to act within my authority to do what is best for the American people.”
“He did the right thing by springing a superbly capable nominee for a critical post that had been left unfilled by shameless Cold War politics,” said the Center for Democracy in the Americas’ Sarah Stephens.
Washington Latin America hands say Aponte’s confirmation was held up by Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) over a past relationship with a Cuban American who had alleged contact with the Cuban interests section, although nothing shown to be illicit. “No big deal, but given the utter nuttiness about Cuba among some, she wasn’t getting confirmed,” one Latin America hand explained.
Aponte’s confirmation had been strongly championed by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who praised Obama's decision to move forward with the recess appointment today.
“Republicans in the Senate have deployed a strategy of broadly obstructing presidential appointments in order to grind the people’s business to a halt, and it was tremendously disappointing that they chose to delay Ms. Aponte’s confirmation as part of this strategy," Menendez said in a statement. "Furthermore, it is shameful that they raised an issue from the distant past, which has been fully answered, to tar Ms. Aponte.
"If anyone in this chamber would have concerns about a nominee’s ties to and views on Cuba, it would be me," Menendez continued. "On the contrary, I wholeheartedly endorsed her nomination, and I look forward to her work as ambassador.”
Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0810/Obama_uses_recess_appointm...
Oil Prospects in Cuba Have Some Rethinking U.S. Trade Embargo
By Raisa Camargo
August 19, 2010
WASHINGTON — As speculation surfaces of oil prospects in Cuba, officials are worried that the United States’ embargo will fall short with trade, as the island continues to attract global investments from countries such as China.
“If we insist on maintaining the embargo, other countries will benefit from that increased trade,” said Ronald Saligo, professor of economics at Rice University, through a teleconference Aug. 17 at a luncheon of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC). “There is a great deal of potential here. The question is whether we are going to sacrifice those for this (embargo) policy, which has not succeeded in 50 years.”
Legislation lifting the U.S. travel ban and removing sales of agricultural commodities to Cuba is still pending. Yet, recent reports from the White House indicate that the Obama administration might be willing to ease travel restrictions including granting general licenses for students, researchers and educators — a policy similar to that of the Clinton administration.
Jake Colvin, vice president Global Trade Issues of the NFTC, said they expect the House Foreign Affairs Committee either to make a decision on the travel ban by the end of this month or put it off until after midterm elections.
A group of experts from the NFTC, Center for Democracy in the Americas, Rice University and congressional staff took a four-day trip to Cuba, from July 8 to 12, to explore energy policies. At the luncheon, they summarized the urgency to invest in Cuba’s oil reserves that has deadlocked because of the embargo.
Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas, took the trip. She said the U.S. should act swiftly with the embargo, particularly because Cuba has begun exploratory drilling, with her findings indicating that it’s ripe to become a major oil producer and refiner.
Stephens pointed to Repsol, a Spanish oil company that is paying an Italian firm to build an oil rig in China, which will explore oil off the shores of Cuba by next year. Lisa Margonelli, who directs the New America Foundation’s Energy Policy Initiative and who accompanied Margonelli to Cuba, agreed that if these companies are commissioning a “whole rig” it suggests there’s a fair amount of oil.
“Are we looking at lots of discrete pockets that would require one strategy or is there a big thing in there that could be producing a significant amount of oil in a ten-year time frame?” said Margonelli, while adding that although two exploratory wells have been drilled in Cuba, the amount of time to explore a whole field would be five to ten years because of mapping and production.
Although it would take time, experts at the luncheon agreed that the U.S. should keep a close watch on Cuba in its effort to improve economic engagement with the world. Saligo added that the benefits outweigh the cons.
He said Cuba would provide additional energy security, since exports in Canada and Mexico are decreasing. The island also has the potential to produce sugar cane ethanol, a renewable energy fuel that is more cost-effective and environmentally sustainable than petroleum.
Saligo said relying on trade exports from Cuba will supplement the U.S. goal to produce 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022 — a requirement of the Energy Dependence and Security Act signed in 2007.
Venezuela, Dubai and Brazil are investing in drilling exploratory wells in Cuba, which has also attracted attention.
The members at the luncheon are working on compiling a report of their findings in Cuba.
Source: http://latindispatch.com/2010/08/19/oil-prospects-in-cuba-have-some-reth...
'Political considerations' could push back announcement of change in Cuba travel restrictions
August 19, 2010
Albor Ruiz
A significant change in travel restrictions to Cuba - expected to be announced as early as next week - could be pushed back until after the November midterm elections due to "political considerations."
That's the opinion of congressional aides, who point to the President's worsening poll numbers as a reason for the delay. The Ground Zero mosque controversy and general dissatisfaction with Washington's handling of the economy will probably mean that nothing will change in regards to Cuba until at least the end of the year, they caution.
Yet Obama seems ready to begin transforming 50 years of failed U.S. policy, especially after Havana began to release political prisoners and implement important changes in the Communist nation's economy.
For the last couple of weeks, there has been growing expectation of some "change" is in the works from George W. Bush's 2004 absurdly harsh travel regulations back to the Bill Clinton "people to people" diplomacy.
The change would entail opening "purposeful travel," but would leave the embargo and the restrictions on American tourists to Cuba.
Last year, the Obama ended the cruel restrictions imposed by Bush to allow Cuban-Americans to visit families on the island, which they are doing in great numbers.
"This right to travel, however, is and ought to be the birthright of every American, regardless of his heritage," said Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas.
News reports reflect a supposed "official leak" saying that Obama is considering making some travel to Cuba easier, even if Congress does not take action.
For years, ultra-conservative and politically connected Cuban-Americans have made it difficult to improve relations with Cuba. But polls show the number of hardliners is shrinking, and most Cuban Americans favor a more open policy.
The White House, reports say, could change the rules to allow more academic, cultural, religious, educational and sports travel to Cuba, although no details have been given yet about what those changes could be and how far they would go. The President can do this by an executive order, but only Congress can decide on a total lifting of the travel prohibition.
The Peterson-Moran bill now before Congress would end the travel prohibition. There also are a growing number of lawmakers in both parties that see Cuba as a potentially profitable market and favor lifting some trade restrictions.
Hard-line anti-Castro politicians and lobbyists are mobilizing against the legislation and any executive decision by Obama.
One of them, Cuban-American Sen. Robert Menéndez (D-N.J.), has vowed to block the bill, and opposes any softening of travel restrictions.
But the tide seems to have turned in favor of a more rational Cuba policy.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, writing on the op-ed page of the Washington Post, added his name to the growing chorus of those asking for a change.
"The travel ban penalizes U.S. businesses, lowers our credibility in Latin America and fuels anti-U.S. propaganda," Richardson wrote.
Of course, even if the travel changes are implemented, until the anachronistic trade embargo is scrapped, no one can talk of a new chapter in U.S.-Cuba relations.
source: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/19/2010-08-19_shifts_in_wind_for_cuba_travel_rules.html
Cuba plans 7 Gulf of Mexico oil test wells: US group
By Marc Frank
August 18, 2010
HAVANA - Cuba plans to drill seven exploratory oil wells in its Gulf of Mexico waters over the next two years, according to a U.S. organization that visited the Communist-ruled island to discuss energy development.
Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas, said meetings between energy experts she brought to the island in July and Cuba's state oil monopoly Cubapetroleo (CUPET) left no doubt about the Caribbean nation's determination to develop its offshore oil reserves.
"Repsol, a Spanish oil company, is paying an Italian firm to build an oil rig in China that will be used next year to explore for oil off the shores of Cuba," she told Reuters in a written response to questions.
"Whether it's available in commercially viable amounts we do not yet know. We were told by sources in Cuba that seven such wells will be drilled over 2011-2012. If this drilling finds significant oil, you could have production taking place as early as 2014 and as late as 2018," Stephens said.
Her non-profit group, based in Washington D.C., says it works to improve U.S. policy toward the Americas including Cuba. It opposes existing U.S. sanctions against the island.
Cuba's government has declared its interest in developing the country's offshore oil resources but rarely gives details of its plans in public.
The energy analysts on the trip to Havana included Michael A. Levi, Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the Council on Foreign Relations, Ronald Soligo from Rice University, and Lisa Margonelli, Director of the Energy Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation.
Cuba estimates it has up to 20 billion barrels of oil in its offshore areas, but the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated a more modest 4.6 billion barrels and 10 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Mexico and the United States, which share the Gulf of Mexico with Cuba, have been producing oil and natural gas from under its waters for decades.
Cuba currently produces about 60,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), all from onshore wells. It receives about 115,000 bpd from ally Venezuela on favorable terms.
OIL EXPLORATION MOVES
Speculation about Cuba's deep water exploration plans and statements concerning imminent drilling have increased since Repsol YPF <REP.MC> drilled the only offshore well in Cuba's untapped waters in 2004. It said at the time it had found hydrocarbons, but not in a commercially viable amount.
Industry sources blame delays in further oil development on problems with financing and fear of sanctions under Washington's 48-year-old trade embargo on Cuba, which also put a 10 percent cap on use of U.S. technology on the island.
But they say it appears serious exploration will finally get under way next year.
Part of Cuba's Gulf of Mexico zone is within 50 miles (80 km) of Florida, where U.S. politicians have raised fears that Cuban drilling could lead to an accident like the huge BP <BP.L> <BP.N> oil spill off the Louisiana coast.
Norway has been training Cuban personnel for offshore oil exploration for a number of years.
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has said it would allow U.S. companies that handle accidental oil spills to operate in Cuban waters should the need arise.
The China-built drilling rig is expected to arrive in Cuban waters early next year and companies have begun preparations to drill once the Scarabeo 9 rig gets to the island.
Preparatory work was moving ahead at the port of Mariel, just west of Havana, the staging area for drilling operations, diplomatic and industry sources said.
Cuba has divided its share of the Gulf into 59 blocks, 21 of which are already under lease to seven companies.
Repsol has announced that its consortium with Norway's Statoil <STL.OL> and ONGC Videsh Ltd <ONGC.BO>, a unit of India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp, will drill at least one well early next year. The Indian firm has started accepting bids to sink another well on two blocks it is exploring separately.
Diplomats in Havana have said Malaysia's Petronas <PETR.KL> is also planning to use the China-built rig.
Petronas, which has four Cuba exploration blocks, has conducted seismic work and built offices for a battery of employees who will come to Cuba for the project.
Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA has said it plans to sink its first exploratory well in Cuba's offshore next year.
Other companies with blocks there are Vietnam state oil and gas group Petrovietnam and Brazil's Petrobras <PETR4.SA>, while firms from Russia, China and Angola are in the process of negotiating exploration rights.
(Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Jim Marshall)
source: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/cuba-plans-7-gulfmexico-oil-...
U.S. plans to ease travel to Cuba: lawmaker's aide
By Susan Cornwell
August 17, 2010
The Obama administration is getting ready to relax travel restrictions to Cuba for some Americans, without lifting the trade embargo and a ban on U.S. tourism to the island, a congressional aide said on Tuesday.
The small steps would make it easier for groups of Americans to once again go to the Communist island as part of academic, cultural or religious exchanges, as thousands of them did during the Clinton administration, the aide told Reuters.
Officials are trying to finish regulations so the changes can be announced before Congress returns in mid-September -- well before November 2 midterm elections, said the aide who was briefed on the plans but asked not to be named.
Some Cuban-American lawmakers are adamantly opposed to improving U.S. ties with Communist Cuba, which have been in the diplomatic deep freeze most of the time since Fidel Castro's revolution in 1959. He has been succeeded as president by his brother Raul, who has agreed to free some political prisoners.
Other U.S. lawmakers, such as Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, have urged the U.S. government to open up more to Cuba. Several bills in Congress would promote more trade and travel there.
Restrictions on money transfers may also be eased, making it easier for Americans to donate cash to Cuban organizations such as churches or community groups, the aide said.
U.S. sanctions against Cuba are aimed at encouraging democratic reform in the one-party state. Critics of the policy say they have failed to do so in almost 50 years in effect.
President Barack Obama has said he wants to "recast" ties with Cuba, and last year renewed outreach efforts to the island. He eased limits on travel by separated family members and cash remittances by Cuban-Americans to their relatives.
PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE TRAVEL
U.S. advocates for better ties with Cuba, which include business and pro-democracy groups, are expecting the Obama administration to go further now, especially in the wake of Cuba's recent decision to free 52 jailed dissidents.
"There will be a huge emphasis on people-to-people travel. That is (the Obama administration's) whole mantra. That's what they're talking about," said Sarah Stephens, executive director of Center for Democracy in the Americas, a non-profit group in Washington that opposes sanctions against Cuba.
Cuba plans to drill for oil in its Gulf of Mexico waters and U.S. companies would be left out if deposits are found and the trade embargo is not lifted, she said.
Jake Colvin, vice president at the National Foreign Trade Council, said the new policy could possibly increase the number of airports from which U.S. citizens can travel to Cuba.
White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said there was nothing new to announce on Cuba policy, "but the president is going to continue to do things that are in the best interest of the United States and that help to create a more democratic environment and expand freedoms for the Cuban people."
Obama will visit Miami, the heart of the Cuban exile community in the United States, on Wednesday for a political fund-raiser.
Under the expected changes, the law banning U.S. travel to Cuba would not be scrapped, but more licenses for exceptions to this ban would be issued on a case-by-case basis to groups of Americans by the U.S. Treasury Department, the aide said.
This was common under President Bill Clinton, but his successor President George W. Bush reversed the policy and such group travel requests were routinely denied.
Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/38744940
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67G5BN20100817?type=domesticNews
http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-50901420100817
http://blogs.reuters.com/susan-cornwell/2010/08/17/u-s-plans-to-ease-tra...
US reaffirms support for democracy in Cuba
August 17, 2010
Latin American Herald Tribune
WASHINGTON – The United States government reaffirmed Monday its support for the Cuban people determining their own destiny, but avoided answering requests that the White House respond to the freeing of political prisoners in Cuba with an easing of its policies toward that country.
“We will continue pursuing policies that advance the national interests of the United States, and we support the desire of the Cuban people to freely determine the future of their country,” National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer told Efe.
Nonetheless, the White House neither confirmed nor denied news reports of a possible liberalization of trips to Cuba, particularly those of a cultural or academic nature.
A coalition of civic, business and academic groups, including Amnesty International, has recently urged that President Barack Obama respond to the gesture of the Raul Castro government, which has begun releasing 52 political prisoners.
“The Havana government has now set free a number of political prisoners and plans to release others. If the U.S. government makes it easier to travel there, it would at any rate be a relatively small step,” Wayne Smith, who headed the U.S. Interests Section in Havana from 1979-1982, told Efe Monday.
“Cubans have their problems but they’re moving forward – why don’t we? The rest of the hemisphere’s countries have full diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba – we’re the only ones isolated on that issue,” Smith said.
According to the Center of Democracy in the Americas, if Obama were to expand the categories of “legitimate trips” to Cuba, he would give “a clear signal that he wants to change the policy,” although only Congress can eliminate all the restrictions on travel to the island as well as the economic embargo Washington imposed in 1962.
Some Democratic and Republican lawmakers in both houses insist that the United States should not reward Havana for the human-rights violations on the communist-ruled island.
The subject is also being debated in the Democratic primary elections, which will choose a candidate to contest Republicans on Nov. 2 for an open seat in the Senate representing Florida.
Jeff Greene, one of the two Democratic hopefuls in the Aug. 24 primary, said Sunday that the nearly 50 years of efforts to isolate the Cuban regime has been a “failed policy” for the United States, and if he gets to the Senate, he’ll be looking at a “revision.”
Obama, who in 2009 liberalized rules for Cuban-Americans’ travel and remittances to the island, flies to Miami Beach this Wednesday to support the candidacy of Greene’s rival in the primaries, Rep. Kendrick Meek, who favors maintaining the economic embargo on Cuba.
Source: http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=363334&CategoryId=14510
In Spanish: http://www.google.com/hostednews/epa/article/ALeqM5iWFzlVGuApC6QkAKogwEJ...
Cuba travel ban: White House poised to ease restrictions
Christian Science Monitor
By Howard LaFranchi
August 17, 2010
Expectations are rising that the Obama administration will move in the coming days to ease travel restrictions to Cuba.
The hubbub about an anticipated White House statement is leading to stepped-up speculation about areas of potential exchange and trade with the long-embargoed Caribbean island, such as energy development.
“Right now they [in the White House and the State Department] are just fine-tuning what they are going to be putting out,” says Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas in Washington.
Insisting an executive order about Cuba travel “is a done deal,” Ms. Stephens says, “It’s going to look very much like what the conditions for travel were under President Clinton, with the emphasis on ‘people to people exchange,’ ” possibly including religious and academic groups. [Editor's note: The original version was changed to better reflect what Stephens said.]
After that, she adds, “It will be interesting to see what happens around the edges, with business and other groups.”
The White House has been sending out trial balloons suggesting presidential action on Cuba travel – enough to get a reaction from Cuba hardliner Sen. Robert Menendez (D) of New Jersey, who issued a statement earlier this month saying, “This is not the time to ease the pressure on the Castro regime.”
President Obama’s action would not fully lift the ban on US travel to Cuba, but would instead ease restrictions in ways the administration considers to be consistent with US policy of encouraging democratic reforms and greater freedom on the communist island. Action by Mr. Obama would continue a pattern of reversing the tighter restrictions on travel implemented under the Bush administration.
A few administration watchers believe the decision will be unveiled only after what are expected to be difficult midterm elections for the Democrats, but most say an announcement will come by the Labor Day weekend.
An announcement now would reflect a sentiment in the White House that a decision to ease travel to Cuba would not cause much of a political storm, some US-Cuba experts say. The White House, they add, also wants to act in the context of movement on Capitol Hill in favor of a full lifting of the travel ban and toward a further easing of conditions for agricultural trade with Cuba.
Action now would be aimed in part at “creating momentum for ending the travel ban,” says Jake Colvin, vice president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a Washington business organization that favors ending the Cuba embargo. More broadly, he says, administration and congressional action reflect a growing “consensus” that it’s time “to do something different on Cuba.”
Energy development is one area where pressure is expected to grow for “something different” in Cuba policy. Cuba has begun exploratory drilling in search of oil in its territorial waters, with some reports estimating the island could become a major oil producer – and refiner – over the next five to 10 years.
“Cuba is thinking about energy economically [in the region] in not a small way at all,” says Lisa Margonelli, director of energy policy at the New America Foundation in Washington. “That’s something the US should consider as we look down the road.”
Experts who favor developing energy ties with Cuba say the US needs to consider that other hemispheric sources of oil, including Mexico and Venezuela, face increasingly difficult production conditions. With Cuba just off US shores, they say, locking the US out of a new market makes no sense. Proponents also point to the recent Gulf oil leak and say the US has a keen environmental interest in working with Cuba in its offshore development.
Such reasoning runs up against the arguments of anti-Castro stalwarts like Senator Menendez and US Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) of Florida –the latter having proposed legislation targeting foreign oil companies involved in oil exploration and development in Cuba. (Those oil company executives might, for instance, be denied visas to the US.)
“The big corporate interests behind the push to relax the embargo couldn’t care less about whether the Cuban people are free or not,” Menendez said in his statement. “They only care about padding their profits by opening up a new market.”
source: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2010/0817/Cuba-travel-ban-Wh...
US groups urge Obama to further loosen Cuba embargo
By Doug Palmer
August 12, 2010
A coalition of U.S. business, academic and other groups have urged President Barack Obama to respond to Cuba's recent release of political prisoners by reversing remaining travel restrictions imposed by former President George W. Bush.
"Mr. President, this is an important moment. We ask you to take bold steps to reverse decades of counterproductive policies toward Cuba, and we pledge our support," the groups said in a letter to Obama on Monday.
The groups sending the letter included the National Foreign Trade Council, the National Tour Association, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Center for Democracy in the Americas and the Washington Office on Latin America.
Cuba has promised to free 52 jailed dissidents as the result of a new dialogue between the Cuban government and the Catholic Church, which began in earnest in May.
By the end of July, 20 of the promised 52 prisoners had been released through the mediation of the church, which said the process could take four months.
Cuba's largest release of political prisoners since 1998 has been viewed internationally as a possible turning point for the communist-run island.
Obama, during his first year in office, reversed some restrictions imposed by Bush to punish Cuba for the arrests of the prisoners now being released.
That action has allowed Americans with relatives in Cuba to send them unlimited cash and visit the island as long and as often as they would like.
"You have indicated that further steps would be possible in response to positive actions by Cuba, specifically including the release of political prisoners," the groups said in their letter to Obama.
"Now that such action is being taken, it is essential that you respond, at a minimum, by removing the remaining restrictions that were imposed by President Bush," they said.
The groups urged Obama to reverse Bush's restrictions on academic and people-to-people exchanges, and make the additional reform of allowing eligible persons to travel to Cuba under a general license.
They also urged Obama to throw his support behind efforts in Congress to lift the ban on travel to Cuba.
Source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/08/12/groups-urge-obama-loosen-c...
EU crea condiciones para un cambio en la política hacia Cuba: analistas
By David Brooks
August 13, 2010
En Washington circulan versiones de que el gobierno de Barack Obama está por impulsar algunos cambios en la política hacia Cuba que incluyen disminuir las restricciones de viajes a la isla, y durante los últimos días se ha intensificado la especulación de nuevas iniciativas –incluso hasta canjes de prisioneros– y un renovado optimismo sobre cambios legislativos al embargo.
Veteranos analistas de la política exterior advirtieron a La Jornada que no se espera ningún cambio drástico antes de las elecciones intermedias estadunidenses este noviembre, pero no descartan que se pudieran promover algunas modificaciones importantes.
Cosas como el nombramiento esta semana del analista Daniel Erikson, crítico de las políticas anteriores hacia la isla, como nuevo asesor en la sección sobre hemisferio occidental del Departamento de Estado, y versiones de que la Casa Blanca está considerando anunciar cambios a las restricciones de viajes a Cuba nutren cierto optimismo entre promotores de un cambio de la política estadunidense. Además, un proyecto de ley que anularía las restricciones de viajes para todo estadunidense y eliminaría barreras al comercio agrario entre los dos países, también está procediendo –lentamente– en la Cámara baja.
Sarah Stephens, directora ejecutiva del Centro para la Democracia en las Américas con sede en Washington, y especialista en la relación bilateral con Cuba, comentó a La Jornada que “si uno observa lo que realmente está ocurriendo –el nombramiento de Dan Erikson, el creciente apoyo en el Comité de Asuntos Exteriores de la Cámara de Representantes a la legalización de viajes, y las perspectivas de acción significativa del presidente Obama sobre Cuba– uno puede ver la creación de condiciones para más progreso en las relaciones Estados Unidos-Cuba que lo que hemos visto en casi una generación”.
Daniel Erikson, analista especializado en Cuba en el Diálogo Interamericano, indicó hace un año en entrevista con La Jornada que existía "un creciente consenso bipartidista contra el embargo", y que consideraba que las iniciativas legislativas sobre viajes y comercio se desarrollaban en un panorama político diferente al pasado por el simple hecho de que con la salida de George W. Bush ya no enfrentaban un veto automático de la Casa Blanca.
Erikson, quien era parte del coro crítico de las políticas estadunidenses hacia la isla y proponía la anulación de todas las barreras a comunicación y viaje y mayor interacción entre las sociedades de ambos países, ahora se incorpora al gobierno de Obama, lo cual para muchos que favorecen un cambio es una buena señal. En un discurso reciente antes de su nombramiento, Erikson había opinado que la mejor política hacia Cuba es "permitir que una gama de actores en la sociedad estadunidense interactúe con una gama de actores en la sociedad cubana, no para el propósito de democratizar Cuba, sino con el propósito de intentar crear un ambiente más abierto entre los dos países que llevaría a mayor apertura en Cuba", reportaron el Miami Herald y El Nuevo Herald.
Aún no se han anunciado cuáles serán sus tareas específicas en
el Departamento de Estado más allá de que será asesor en la sección de
Asuntos de Hemisferio Occidental encabezada por el secretario asistente
de Estado, Arturo Valenzuela.
Por otro lado, desde la semana pasada funcionarios han filtrado a los
medios que Obama podría estar por anunciar cambios para permitir más
viajes educativos y culturales de estadunidenses a la isla (hubo unos 2
mil en 2009, todos los cuales tienen que ser autorizados previamente por
el gobierno), pero que también podría incluir reabrir los viajes de pueblo a pueblo
que permite viajes con objetivos
diseñados para promover el contacto entre ciudadanos de ambos países, y
que fueron anulados durante el gobierno de Bush, aunque nada de esto ha
sido confirmado oficialmente.
En el Congreso, un proyecto de ley aprobado ante el Comité de
Agricultura de la Cámara baja en junio, propone anular toda restricción
de viajes de estadunidenses y también algunas barreras en el comercio
agrario, está bajo consideración en otros comités en espera de
presentarse ante el pleno una vez que se determine que existen los votos
necesarios para su eventual aprobación.
Todas estas iniciativas enfrentan la feroz oposición de legisladores
cubanoestadunidenses, como los representantes Ileana Ros Lehtinen y
Lincoln Diaz Balart y el senador demócrata Robert Menéndez.
Sin embargo, algunos consideran que los cambios serán facilitados
después de la decisión del gobierno cubano de liberar 52 prisioneros
políticos, aunque no necesariamente sería una respuesta directa a esa
acción. Julia Sweig, directora de Estudios Latinoamericanos del Consejo
de Relaciones Exteriores en Nueva York, ha comentado que opositores
estadunidenses a cambios en la política siempre han utilizado como
argumento el asunto de los prisioneros políticos en Cuba para insistir
en el embargo, pero con este giro se abren nuevas posibilidades
diplomáticas, incluyendo imaginar una solución en el horizonte relacionado con los cinco cubanos y la liberación del estadunidense Alan Gross
.
De hecho, se ha intensificado la especulación entre ciertos circuitos políticos aquí sobre si Washington está considerando un canje de prisioneros
,
tal vez la liberación de uno o tal vez los cinco cubanos encarcelados
en Estados Unidos a cambio del estadunidense Alan Gross, contratista
gubernamental de la USAID, encarcelado en Cuba desde hace ocho meses.
Por otro lado, Peter Brennan, diplomático de carrera, está por asumir
funciones como el nuevo encargado de la sección de Intereses de Estados
Unidos en La Habana. Su puesto más reciente fue encargado de asuntos y
subjefe de misión en la embajada estadunidense en Costa Rica. Antes
ocupó puestos diplomáticos en Nicaragua, Uruguay, Venezuela, República
Dominicana y Barbados.
Source:http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/08/13/index.php?section=mundo&article=021n1mun
Cuba and Congress: Who Will Change First?
By Anna Kalinina
August 9, 2010
In 1958, Hilton Hotels proudly opened the tallest and largest hotel in Latin America, the Havana Hilton, located in the heart of Havana, Cuba. Boasting a casino, an outdoor swimming pool, and a panoramic view of Havana from its rooftop nightclub and bar located atop 25 stories of five-star accommodation, this luxurious destination was only open to Americans for two years.
When Fidel Castro assumed power and the relations between Cuba and the United States deteriorated at the peak of Cold War tensions, this American hotel changed both name and nationality, becoming Hotel Tryp Habana Libre. By 1962, Washington had imposed full economic sanctions against Cuba, which to this day continue to debilitate the Cuban economy and prohibit U.S. tourists and investors from travelling to the island. Today, the formerly U.S. hotel only rarely hosts U.S. visitors.
However, despite the ailments of old age, Fidel Castro and his brother remain relatively unscathed. After 48 years, the debate about whether it is time for a new direction in U.S.-Cuban relations continues. This time, however, Congress might weigh in on the side of détente, and Cuban voices have been brought into the mix.
The Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act (HR 4645) introduced on February 23, 2010 would finally allow Americans to travel to Cuba and ease restrictions on agricultural exports to the island. Although the bill narrowly passed the House Agriculture Committee by a 25-20 vote on June 30, it still must go through the House Financial Services Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee before reaching the House floor. At this moment, the bill has 71 cosponsors, 61 of which are Democrats. Republicans favoring the bill include Reps. Judy Biggert (IL), Charles Boustany (LA), Jo Ann Emerson (MO), and Jeff Flake (AZ). “I was elected to be a Member of Congress, not a travel agent,” said Flake to the House Foreign Affairs Committee in support of a similar bill (HR 874) in November 2009. “Americans should be able to travel wherever they want. They don't need our advice and shouldn't have to seek our permission.”
However, one hardliner seeking to maintain the status quo is New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez. Together with his colleague in the House, Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ), the two Cuban-American Democrats have publically expressed staunch opposition to easing U.S. policy toward Cuba. In reference to HR 4645, Menendez argues that the bill “would enrich a regime that denies its own people basic human rights.” The junior senator has even threatened to filibuster the bill if it reaches the Senate floor.
Close but No (Cuban) Cigar
There have been many congressional attempts to remove roadblocks in the U.S.-Cuban relationship, but none has yet become law. On February 4, 2009, Rep. Mike Delahunt (D-MA) introduced the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act (H.R. 874). The initiative, which currently stagnates at 181 cosponsors, was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and no action has been taken since. The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2007 similarly died in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations after being read twice. Before this attempt, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Flake introduced the Export Freedom to Cuba Act of 2007 (H.R. 654), which never came to a vote after being referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs on January 24, 2007.
The latest bill, HR 4645, faces an equally uphill battle. Of the listed initiatives, however, it is the only one that has reached any sort of vote. Two similar bills introduced in the Senate, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act (S.3112) and the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act (S.428), have both been referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
These efforts have been aimed at dismantling a policy that the United States has maintained from the Kennedy administration to the present. Hoping to depose the regime of Fidel Castro, the United States has continued the Cuban trade embargo for almost half a century, insisting that the Cuban government democratize and demonstrate a commitment to human rights before diplomatic and economic relations between the two countries can be reestablished. Last year, the Obama administration eased travel restrictions for Cuban Americans and reversed the limitations on remittances imposed by the previous president. Nevertheless, The New Yorker reported that “the Administration has made it clear that sanctions will remain in place until Cuba takes definite steps towards further democratization, and improves its human-rights record — a key element of which would be the freeing of its political prisoners.” Since July 12, Cuba has begun releasing some of its political prisoners including Normando Hernandez, who told BBC News that this is a ploy by the Cuban government to garner international attention. Overall, a total of 52 prisoners are expected be released in the upcoming months.
Whether this is a turning point for Cuba or a diplomatic chess move is hard to tell. Though Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for instance, has called the releases a “positive sign,” Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights in Havana referred to the measure as a “political decision of the Cuban government, taken for short-term political motives, to have an immediate effect overseas, not in Cuba itself." William LeoGrande, the dean of the School of Public Affairs at American University and a specialist in U.S. policy toward Latin America, sees this as an “extremely important” move, partially done in order to improve Cuba’s relationship with the European Union and to test Washington’s response.
However, the decision to release political prisoners was not the product of political transformation. The only semblance of change has been the seamless shift in presidency from Fidel to his younger brother Raúl Castro in 2008. Policy-wise, the fact that Cuba has remained the same illustrates the futility of the embargo. Nevertheless, it has been effective in other ways. The policy originally intended to challenge the leadership of Fidel Castro has made life more problematic for the Cuban people.
Punishing the People
Nearly 50 years of sanctions have taken their toll on the Cuban economy. According to Stephen Wilkinson, assistant director of the International Institute for the Study of Cuba in London, the United States is the natural market for Cuban products. “Sanctions have been a huge brake on Cuban economic development,” he says. “The country is starved of capital.” The Cuban government estimates that the monetary loss to Cuba due to the embargo is approximately $685 million per annum, though total non-monetary costs for the society may be much higher.
The consequences of the embargo are pervasive throughout Cuban society, felt in local businesses as well as in hospitals. Wilkinson, who has been travelling to Cuba since 1986, explains that the embargo prevents Cuba from acquiring certain medical materials, diagnostic equipment, and pharmaceuticals that can only be obtained from U.S. companies. This has made the diagnosis and treatment of certain pediatric cancers very difficult. For instance, Cuba has been unable to obtain isotope I-125 for the treatment of childhood eye cancer. In an article for The Guardian, Wilkinson recalls having “seen the cancer wards in a Havana hospital where children with leukemia were vomiting 16 hours per day for lack of these drugs.”
Yet despite the nearly 50-year lifespan of this crippling policy, there is surprisingly little anti-American sentiment among the Cuban people. From his experiences travelling to Cuba since 1976, Canadian professor John Kirk says that “there is a feeling of respect for the American people and despair at the inability of 10 U.S. governments to normalize relations with Cuba. It is important to note, however, that there is a clear distinction made between the U.S. government and the U.S. people — despite the impact of 50 years of hostility.” When asked about anti-American sentiment in Cuba, Institute for Policy Studies associate fellow Chris Oechsli had a similar reply: “As an American in Cuba I never felt uncomfortable with anybody at anytime.”
Cuban, American, and International Consensus
In Cuba, pro-democracy leaders and peace activists are now pushing for Congress to lift the travel ban. On May 30, a group of 74 leading members of Cuba’s civil society sent a letter to the members of Congress urging passage of HR 4645. Among the signatories are bloggers Yoani Sánchez and Claudia Cadelo de Nevis, the co-founder of the dissident group Ladies in White Miriam Leiva, and Guillermo Farinas, a democracy activist who recently ended a three-month hunger strike protesting the Cuban regime. Collectively, the activists argue that the presence of U.S. visitors on the streets would strengthen Cuban civil society while continued “isolation of the people of Cuba benefits the most inflexible interests of its government.” They also mention that “to further facilitate the sale of agricultural products would help alleviate the food shortages we now suffer.” Referring to the letter, Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson said that “when the strongest pro-democracy activists in Cuba say that the current travel and agriculture trade restrictions only support the Castro regime, you have to ask yourself why we would keep these restrictions in place.” In a 2005 meeting with Wayne Smith, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, the president of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcón also expressed that Cubans are “interested in having normal relations and having the embargo lifted.”
But it is not just the Cuban people who would like to see a change in the status quo. A WorldPublicOpinion.org study conducted March 25–April 6, 2009 revealed that of the 765 adult Americans surveyed, a 59 percent majority found that it is "time to try a new approach to Cuba, because Cuba may be ready for a change." An even greater 69 percent of the public favored re-establishing diplomatic ties with the country and 70 percent endorsed the measure to lift travel restrictions to the country. By maintaining the embargo, the United States continues to isolate itself from the international community. In October 2003, Alternatives Action and Communication Network for International Development, a Canadian-based NGO, compiled votes of the UN General Assembly from 1992-2002 on the "necessity to lift the blockade against Cuba." During that 10-year period, only the United States, Israel, Uzbekistan, Paraguay, Albania, and the Marshall Islands have opposed lifting the embargo. However, only the United States and Israel have been consistent in their voting.
Small Steps toward Change
The possible short and long-term impacts of lifting the travel ban are debatable. Repealing travel restrictions would open Cuba up to American tourists willing to spend large sums of money on their vacations. Among the arguments in favor of this measure, the notion that tourism will pump money into the Cuban economy while simultaneously creating American jobs is perhaps the least contentious. According to William LeoGrande, the principal impact of the embargo is felt in Cuba’s tourist industry, as that is the centerpiece of the Cuban economy. “Travel has a direct impact on the standard of living of ordinary people,” he maintains. When tourists leave tips at restaurants, stay at local nightly accommodations, take cab rides, and buy locally crafted souvenirs, “they engage with the non-state sector of the economy.”
However, tourism is more than just a major contributor to the Cuban economy. From his experiences travelling to Cuba since 1976, John Kirk, an expert on Cuban-Canadian relations, explains that tourism “has been useful in showing Cubans alternative modes of living, consumption patterns, and ideas,” says Kirk. Stephen Wilkinson also sees the transformative potential of tourism, which could bring in a lot of revenue and raise living standards. “Improvement in the economy would entice those who have emigrated to the United States to return to Cuba and they would bring back with them their wealth, savings, and new skills, and this in turn will have a positive effect,” he predicts. “Once Cuba becomes wealthier it will be able to afford the luxury of a more liberal democratic system. In this way maybe reform could come through the lifting of the travel ban.” Additionally, a repeal of travel restrictions would open the door for study abroad programs and valued educational and cultural exchanges.
On a larger scale, lifting the embargo in its entirety would invite not only U.S. tourists to Cuba, but also American investors and corporations seeking new locations. Chris Oechsli agrees that an influx of foreign capital alongside new economic opportunities and ideas could potentially weaken state control of the economy. In turn, this could trigger economic development and the potential for innovation. But even if this prediction is wrong, “opening travel from the point of view of improving the standard of living of ordinary Cubans is the right thing to do,” says William LeoGrande.
This shift in foreign policy would likely produce domestic outcomes. In a letter to the president, representatives of a dozen leading U.S. business organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, estimated the cost to the U.S. economy at $1.2 billion per year. In terms of lost agricultural sales and exports, the Cuba Policy Foundation in 2002 estimated a total loss of $4.84 billion. Many believe that the embargo has not worked, including Sarah Stephens, executive director of the D.C.-based advocacy group Center for Democracy in the Americas. She argues that "by increasing food exports and repealing the travel ban, this legislation will provide more jobs for Americans and Cubans.” In fact according to a March 2010 study by Texas A&M University, “loosening export and travel restrictions to Cuba could spark $365 million in sales of U.S. goods and create 6,000 new jobs in the United States, leading to a $1.1 billion economic impact.” A 2002 CPF commissioned study by the University of Colorado estimated that lifting the embargo after five years would result in a domestic gain of $1.9 billion and 12,000 new jobs, many in the travel sector.
Lifting the travel ban would certainly have economic impact, but its political influence is more difficult to gauge. The Cuba Study Group, a DC-based nonprofit organization of business and community leaders of Cuban descent dedicated to facilitating democratic change in Cuba, argues that in isolating Cuba, the United States has “hindered its ability, and that of the émigré community, to play a constructive role in Cuba’s inevitable future processes of change.” Although proponents of the embargo argue that international tourism has had no impact on social change movements in Cuba, an influx of American tourists and capital may empower local institutions, businesses, and organizations both financially and through sheer geographic proximity. “The biggest source of tourism for the Caribbean is the United States,” says LeoGrande, “but this market is currently closed to Cuba.”
Ultimately, externally enforced political change can rarely be sustained internally. As such, a successful political transformation of Cuba must result from internal changes. On both sides of the embargo debate, people are eager to see Cuba change. Even Cuban dissidents are ready for the United States to adopt a new policy. The question remains: Is Congress ready to change?
Source: http://www.fpif.org/articles/cuba_and_congress_who_will_change_first
In Cuba, Revolution Day Without Castro at Podium
Travel ban-lifting bill to be discussed in another House committee
Florida Congresswoman supports lifting of travel ban
Cubastandard.com
July 22, 2010
Tampa Rep. Kathy Castor announced Thursday she signed up as a co-sponsor for a bill that would lift the travel ban against Cuba.
The Democrat said in a press release that she is sponsoring the bill to “step up pressure on the Obama Administration to approve charter airline flights from Tampa International Airport.”
Tampa has applied for a license to host charter flights to Cuba. Currently, there are only Cuba flights from Miami, New York and Los Angeles.
“There is great potential for new jobs and economic growth throughout the Tampa Bay area if travel and trade opportunities are expanded over the coming years,” Castor said.
It is rare sitting Congresspeople from Florida sponsor substantial embargo-easing legislation; Castor is the only member of the Florida delegation in Congress to take the risk. Conventional political wisdom in the state that is home to nearly 1 million Cuban immigrants holds that elected officials will unfailingly be punished if they vote against the embargo. However, recent surveys show that 60-plus percent of Cuban Americans favor free travel for all.
H.R. 4645 is pending in the House of Representatives, after it passed the House Agriculture Committee earlier this month. According to Sarah Stephens, an anti-embargo activist with the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas, there is a “very good chance” the foreign affairs committee will vote on the bill “very soon.” From there, it could go to a House floor vote.
Spokespeople for the Foreign Affairs Committee did not return phone calls. The committee is led by Rep. Howard Berman (D-Cal.).
Source: http://www.cubastandard.com/2010/07/22/florida-congresswoman-supports-li...
Crece la presión sobre EE.UU. para que levante el embargo
By Ann Baron
July 22, 2010
A medida que van aterrizando en España los presos políticos cubanos excarcelados, en el marco del acuerdo sellado entre la Iglesia Católica, el gobierno de Raúl Castro y el gobierno español, aumenta en Washington la presión sobre el presidente Barack Obama para que flexibilice el embargo.
“Si excarcelan a todos los presos políticos, como ha dicho el presidente de la Asamblea cubana Ricardo Alarcón, Obama tendrá que hacer algo ”, dijo a Clarín Phill Peters, uno de los expertos en Cuba más respetados de Washington. “La excarcelación de los presos no resuelve el problema de los Derechos Humanos en la isla, pero Obama ha dicho que si los presos políticos son liberados, EE.UU. responderá”.
Según Peters, los cambios de política que podría producir la excarcelación de los presos políticos cubanos en la Unión Europea no tendrán tanto impacto sobre la política estadounidense como los que puedan provocar los que pasarán en el interior de la isla.
Sarah Stephens, directora del Centro para la Democracia en las Américas y que estaba en Cuba cuando anunciaron las liberaciones, es optimista y afirma que todos los que, en Washington, están a favor de que se mantenga el embargo consideran que la liberación de los presos es una táctica más del gobierno cubano para mantener el régimen comunista.
“Pero no tienen en cuenta el panorama más general” explicó a Clarín.
Para ella el acuerdo de Raúl Castro con la Iglesia debe ser “el centro de atención en un problema muy espinoso que el actual presidente cubano heredó de su hermano. Con el acercamiento a las autoridades eclesiásticas envió un mensaje a EE.UU. sobre cómo piensa seguir avanzado en su gobierno, influenció a la UE y se enfrentó con sectores del Partido Comunista y de la burocracia estatal que se oponen a un cambio.” Stephens contó que durante su estadía en La Habana –donde fue con un grupo de legisladores y expertos estadounidenses para hablar de energía y problemas ambientales– estuvo con dos diplomáticos extranjeros que coincidieron en decirle que Raúl Castro está decidido a hacer reformas económicas .
Peter Hakim, del Diálogo Interamericano, es otro optimista en el tema: él también piensa que hay cambios en Cuba. Sin embargo, tiene miedo que éstos puedan transformarse en otra oportunidad perdida.
“En un año electoral como el actual en EE.UU., nadie se atreverá a innovar. Incluso si excarcelan a todos los prisioneros habrá más de uno en el Congreso que dirá que no se puede levantar el embargo justo ahora que ha comenzado a funcionar,” dijo Hakim a Clarín recordando además que, durante los últimos dos años, Obama tuvo la mayoría parlamentaria, pero no pudo hacer pasar ni una sola ley con respecto a Cuba. “El proyecto de ley que flexibiliza los viajes a la isla para los estadounidenses ya obtuvo la aprobación en tres comités, pero está estancado”.
Otra fuente en el Congreso coincidió con Hakim al afirmar que: “A menos de cuatro meses de las elecciones tenemos temas como el desempleo, el derrame de petróleo o Afganistán. Nadie está pensando en Cuba”.
Source: http://www.clarin.com/mundo/Crece-presion-EEUU-levante-embargo_0_3029697...
EE.UU. quiere saber hasta dónde quiere llegar Castro
By Ann Baron
July 21, 2010
El gobierno de Barack Obama inició ayer un proceso mediante el cual los presos cubanos liberados como consecuencia del acuerdo sellado entre la Iglesia Católica y Raúl Castro podrían emigrar a EE.UU . El objetivo de las primeras reuniones que tuvieron lugar ayer en Cuba entre funcionarios estadounidense y familiares de los presos interesados fue explicarles cuáles son los trámites que deberán hacer, ya sea para obtener una visa o el status de refugiado político. El gesto del gobierno de Obama no equivale, sin embargo, a un cambio de política.
“Queremos la liberación de todos los presos políticos en Cuba, pero cuán lejos y cuán rápido esté dispuesto a ir el gobierno cubano es la gran pregunta”, explicó el vocero Philip Crowley.
“Es un paso positivo. Después de las primeras reacciones que fueron bastantes frías, este es el reconocimiento por parte del departamento de Estado de que la liberación de los presos es importante. Pero todavía es temprano para saber si esto llevara a una flexibilización del embargo”, dijo a Clarín Sarah Stephens, la directora del Centro para la Democracia en las Américas. “Lo más interesante de todo es que Fidel no se ha opuesto a la liberación de los presos. Al recurrir a la Iglesia, Raúl Castro buscó una solución domestica”, agregó.
La liberación de los presos reforzó la posición de quienes patrocinan en el Congreso un proyecto de ley que prevé el levantamiento de las restricciones para viajar a Cuba. Pero teniendo en cuenta que los primeros presos que llegaron a España pidieron a la Unión Europea que no flexibilice su política, el entusiasmo inicial fue reemplazado por el realismo. “Creo que las reuniones para que los presos puedan emigrar a EE.UU. pueden complicar aun más las cosas”, dijo a Clarín Wayne Smith, el ex representante de EE.UU. en Cuba. Una funcionaria del departamento de Estado explicó a esta corresponsal que EE.UU. considera que los presos tendrían que poder decidir “si quieren permanecer en Cuba y aquellos que eligen partir deberían poder volver a su país”.
Source:http://www.clarin.com/mundo/america_latina/EEUU-quiere-saber-llegar-Castro_0_302369812.html
After Cuba's Prisoner Release, What's Next for U.S. Policy?
Huffington Post
July 20, 2010
By Sarah Stephens
Just hours after the Cuba political prisoner deal was announced, a civil society leader said to our delegation of Americans visiting Havana: "Fariñas won, Spain won, the church won, and Cuba won." Of course, he made no mention of the U.S. since we played no role.
Against the backdrop of 52 political prisoners being released from their confinement, an accounting of winners and losers may seem at best disrespectful. But this event contains hints about where Cuba, its most important actors, and our allies are heading, with or without the United States.
Earlier this year, human rights conditions in Cuba were deteriorating. One prisoner, Orlando Tamayo Zapata, succumbed after a hunger strike lasting more than 80 days. The Ladies in White, spouses and mothers of political prisoners, who had marched peacefully on Sundays for seven years in white dresses and holding gladiolas, were suddenly subject to insults and threats by pro-government crowds as they walked down the street. Guillermo Fariñas, a political activist, stopped eating after Tamayo died and dedicated his hunger strike to improving conditions and getting freedom for 26 of the most infirm political prisoners.
At that moment, Cuba's Catholic Church was positioned to help. The church has expanded its influence since Pope John Paul II visited the island in 1998. The church played a leading role in distributing relief following a devastating series of storms in 2008. The Vatican's Secretary of State was the first world leader invited to meet with Raúl Castro when he assumed Cuba's presidency.
Cuba's Cardinal Jaime Ortega intervened with the government and won an agreement to stop the harassment of the Ladies in White. In May of this year, the Cardinal and the Bishop of Santiago de Cuba met with President Castro. Their dialogue moved quickly to the subject of political prisoners and produced the agreement on freeing the 52 - a marvelous victory for the church.
As our observer suggested, this is also a victory for Spain. Spain has endured great criticism from hard-line allies in the European Union for trying to relax sanctions against Cuba and negotiating directly with Cuba's government. When the EU decides in September whether sanctions or engagement best vindicates its interests in seeing progress in Cuba, Spain can point to the prisoner release and the church's role as a model for moving forward.
Critics here and abroad, mainly defenders of anti-Cuba sanctions, see the prisoner breakthrough as little more than a Cuban tactic to preserve its communist system. But that misses much the larger picture.
Raúl Castro was able to capitalize on a settlement that ended the Fariñas hunger, addressed a problem bequeathed him by his brother, sent a message to the U.S. about his intentions going forward, and influenced the EU, and directly took on elements of the communist party and state bureaucracy who oppose changing the system - and he did all of these things by talking to the Cuban Catholic Church, not a foreign power, so he was not capitulating to an outside force (read: the U.S.).
Then, to top it off, Fidel Castro was given a forum on Cuba's national television to make a foreign policy statement to show - implicitly - that he was still engaged and not disapproving of what his brother had done.
So how does this benefit Cubans more broadly?
A foreign diplomat said to us, "Raul is committed to economic reforms because he sees reform as the only way for the system to survive. He wants the island to live in harmony with itself. That is why they made the decision to free the 52." Another diplomat said, "there has to be national agreement to go forward (with reforms), and with the church becoming part of the consensus" that is more likely to occur. They see a link between improving human rights and economic conditions on the island for all Cubans.
Whatever Raúl's motivations, the result was clear. Assuming Cuba keeps its agreement - and it has already started to deliver - 52 political prisoners will be free.
Can our country add itself at this late moment to our Cuban friend's list of winners? After all, as ten successive administrations have done, the Obama administration has made action on political prisoners a core demand of Cuba's government. Yet, our reaction to the release so far has been lukewarm: "a positive sign, overdue, but very welcome," Secretary Clinton said.
If the right words fail us, perhaps President Obama will respond by dismantling more of the Cold War era sanctions that have never produced in 50 years what Cuba's Catholic Church accomplished in the last few days. If this decision by Cuba is not met by some concrete action by the U.S., it's hard to imagine why we'd be taken seriously as Cubans try and shape their future.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-stephens/after-cubas-prisoner-rele_b...
Liberarán 52 presos políticos cubanos en lapso de cuatro meses
El Universal
July 7, 2010
La Habana.- Cuba excarcelará a 52 presos políticos condenados en el 2003, dijo el miércoles la Iglesia, en un contundente resultado del inédito diálogo entre líderes católicos y el Gobierno que podría mejorar las relaciones con Estados Unidos y Europa.
El Arzobispado de La Habana precisó en un comunicado que cinco de los prisioneros serían liberados el mismo miércoles y tienen permitido viajar "en breve" a España junto con sus familiares, mientras que los restantes 47 saldrán dentro de los próximos cuatro meses y también podrán irse de Cuba, destacó Reuters.
La decisión de liberar a los prisioneros detenidos, que fueron condenados a penas de entre 6 y 28 años en el 2003 en un proceso conocido como "Primavera Negra", podría reducir las tensiones entre Cuba con Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea.
El presidente Raúl Castro informó la decisión durante una reunión con el cardenal cubano Jaime Ortega y el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de España, Miguel Angel Moratinos, quien viajó a la isla para apoyar el diálogo sobre derechos humanos.
"Sentimos una enorme satisfacción, se abre una nueva etapa en Cuba, con el deseo de zanjar definitivamente la cuestión de los presos", dijo el canciller Moratinos en un mensaje de texto enviado a periodistas por la embajada de España en La Habana.
El diálogo iniciado en mayo por el presidente Raúl Castro y líderes de la Iglesia Católica condujo hasta ahora a la excarcelación a mediados de junio de un disidente enfermo y al traslado de otros 12 a cárceles cercanas a sus familiares.
"Estoy muy sorprendida... creo entonces que estamos a las puertas de un cambio, de un cambio sustancial", dijo Laura Pollán, líder de las Damas de Blanco, un grupo de familiares de los presos políticos que han marchado por años para pedir la libertad de sus parientes.
Presión internacional
La excarcelación es una de las demandas de Washington para normalizar las relaciones tras medio siglo de hostilidades, así como de la Unión Europea para profundizar el tibio diálogo con el Gobierno comunista cubano.
El canciller Moratinos dijo poco antes de concluir su visita de dos días a la isla que espera que las excarcelaciones ayuden a mejorar las relaciones entre Cuba y Estados Unidos después de medio siglo de diferendo político.
"Este paso tiene que ayudar lógicamente a las relaciones con Estados Unidos, porque ya no hay ningún pretexto, decían que hacía falta algunas decisiones del Gobierno cubano que se han producido", dijo Moratinos, tras reunirse con Castro.
"Respetando la decisión de cada país, de cada Estado, creo que (en EEUU) valorarán positivamente esta nueva situación", agregó.
Mark Toner, portavoz del Departamento de Estado, dijo que el Gobierno de Estados Unidos está "trabajando" para confirmar la excarcelación de los primeros cinco prisioneros.
"Se consideraría la liberación de prisioneros como un hecho positivo, pero estamos buscando más información para confirmar los hechos", dijo.
Sarah Stephens, del Center for Democracy in the Americas, un grupo de Washington que apoya la normalización de las relaciones con la isla, aplaudió la medida y dijo que "es una lección para los políticos en Estados Unidos" de que el diálogo con Cuba es más efectivo que el embargo que dura casi medio siglo.
Para Washington sigue pendiente el caso de Alan Gross, un contratista estadounidense detenido en Cuba desde diciembre pasado bajo sospecha de espionaje.
Las excarcelaciones favorecen la política española hacia la isla, que logró prorrogar hasta septiembre el debate en la Unión Europea sobre la "Posición Común", que desde 1996 condiciona las relaciones del bloque a avances en materia de derechos humanos.
Fariñas depondrá huelga si hay liberaciones
Las liberaciones podría además estimular a que el disidente Guillermo Fariñas abandone su huelga de hambre, que ya suma 134 días para exigir la excarcelación de los presos más enfermos.
Fariñas, cuya salud está deteriorada por el ayuno, dijo a través de su portavoz Licet Zamora que "va a esperar" hasta tener más información para decidir si depone la huelga.
Pero su madre, Alicia Hernández, se mostró "sorprendida".
"Me parece que he vuelto a nacer", dijo la enfermera jubilada que ha permanecido junto a Fariñas en un hospital en Santa Clara, ciudad donde viven a 270 kilómetros al este de La Habana.
"Gracias a la Iglesia católica por sus gestiones y a todos los países y pueblos de buena voluntad para que sean liberados los presos más enfermos, agregó.
Las liberaciones anunciadas son las más nutridas desde 1998, cuando el Gobierno liberó a 101 presos políticos tras la visita a la isla del papa Juan Pablo II.
La medida reduce la cifra de prisioneros por razones políticas en Cuba, que según grupos de derechos humanos rondaba los 167, un tema que le ha acarreado severas críticas internacionales al Gobierno comunista.
El Gobierno chileno abogó porque se cumpla el acuerdo y que permita el fin a la huelga de hambre que mantiene el disidente Guillermo Fariñas "que ha puesto en riesgo su vida por esta causa humanitaria", según un comunicado de la cancillería.
El disidente Elizardo Sánchez, miembro de la ilegal pero tolerada Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos, valoró la medida como "positiva", pero desestimó que el Gobierno estuviera actuando por presiones externas.
"Para nada está el Gobierno de Cuba respondiendo a los pedidos que le está haciendo la comunidad internacional que exigen la excarcelación incondicional de los prisioneros", dijo Sánchez por teléfono a Reuters.
Las críticas de Estados Unidos y varios países europeos llovieron en febrero con la muerte del disidente Orlando Zapata tras una huelga de hambre de 85 días para exigir mejores condiciones de detención.
En junio, el Gobierno del presidente Barack Obama aplaudió la liberación de un preso enfermo y discretas mejoras en la situación de otros 12 como resultado del diálogo entre la Iglesia y el Gobierno.
Remember the “Marxist threat” in Central America in the 1980s? Well the party opposed by the U.S. now has the presidency in El Savador. How’s Funes doing one year later?
By Mary Stucky
July 18, 2010
President Mauricio Funes of the leftist Farabundo Martí National
Liberation Front took office a year ago in El Salvador. The former TV
journalist was elected on the ticket of the FMLN, this after a 12-year
civil war and after the former Marxist revolutionary group turned into a
mainstream political party. The right wing Arena Party had ruled the
country since the end of the civil war. How’s Funes done in his first
year in office? Reporter Ambar Espinoza addresses that question, as we
plan our reporting trip to Central America.
Mixed reviews of Mauricio Funes’
first year in office
An article by the Los Angeles Times says Salvadoran president
Mauricio Funes is under fire for failing to tackle corruption and halt
rising violence and drug trafficking. It cites an editorial by the El
Salvador-based online newspaper, El Faro, that says Salvadorans are not
better off than they were a year ago and a poll by the Institute of
Public Opinion at the University of Central America in San Salvador that
shows 60 percent of the population says violence has increased with the
new government. Read the article here.
Yet, a research project by the Center for Democracy in the Americas
found that Mauricio Funes and his party are “truly governing the
country.” In an advanced edition of the project’s report, researchers do
not ignore the immense challenges before Funes and what he hasn’t been
able to accomplish so far. But they also recognize and point to several
achievements by Funes and his administration officials: they responded
swiftly and effectively to natural disasters, provided school uniforms,
supplies, shoes, and hot meals to all public school students, and
secured loans from the International Monetary Funds to prevent
bankruptcy and keep the country afloat for the next four years. You can
read the advance copy here.
Source: http://www.roundearthmedia.org/2010/07/remember-the-marxist-threat-in-ce...
Cuba Travel Rules Loosening? (video)
July 15, 2010
CNN
Click here to view the entire video.
Citing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, CNN reports that increased trade and the presence of American visitors in Cuba will help our own economy by creating jobs and trade opportunities for U.S. businesses. Pointing out that “things are changing on the island, and U.S. policy should change with it,” CNN further highlights how changes in Washington could benefit the cause of democracy in Cuba.
Cuba tells Catholic Church that prisoners will be freed
July 9, 2010
Harrisburg Catholic News Examiner
Judy Dudich
Cuba has announced its plans to the Catholic Church to free 52 political prisoners that are still in captivity. This gesture would reduce the number of captives in Cuba by 1/3 and would make it the largest release of prisoners since 1998 when Pope John Paul II visited the country.
Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega said that those to be released have been being held since 2003 when they and 23 others were captured and accused of dissent for reporting on Cuba's defiance of state controls on media.
The first five prisoners to be released will be exiled to Spain and no exact date for release has been announced.
President Raul Castro agreed to this release after his meeting with Cardinal Ortega this past Wednesday, July 7th, 2010. The visiting Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos was also present at the meeting.
The number of prisoners set for release came as a surprise to human rights activists and supporters. NPR website reported that Laura Pollan, whose husband has been imprisoned for 20 years for treason, stated that she is skeptical of the Cuban government's promises and she hopes that they will keep their word.
The names of the first five prisoners set to go free have not been publicized, as some of their relatives have not yet been notified, according to Cardinal Ortega. The Cardinal also refused to divulge exactly how the five were chosen to be among the first released.
It's unclear as to whether or not the remaining prisoners will be forced into exile upon release, like the first five, or whether they will be permitted to remain on the island.
Sarah Stephens, head of the Center for Democracy in the Americas, said that the Cuban Catholic Church has been able to accomplish more in dealing with the Cuban government than any US embargo has done in the past five decades.
Virginia Staab, a Cuban-American and US State Representative cautions that more facts are needed to confirm Cuba's promise to release these 52 political prisoners and says that she believes it to be a ploy.
http://www.examiner.com/x-58246-Harrisburg-Catholic-News-Examiner~y2010m...
Church says Cuba to free 52 political prisoners
Reuters
By Jeff Franks
July 7, 2010
Cuba will free 52 political prisoners, Cuba's Catholic church said on Wednesday, in a major concession to international pressure and a possible step toward improved relations with the United States and Europe.
The church said five of the prisoners would be released later on Wednesday and allowed to go to Spain, while the remaining 47 would be freed over the next few months and permitted to leave the country.
The 52 men appeared to be those still in jail from 75 arrested in a 2003 government crackdown against dissidents that damaged Cuba's international standing.
The release was the result of recent dialogue between President Raul Castro and Cuban Catholic leader Cardinal Jaime Ortega, as the church has taken a more prominent role in national affairs.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos came to Havana this week to join in their discussions.
He said on Wednesday the release would "open a new era in Cuba...with the desire to definitively resolve the question of the prisoners."
The release would be the largest since 1998, when 101 political prisoners were among about 300 inmates freed following a visit by Pope John Paul II.
It will reduce the number of dissidents behind bars on the communist-led Caribbean island to about 100, which moves Cuba closer to eliminating one of the biggest stumbling blocks in its relations with the United States and Europe.
The U.S. and European Union have long pressed Havana to free political prisoners, improve human rights and move toward democracy.
The Cuban Commission for Human Rights said on Monday that Cuba had 167 political prisoners, including 10 who were out on parole, which was the lowest number since the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power.
U.S. SEES POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT
The U.S. State Department issued a cautious statement, saying it was working to confirm the church's report, but "would view prisoner releases as a positive development."
Reaction from Cuban dissidents was mixed, with Elizardo Sanchez of the independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights, saying the release was "something good," but not an indication that Cuba's human rights will improve.
But, Laura Pollan, leader of the dissident group Ladies in White and whose husband Hector Maceda was one of those still behind bars from the 2003 crackdown, said the release was an important moment in Cuba.
"I believe we are at the doors of a change, a significant change," she said.
Hopefully, Pollan said, it will be "the first steps of a true freedom, of a true democracy."
The Cuban government has not issued a statement on the release.
Cuba came under heavy international criticism after the February 23 death of hunger-striking dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo and in recent weeks has slightly relaxed its policy toward dissidents. It views them as mercenaries working for the United States and other enemies to topple the communist-led government
Zapata's death prompted another dissident, Guillermo Farinas, to launch a hunger strike that, after 134 days, reportedly has brought him near death in a hospital in the central city of Santa Clara.
He is demanding the release of 25 ailing political prisoners, who are believed included in the group to be freed.
But he said through his spokeswoman, Licet Zamora, he would not yet abandon his strike because he has not received word from the church or the government.
DRAMATIC SCENE
His refusal led to a dramatic scene at Pollan's home in central Havana, where she implored him to start eating.
"Trust a little bit. Stop the hunger strike; you are more valuable alive than dead," she told him, but to no avail.
Sarah Stephens, director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas, said she hoped Wednesday's events would shift U.S. policy away from its cornerstone, a 48-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, and toward greater dialogue.
"This is joyful news ... and a lesson for U.S. policy makers that engagement -- talking to the Cubans with respect -- is accomplishing more, right now, than the embargo has accomplished in 50 years," she said.
U.S. President Barack Obama has made modest efforts to improve relations with Cuba, including a slight easing of the embargo, and said there would be further progress when the island released political prisoners.
But standing in the way is Cuba's detention of U.S. contractor Alan Gross, who has been jailed in Havana since December on suspicion of espionage activities.
U.S. officials, who say Gross is not a spy and was only providing Internet access to Jewish groups, have said there will be no significant improvements in relations until he is freed.
Cuba, which considers Gross to be part of longstanding U.S. efforts to undermine its system, has only said that he remains under investigation.
Moratinos said the release of the prisoners "logically has to help (Cuba's) relations with the United States, because now there is no excuse."
The Spaniard has been a leading voice in Europe for engagement with Cuba instead of confrontation and has pushed for the 27-nation bloc to drop its common position emphasizing improved human rights and democracy on the island.
The Cubans view the EU's stance as an obstacle to relations.
Zapata's death helped derail his efforts to amend the EU position while Spain led the organization the first half of this year, but the freeing of the prisoners may add momentum to his cause.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6665H220100707
At last, legal travel to Cuba seems to be on horizon
New York Daily News
By Albor Ruiz
July 4, 2010
Traveling to Cuba may soon become a reality for Americans.
Yes, we have heard this before, but this time it seems it could actually happen.
Last Wednesday, the House Agriculture Committee approved House Resolution 4645, which would lift the travel ban to Cuba, the only country in the world to which the U.S. government prohibits visits by its citizens.
Read more:
Primer paso para que los estadounidenses viajen a Cuba
Un proyecto de ley pretende reactivar las relaciones comerciales de EE UU con Cuba sin tener que anular el embargo que pesa desde hace 50 años sobre la isla
El País
1 de Julio de 2010
El Comité de Agricultura de la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos aprobó este miércoles en una sesión muy tensa un proyecto de ley clave que podría levantar la prohibición a los estadounidenses de viajar a Cuba y las restricciones a las exportaciones agrícolas a la isla, como el tener que recurrir a bancas en terceros países para realizar las ventas.
La legislación fue aprobada con 25 votos a favor y 20 en contra, tras tres horas de fuerte debate sobre la conveniencia de permitir o no los viajes a Cuba sin que se haya producido un cambio político significativo en la isla. El presidente del Comité, el demócrata Collin Peterson, indicó al inicio de la audiencia que el proyecto de ley no anulará el embargo que pesa sobre Cuba desde hace medio siglo, ni permitirá a los bancos estadounidenses otorgar créditos a Cuba, pero sí permitirá a EE UU mantener una relación comercial con La Habana como la que tiene con todos los demás países.
"Es hora de que nos preguntemos por qué mantenemos una política que no genera cambios en Cuba y únicamente daña los intereses estadounidenses", señaló. "Aumentando las exportaciones agrícolas y eliminando la prohibición de los viajes, esta legislación proporcionará más trabajo para los americanos y los cubanos", afirmó Sarah Stephens, directora del grupo de abogados Centro de Democracia para las Americas.
Pero el republicano de mayor rango del comité, Frank Lucas, mantuvo una opinión contrapuesta al afirmar que existen desde el año 2001 medidas que removieron ciertas barreras a las exportaciones y aún así "los derechos humanos siguen siendo abusados" en la isla. De la misma opinión fue Thomas Rooney, quien propuso eliminar la parte referente a los viajes del proyecto de ley, puesto que no incluye exigencias a la isla para que mejore el respeto a los derechos humanos e inyecta dinero, dijo, que será empleado por el Gobierno cubano para sus propósitos.
El senador Robert Menendez, un demócrata descendiete de padres inmigrantes cubanos, aseguró que se opondría a cualquier intento de llevar la reforma al Senado estadounidense. "Los grandes intereses empresariales detrás de esto no podrían estar menos interesados por si los cubanos son libres o no. Solo les preocupan sus beneficios", sentenció.
A pesar de que el proyecto de ley fue aprobado, Peterson dejó claro que la parte sobre el levantamiento de la prohibición de los viajes será transferida al Comité de Relaciones Exteriores, que tendrá que tomar una decisión o votar sobre ella.
El presidente Barack Obama ya tomó una decisión en este sentido hace más de un año, cuando permitió los viajes ilimitados para que los cubanos residentes en EE UU pudiesen visitar a sus familiares de las islas. Pero la Administración de Obama considera que el régimen castrista no ha hecho ningún progreso como para seguir dando pasos hacia el fin del embargo.
source: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Primer/paso/estadounidenses...
House Panel Votes to Ease Cuba Travel Restrictions
The New York Times
By Yehaneh June Torbati
June 30, 2010
Havana hotels and Cuban cigars? House panel votes to remove travel ban on Caribbean island of Cuba
NY Daily News
By Joe Tacopino
July 1, 2010
You can almost taste the Cuban cigars.
A vacation to Havana could become legal once again as a congressional panel voted on Wednesday to remove a trade and travel ban on the Caribbean island.
The House Agricultural Committee voted 25 to 20 to remove the ban, sparking a contentious debate as the legislation moves through Congress.
Passage of the bill would put "more American food on Cuba’s tables, and more American visitors on Cuba’s streets," according to Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas.
Stephens said lifting the ban would benefit both US and Cuban interests.
"Because of yesterday’s vote, we are closer to a decisive policy change that moves us in the right direction," she said.
The embargo on Cuba dates back to the Kennedy administration shortly after Fidel Castro seized control of the island nation in 1959.
"We have tried isolating Cuba for more than 50 years, and it has not worked," House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson told Reuters.
An exception to the embargo was made for farm exports in 2000. But Peterson said the previous administration left burdensome impediments on trading.
"The people down there want Texas long-grain rice," Peterson said. "If we get these restrictions out of the way, I think we get a lot of that market back."
In Florida, where anti-Castro sentiment is high, politicians have denounced the vote as an appeasement to the despotic state.
"We'd be bailing out a brutal dictatorship on the brink of collapsing," said Republican Rep. Tom Rooney of Florida.
The bill still has two significant legislative hurdles to overcome before it can be given a full House vote.
source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/07/01/2010-07-01_house_panel_...
House panel backs ending travel ban on Cuba
Reuters
By Doug Palmer
June 30, 2010
WASHINGTON - A congressional panel voted on Wednesday to lift a decades-old ban on travel to Cuba and remove other hurdles to food sales to the Caribbean island.
The 25-20 vote in the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee sets the stage for a potentially blistering debate this year in both the full House and the Senate.
"We have tried isolating Cuba for more than fifty years and it has not worked," House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson said. "Today's vote demonstrates that Congress is ready to change our nation's approach on this issue."
A broad coalition of farm, business and human rights group have backed the bipartisan bill as an important step toward ending the almost five-decade-old embargo on communist-led Cuba and promoting positive change on the island.
"By increasing food exports and repealing the travel ban, this legislation will provide more jobs for Americans and Cubans," said Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas, an advocacy group.
But opponents, who say Washington must keep pressure on Cuba's communist government to force democratic change, vowed to use every tool available to keep it from becoming law.
Representative Tom Rooney, a Florida Republican, called the bill the latest U.S. government bailout program.
"Only this time we'd be bailing out a brutal dictatorship on the brink of collapsing," Rooney said.
Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said he would filibuster any attempt to pass the bill in the Senate.
"The big corporate interests behind this bill couldn't care less about whether the Cuban people are free or not. They only care about padding their profits," Menendez, whose parents where Cuban immigrants, said.
Proposals to lift the ban have died in Congress over the last decade due to concerns about human rights abuses in the one-party state built since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.
President Barack Obama has taken some steps to improve relations with Havana, such as allowing unlimited family travel and remittances and greater telecommunications links.
But Washington says the Cuban government has failed to reciprocate, making it politically difficult for the White House to move further in easing the Cold War-era embargo.
Cuban officials have encouraged recent U.S. trade delegations visiting Havana to work to abolish the travel ban because the arrival of more American tourists would give the government more money to buy U.S. goods.
Congress exempted farm sales from the long-standing U.S. embargo on Cuba in 2000 as long as Havana paid in cash and money transfers were handled by a third-country bank.
President George W. Bush's administration angered many farm-state lawmakers by interpreting the cash payment rule narrowly, insisting on payment before shipment.
The bill addresses that issue.
U.S. farm exports to Cuba reached a record $710 million in 2008, before dropping to $528 million in 2009 in the midst of the global financial crisis.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer; editing Anthony Boadle)
source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65T5OE20100630?type=politicsNews
Key Congressional Committee Votes to Lift Travel Ban
IPS News
By Jim Lobe
June 30, 2010
WASHINGTON - In a major victory for anti-embargo forces, a key Congressional committee voted here Wednesday to lift restrictions on travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba.
If passed by both houses of Congress, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act will also ease restrictions on U.S. agricultural exports to the Caribbean island that were imposed by former President George W. Bush.
"I am proud to say that today, the House Agriculture Committee took a courageous vote to end the short-sighted and failed policy that limits American agriculture's access to the Cuban market," said Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson, the chairman of the Agriculture Committee of the House of Representatives who, along with a Republican colleague, Rep. Jerry Moran, was the bill's chief sponsor.
"An unprecedented coalition of agriculture, business, religious and social organisations have endorsed (the bill), and today's vote demonstrates that Congress is ready to change our nation's approach on this issue," he added.
"We have tried to isolate Cuba for more than 50 years, and it has not worked. As it has in other countries, perhaps increasing trade with Cuba will encourage democratic progress."
The bill, which was approved on a 25-20 vote that broke mainly along party lines, will now go to the House Democratic leadership which will decide whether to send it to the House floor.
Sources on Capitol Hill told IPS they believe the decision is likely to be affirmative and that a floor vote could take place by the end of July.
If it passes, the bill, entitled "The Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act", would go the Senate where pro-embargo forces – mainly Republicans, but also a handful of anti-Castro Democrats – are in the minority but can resort to a number of procedural moves that could delay or even prevent a vote from taking place.
Still, supporters of lifting the travel ban and facilitating more trade with Cuba were jubilant about Wednesday's Committee vote, depicting it as a major breakthrough in the decades-long battle to end the 49-year-old embargo.
"A committee that comes from a pro-trade, pro-business, and politically very centrist perspective has now called on Congress to lift the ban on travel," said Geoffrey Thale, a Cuba specialist at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).
"That's an important political message in itself to the Senate, certainly to President (Barack) Obama, and also to the Cuban government, which last month opened a promising dialogue with the Cuban Catholic Church," according to Thale, who noted that two political prisoners have recently been released and a number of others have been moved to detention facilities closer to their homes. "This should encourage that dialogue," he added.
"We commend the House Agriculture Committee for favourably reporting (the bill)," said Jake Colvin, vice president for Global Trade Issues of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), a lobby group representing more than 300 major U.S.- based companies engaged in international business.
"Today's vote is the first step towards a more rational foreign policy towards Cuba, and one that the business community strongly supports," he added.
He noted that the NFTC, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Farmers Union, has included the bill on their scorecards for rating lawmakers on their legislative records before the November elections due its importance as the only major trade-related bill on which the House will have voted this year.
That will add to pressure on pro-business incumbents – mostly Republicans – to vote in favour of the bill if and when it reaches the floors of either house.
U.S. farmers have been eager to increase their exports to Cuba since then president Bill Clinton relaxed the embargo in 1999, and Congress followed with its own reform bill the following year. Despite severe conditions imposed on their sale and shipment to Cuba by the Bush administration, however, exports continued to climb during his administration. Since 2000, more than four billion dollars in agricultural goods have been sent to Cuba.
Under the Peterson-Moran bill, the Bush conditions would be substantially eased. Cuban importers, for example, would no longer have to pay for the goods in advance of their actual shipment. In addition, U.S. banks, which were barred by Bush from handling such transactions, may now participate in their financing.
"Prior to the embargo, the United States accounted for nearly 70 percent of Cuba's international trade. Cuba was the seventh-largest market for U.S. exporters, particularly U.S. farmers and ranchers," noted Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in a letter to lawmakers before Wednesday's vote.
He cited a March study by Texas A&M University that found that "easing restrictions on agricultural exports and lifting the travel ban, as proposed by (the bill), could result in up to 365 million dollars in additional sales of U.S. goods with a total economic impact of 1.1 billion dollars and create 6,000 new jobs in the United States."
Like the business sector, the U.S. tourism industry has tried for years to ease the ban on travel. First imposed in 1961, the ban was lifted under President Jimmy Carter, only to be re-imposed by his successor, Ronald Reagan.
Clinton, who sought to encourage "people-to-people" exchanges, eased the ban, only to be reversed by Bush, who also severely limited the frequency of visits that Cuban Americans could make to the island to visit their families.
At various times under Bush, majorities in both houses of Congress approved provisions in larger bills that would have denied funds to the Treasury Department to enforce the travel ban. But each time the administration and anti-Castro lawmakers succeeded in having those provisions deleted before final passage of the underlying bills.
In that respect, the Peterson-Moran bill marks the first- ever "free-standing bill" to end the travel ban, and most political observers believe that majorities in both houses will vote for it if given a chance to do so.
In the upper chamber, however, several influential senators, including Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, have opposed lifting the ban and may resort to procedural methods to prevent it from reaching the floor.
Still, anti-embargo forces, who have been disappointed by Obama's failure so far to take more aggressive steps to ease the embargo, said the Committee's action gave them hope that Washington's approach toward Havana was indeed changing.
"The U.S. needs a new Cuba policy, and the Peterson-Moran bill is a decisive change in the right direction," said Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas.
"By increasing food exports and repealing the travel ban, this legislation will provide more jobs for Americans and Cubans, and move our country from 'helpless bystander' to supporting Cubans as they debate and decide the future for themselves."
The House Agriculture Committee Asks America to step off the sidelines in Cuba
Huffington Post
By Sarah Stephens
June 29, 2010
When Darsi Ferrer, a Cuban dissident emerged from nearly a year's confinement for buying black market construction materials, a reporter asked him who should get the credit for his release.
He credited the Cuban Catholic Church. And then he said, "What should be the solution in Cuba? Dialogue. The dialogue of the Church and civil society; between the people and the government; between the Diaspora and Cuba; the dialogue between the European Union and the government." Among those who could help the Cuban people, he never mentioned the United States.
This is the sorry place that our fifty year old policy of isolating Cuba has left our country and our credibility as a champion of democracy. We've become what Senator Richard Lugar reported one year ago, "a powerless bystander, watching events unfold at a distance." It's not just that the policy is wrong; it's made us irrelevant.
That suits hard-line supporters of the U.S. embargo just fine. They oppose any loosening of trade or travel restrictions against Cuba without human rights concessions from the Castros. They celebrate reports of food shortages in Cuba and urge us to tighten the screws just a little longer believing the regime will collapse or hunger will incite rebellion among Cubans.
Putting aside the depravity of starving innocent people as a tactic of U.S. foreign policy, history has taught us this approach won't work. When Cuba experienced a wrenching contraction at the end of the Cold War as the Soviet Union withdrew its support, Cubans suffered but nothing else happened. Stability prevailed, and the system emerged intact, later to affect the transfer of Cuba's presidency from Fidel to Raúl Castro and to celebrate the golden anniversary of their revolution.
Rather than continuing the fiction that isolation will bring down the Castro government, the House Agriculture Committee proposes an entirely different approach. In hours it will consider bi-partisan legislation [The Peterson-Moran bill] to end the ban on legal travel to Cuba for all Americans and remove key impediments that hold down sales of U.S. food to the Cuban market.
The bill offers no credits to Cuba's government and keeps the embargo firmly in place. But by filling their streets with American tourists to engage the Cuban people and filling their tables with American food to meet their nutritional requirements, the legislation seeks to engage Cubans by connecting our nation's greatest assets to Cuba's most abiding needs.
Defenders of human rights in our country - from the Catholic Church and the AFL-CIO, to Human Rights Watch and Freedom House - all think engagement with Cuba would better reflect our interests in democracy and human rights.
So do exponents of mainstream foreign policy thought. The Council on Foreign Relations has called for formal diplomatic recognition of Cuba. The Brookings Project on U.S. Policy Toward a Cuba in Transition - calling U.S. policy a failure, costing U.S. influence on Cuba and isolating our country in the Western Hemisphere-- recommended initiatives starting with expanded trade and travel and ending with normalization.
The Cuba Study Group, representing business and community leaders of Cuban descent, offered this stinging rebuke of U.S. policy: "Apart from the dubious ethical/humanitarian underpinnings of intentionally targeting the Cuban people to strike at the Castro regime, current travel and remittance restrictions do little to weaken the Cuban government's repressive machinery, let alone bring about regime change," and then urged the end of all travel restrictions to Cuba for all Americans. Their position reflecting majority support among Cuban Americans for the freedom to travel more broadly, confirmed in poll after poll.
Most strikingly, however, are what the most prominent civil society activists on the island have said -including Yoani Sanchez, the blogger, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, imprisoned in 2003 and later released, Guillermo Farinas, the hunger striker, and more than 70 others -who recently took the extraordinary step of signing an appeal to Congress asking for passage of Peterson-Moran.
To critics who say, what possible difference could American tourists in Cuba make? The dissidents' letter answers: "The supportive presence of American citizens, their direct help, and the many opportunities for exchange, used effectively and in the desired direction, would not be an abandonment of Cuban society, but rather a force strengthen it." To those who argue against U.S. food exports to Cuba, they say: "Similarly, to further facilitate the sale of agriculture products would help alleviate the food shortages we now suffer."
Change is hard. The Agriculture Committee is already enduring searing criticism from hard-liners for consider this new approach. But Ms. Sanchez calls current U.S. policy toward Cuba "a blunder," and she is right. Passage of the Peterson-Moran bill will create thousands of American jobs and, more importantly, give our country a new chance to stand with Cuba's people. It should pass.
source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-stephens/the-house-agriculture-com_b...
