Saturday, February 3, 2007

by Patrick Moser

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Forty-five years after the United States imposed an embargo against communist Cuba, the sanctions remain at the forefront of relations between the two foes, even in the absence of the ailing President Fidel Castro.

While a number of US lawmakers are pushing for some of the measures to be eased, Cuba-watchers say Washington is unlikely to lift the embargo anytime soon.

As a condition for modifying its policy, the United States demands the beginnings of a democratic transition in the one-party state led for almost five decades by Fidel Castro, who "provisionally" handed power to his brother Raul on July 31 after undergoing intestinal surgery.

Raul Castro, 75, who is also defense minister, has made it clear he has no intention of steering away from Cuba's revolutionary course; though he has given hints of subtle change, for example when he told students he welcomed criticism.

He has also twice called for dialogue with the United States, which responded by insisting Cuba would first have to take steps toward democratic reform.

A top Cuban official said he did not expect any change of US policies toward Cuba under President George W. Bush and even if a Democrat wins the 2008 presidential election.

"There is not the slightest doubt the current policy will continue for a while, as long as there is this man who stole the presidency," Parliamentary President Ricardo Alarcon said on Thursday.

"Neither is there reason to believe that under a Democrat there would be any change," said Alarcon, who is in charge of Cuban policy toward the United States.

The embargo, whose stated aim is to bring democracy to Cuba, has been tightened on several occasions since it was proclaimed by then US President John Kennedy on February 3, 1962.

It bars US firms and their subsidiaries from dealing with Cuba, prohibits all trade, with the exception of some food and medical items, and generally makes it illegal for Americans to travel to the island, which is located just 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the southeastern tip of the United States.

Some critics, including several Cuban dissidents, say the embargo's aims would be better achieved by ending the sanctions, which they claim have done little to promote change in Cuba and have been used as a scapegoat by the communist government.

"US economic sanctions have given Cuba's leaders justification for controlling the pace of the island's insertion into the world economy," said Julia Sweig of the US Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

Cuban officials blame many of the country's economic woes on the US embargo, though they also recognize the island was hard hit by the 1990s collapse of the Soviet Union, which backed Cuba as its Cold War outpost in the Americas.

Cuba says the sanctions have cost the island state 86 billion dollars to date, while at the same time depriving the United States of a potentially lucrative market.

"It affects the entire population," Education Minister Luis Ignacio Gomez told AFP, calling the embargo "unjust and cruel" and citing the example of schools he said struggled to get educational materials that could be imported cheaply from the United States.

A number of US lawmakers want the measures to be eased, notably to allow US citizens to travel to the Caribbean island.

Cuban dissident Oscar Espinosa Chepe said lifting travel restrictions would work in favor of government opponents. "The contacts that could be made would be an enormous help," he told AFP.

But US Energy Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who heads the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, dismissed calls to ease the embargo.

"We have to focus on the reality that the changes need to take place on the island, not here," said Gutierrez, the highest ranking Cuban-American in the administration.

Cuba's education minister, for his part, says he is confident the days of the "blockade," as many Cubans call it, are numbered.

"One day, the people of the US will recognize the mistakes committed by their government ... will realize the Cuban people do not deserve to be treated like this," said Gomez.

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version