#BTEditorial – Irrational to continue Cuba blockade

We know that foreign policy positions of countries are not always rooted in what is necessarily right or wrong. Often, what is expedient for the countries’ political leadership at the time, takes primacy.

In those considerations will come a focus on things economics, trade implications, matters of good governance, along with national and regional stability.

It is for these and other reasons that we are baffled as to the real cause of the United States’ seeming schizophrenic obsession with our Caribbean neighbour, Cuba.

Students of history will reference the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when Cuba became a foil in the increasing tensions between the US and the Soviet Union.  The two super powers came dangerously close to conflict, threatening to embroil the region in a potentially dangerous warfare.

The tensions between the nuclear powers over Cuba, decreased significantly when Russian removed the missiles from the island.

Ironically, while the United States and Russia have continued to trade, cooperate on several issues, and even deliver humanitarian aid to each other during major crises, for some reason, the US continues its punishing decades-old embargo on Cuba.

It was revealed recently in the American media, that the Biden administration was preparing to implement strategic sanctions on individuals and companies close to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

This is in retaliation for Russia’s alleged cyber hacking of American power grids, major oil pipelines and private businesses, as well as the imprisonment of a main opposition figure in Russia.

What was most interesting about the planned American action was the well-articulated desire of the administration not to hurt ordinary Russian people. The sanctions are to be targeted specifically at those in Putin’s circle, who rule the former Soviet Union with an iron fist.

We have to wonder why it is so difficult for the US to get over its fixation with Cuba, an island with extremely limited resources, and a people burdened by nearly 60 years of crippling economic and trade sanctions.

Cuba, despite its ingenuity in adapting to the difficult conditions created by the US action, and the creativity of its people, offers little danger to the mighty American force.

We note, carefully, another overwhelming vote at the United Nations earlier this week, where 184 countries at the General Assembly chose again to demand the Americans’ end their blockade of Cuba.

The US and its strategic partner, Israel, were the only votes in favour of the continued imposition. Brazil, Colombia, and Ukraine chose to abstain.

A report from the events at the New York-based General Assembly, suggests that while the vote carried some “political weight in terms of international diplomacy, only the US Congress can lift the economic, commercial, and financial embargo”.

Cuba’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla has rightfully slammed the economic and trading blockade as a “massive, flagrant and unacceptable violation of the human rights of the Cuban people”.

Cuba’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla

The Cuban official said it was “an economic war of extraterritorial scope against a small country already affected in the recent period by the economic crisis derived from the pandemic”.

It is clear that the powerful, conservative Cuba lobby in Florida, heavily influences American policy in Washington. But were the Biden administration really focused on protecting the interests of ordinary Cubans, the new president would have considered realigning American-Cuba policy with that of former President Barack Obama.

In a more enlightened position, in 2014 Obama announced a pathway to normalizing relations between the two countries.

In a 2016 statement from the White House, Obama described the decades-old policy as “outdated” and “had failed to advance U.S. interests and support reform and a better life for the Cuban people”.

Obama pushed for loosening of travel restrictions and curbs on spending by Americans who visit of send remittances to the island.

Importantly, Obama said his administration wanted: “A prosperous, stable Cuba that offers economic opportunities to its people, and increased travel and economic interconnectedness supports improved livelihoods for the Cuban people.”

In an effort to counter the image that conservative Americans have about Cuba, Obama followed up his policy changes with a historic visit to the island.

The message that the whole world has been consistently sending to America is that its Cuban policy makes absolutely no sense.

It is backward, and it is hypocritical, given the foreign policy approach taken with many dangerous actors around the world. Often America chooses continuous engagement rather than the irrational big stick policy the United States uses against Cuba.

We in the Caribbean know well the contribution that Cuba has made to the cultural, social and health care development of the Caribbean.

Barbados’ support and that of the rest of the Caribbean Community has been consistent in calling for the removal of the crippling sanctions on Cuba. It is time for the region to go further.

Every opportunity to communicate the message to the American government must be used and make our demand more forceful for a change to an illogical, and useless policy against our neighbour.