Al-Ahram Weekly | International | A congruence of interests

		23 -29 May 2002 Issue No.587 International	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

A congruence of interests
The opportunity presented by former US President Jimmy Carter's unprecedented Cuba visit must not be quickly snuffed out by the Bush Administration, writes Gamal Nkrumah

Last week's historic visit to Cuba by former United States President Jimmy Carter was both portentous and replete with symbolism. The ex- president's visit is unquestionably the most important by a US public figure to Cuba since US President Calvin Coolidge visited the Caribbean island in 1928. Carter's six-day tour must be seen as an opportunity to rectify the bitter disappointments of the past. As Carter himself fittingly summed up the purpose of his visit: "Our two nations have been trapped in a destructive state of belligerence for 42 years and it is time for us to change our relationship and the way we think and talk about each other."
As one of the most visible dignitaries in the world today, Carter received the red carpet treatment. "We will not at all feel offended by any contact you may wish to make, even with those who do not share our struggles," Cuban President Fidel Castro assured Carter, thus giving him the green light to meet with dissidents and opposition figures.
Carter happily obliged. He was candidly critical of Cuba's human rights record, but he also had the grace to publicly acknowledge his own country's shortcomings. "My nation is hardly perfect in human rights. A very large number of our citizens are incarcerated in prison and there is little doubt that the death penalty is imposed most harshly on those who are poor, black or mentally ill," Carter conceded.
Respect was revealed as a matter of perspective. "A man who, in the middle of the Cold War and from the depth of an ocean of prejudice, misinformation and distrust on both sides of the Strait, dared to try to improve relations between both countries, deserves respect," said Castro. As president, Carter lifted restrictions on US citizens wishing to travel to Cuba, and permitted Cuban exiles to visit relations for the first time and remit money to relatives in Cuba -- changes that were, unfortunately, reversed under his successors. Carter even dispatched his Latin American adviser Robert Pastor to Cuba on a secret mission. Twenty-five years later, the former US president still strongly believes it is time to rectify a tradition of mutual distrust. Small wonder he was greeted at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport by none other than the Cuban president himself.
"We are ready to talk at any time and without any preconditions. It is the US, on the other hand, that is not interested in talking to Cuba. We have always been willing to talk to successive US administrations," Cuba's Ambassador to Egypt Louis Marisy Fegueredo told Al-Ahram Weekly. He paid tribute to Carter for being the first US president to have the courage to open a Cuban interest section in Washington, and a US interest section in Havana.
However, he stressed that Cuba did not welcome Carter as some sort of unofficial emissary of the US government, but rather as a man of peace who has earned the respect of the Cuban people. "We do not need to send messages to Washington through third parties. We want to talk directly to Washington, through the proper official channels," he added.
Castro, the Cuban ambassador said, pledged to give Carter "free access" to inspect the Caribbean island's industrial biotechnology facilities. After a thorough inspection, Carter appeared satisfied with what his Cuban hosts showed him, and he publicly disputed the Bush administration's claims that Cuba is rapidly developing an arsenal of biological and chemical weapons.
Like all great figures, Castro has always had a sense of history. He is undoubtedly faced with increasingly hard questions as to what might happen if and when he retires from the political arena. Can Cuban socialism survive Castro's political demise?
Even at the age of 75, Castro is indisputably -- with his public presence and unrivalled oratory skills -- the most charismatic leader in the Americas. There are those who believe that only with Castro out of office can relations between the US and Cuba begin to improve. Carter, in sharp contrast, believes that it is better for all concerned to work towards a rapprochement while Castro is still in power.
Politically, Carter and Castro are poles apart. The two men's first face-to-face encounter was in the Venezuelan capital Caracas in the early 1990s. The chemistry was right, and they hit it off from the start. "[Castro] surprised me with his intellect and humour," Carter was quoted as saying in The Unfinished Presidency by his biographer Douglas Brinkley.
Both men can be persuasive charmers. The two last met in Toronto, in October 2000, when they were pallbearers for Pierre Trudeau, Canada's late premier, who shared many of Carter's convictions. Indeed, there are an increasing number of policy makers in the US who want to see Washington emulate Canada's pragmatic and easygoing Cuba policy.
At a time when the Bush administration is indulging in a bout of laddishness, Carter opposes sanctions which he says are detrimental to the cause of human rights and political reform in Cuba. He also does not fear crossing swords with the powers that be. In Cuba, he spoke his mind, courageously admitting that the US's Cuban policy has been a failure. Other influential Americans echoed his words. "For 40 years the embargo has failed to lead to political and economic reform in Cuba. When a policy this old fails to produce intended results, it is time for a new policy," said Sally Grooms Cowall, former US ambassador to Trinidad and president of the Cuba Policy Foundation.
Ending the Cuban embargo has become a bipartisan issue. The Cuban Working Group, comprised of 20 Republicans and 20 Democrats committed to lifting the trade and travel ban on Cuba, is another influential political group pressuring the Bush administration to change its Cuba policy.
On the eve of Carter's visit to Cuba, US Undersecretary of State John Bolton charged Cuba with developing biological warfare technology. Cuba, Bolton said, shared its technical expertise with countries hostile to the US.
US President George Bush rattled through his Cuba policy on Monday, predictably defending Bolton's statements. Worse, it appears he has concluded that there is little point in dealing with Castro. The Bush administration appears to be impervious to moderating influences. The US president's brother, Jeb, is standing for re- elections as governor of Florida, the US state geographically closest to Cuba which also has a large and politically influential, ferociously anti-Castro exile community.
Soon thereafter, in an hour and a half-long speech delivered with his trademark gusto, Castro lambasted Bolton. The Cuban leader said his country has a sophisticated biological medicine industry -- exporting vaccines to more than 40 countries.
There are growing concerns in the US about the Bush administration's warmongering. Bolton's allegations are "grossly misleading and unsubstantiated," said Wayne Smith, who represented Washington in Havana under Carter.
The sharp-tongued and hostile Miami exiles retorted that Castro will win much political capital for hosting the Carters.
"The Cuban government, as usual, will try to make use of any possible consequences of the visit," said a cynical Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique, deputy director of the Institute of Independent Cuban Economists. "When Castro has an important visitor, he moderates his rhetoric."
The Cuban exiles in Florida were happy about Carter's address at Havana University, which was broadcast live on Cuban state media. "Castro had to sit there while he was given a lecture on democracy, something the Cuban people have not been able to hear for 43 years," Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, told reporters in Miami.
Carter also met with Oswaldo Payà, a Cuban dissident who claims to have collected 11,000 signatures for a petition demanding a referendum on civil liberties, economic and political reforms in Cuba -- the so-called Varela Project proposed by Cuban dissidents seeking economic and political reforms. The Cuban Constitution stipulates that a referendum should be held if 10,000 voters support it. Carter's public support for the petitioners pleased the Cuban-Americans.
Carter, who asked Castro to permit UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson to visit Cuba, also met with the man who is probably the country's highest profile political dissident, Vladimiro Roca, who was released two months before the end of his five years sentence. Roca, the son of a veteran Cuban Communist Party leader, said after the meeting that he believes, "that at the moment there is a little more tolerance, or perhaps more than tolerance -- permissiveness -- by the Cuban government toward the dissident movements and human rights groups than there was in 1997 when they detained me and my colleagues"
The Bush administration, however, remains sceptical of any apparent shift. The US president continues to categorically state that he is against the lifting of the economic embargo imposed on Cuba. "The president believes that the trade embargo is a vital part of American foreign and human rights policy towards Cuba," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters in Washington. "Trade with Cuba does not benefit the people of Cuba. It is used to prop up a repressive regime," Fleischer explained.
But sticking with a policy that carries no credibility would be worse. The outdated policy is too rigid and not so focused on remedying the domestic situation in Cuba or improving the Cubans' lot.
Moreover, other countries, such as China and Vietnam, have a political system similar to Cuba's. Why does the US not impose a trade embargo and travel ban on either China or Vietnam? Obviously, the combination of factors such as China's economic and political prowess, and the political clout of the Cuban-American constituency, explain Washington's double standards.
But Carter is not restricted by such concerns. His overtures clearly betray a sneaky admiration for those doing it their own way. "We are eager to see firsthand your accomplishments in health, education and culture," the former US president said, referring to Cuba's unrivalled record of public health provision and its enviable free education system.
Even Carter's criticisms have done nothing to dent Castro's reputation and political standing in the developing countries of the South. For a majority of Cubans, the political and economic reforms suggested by Carter sound somewhat patronising. To them, Carter's counsel is an ingenious device of acquiring rights and shedding responsibilities. Could the universally acclaimed achievements in the fields of medical and educational provision have been attained without Cuba's state-driven self-reliance? Socialism might be out of fashion, but it works very well thank you for Cuba.
It may be easy to be cynical about Carter's motives, especially when he harps on the theme of individual freedoms, property rights and the right to establish business, and open Cuba up to trade. However, his Cuban visit was long overdue, and it is vital that the Bush administration does not wrest Carter's initiative away from him.

Send a letter to the Editor Recommend this page

ARCHIVES
Letter from the Editor
Editorial Board
Subscription
Advertise!

WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly
Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time
weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg

Al-Ahram Organisation