The Challenge of the Non-Aligned Meeting in Havana

September Surprise: The Challenge of the Non-Aligned Meeting in Havana

2006-09-08 Cuba Transition Project, Institute for Cuban and
Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami, Issue 80, September 7, 2006
Staff

Coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist
attacks, next week Cuba will host the largest global gathering of
anti-American forces since Fidel Castro convened the Tricontinental
Conference in Havana in January 1966, which unleashed Cuban-backed
revolutionary and terrorist movements that wrought decades of turmoil
throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. (1)

Given his iconic status among today's anti-American regimes and
organizations, it comes as no surprise that the ailing and perhaps
terminally ill Fidel Castro would welcome his friends to the island for
a final farewell. Indeed, if the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) to be held on September 11-16 were nothing more than yet another
international forum to blame the United States for all the world's
troubles, the event would merit the scant attention that it has received
thus far in Western news media. Contrary to such expectations, however,
the Cuba-sponsored NAM Summit promises to air a number of hard
geopolitical objectives that will undoubtedly surprise and may even
shock complacent policymakers in Washington and the West at large.

For the second time in its history, the Non-Aligned Movement's agenda
will be set by the Castro regime. Despite the fact that it was founded
in 1961 by nationalists such as Egypt's Nasser, India's Nehru, and
Yugoslavia's Tito as an alternative to both American influence and
Soviet domination, in practice NAM's members proved to be overwhelmingly
pro-Soviet throughout the Cold War. By 1979, when Cuba assumed the NAM
presidency for the first time, the organization's claims to
non-alignment were dubious at best. (2)

But in the post-September 11 era, a Havana-directed NAM arguably poses a
much greater challenge to Washington than it ever did at the height of
the Cold War. In preparing to assume the NAM presidency, Cuba has been
diligently lobbying for fellow member states to espouse a number of
anti-American causes. And unlike the conventional rhetorical
condemnations of U.S. "hegemony" at the U.N. General Assembly and
regional forums, Cuba seeks to revive NAM as a proactive, well-funded
organization with the resources to resist and undermine Washington's
policies on democratization, trade liberalization, and nuclear
proliferation.

While a final declaration and policy statement must be ratified by a
majority vote of the 115 NAM countries' heads of state and government
and issued at the closing session of the summit on September 16, Cuba
and its closest allies within NAM, namely Iran and Venezuela, will
likely attempt to persuade other member states to support their
strategic agenda against the U.S.

Although additional details will be known in the coming days, the
Cuban-Iranian-Venezuelan agenda at NAM may be summarized as follows:

• Anti-Americanism: First and foremost, Cuba will attempt to unify NAM's
heterogeneous members around the simplicity of a single unifying theme.
That theme can best be termed anti-Americanism, or placing ultimate
responsibility for current global crises ranging from the Middle East
conflict to climate change on U.S. policies and especially on the Bush
administration.

• Iran: Cuban diplomats have traveled the globe in the past year
defending and promoting Iran's right to nuclear technology. With a
keynote speech and the active participation of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, Havana will strive for a declaration in support of Iran's
nuclear program which in essence legitimizes nuclear proliferation.

• Cuba: For Cuba, it will be an occasion to pay tribute to Fidel Castro
while showcasing Raúl Castro as a worthy successor and leader of the
developing world. NAM members will also honor and support Fidel Castro
with a condemnation of U.S. economic sanctions against his regime.

• Venezuela: Hugo Chávez will share the center stage with his Cuban and
Iranian counterparts and seek support for Venezuela's candidacy to a
non-permanent seat at the U.N. Security Council. The Venezuelan leader
will also attempt to transform NAM into a global trade alternative to
the WTO and offer subsidized oil to developing nations in exchange for
renouncing free trade policies.

• Israel: Havana will acknowledge its alliance with the most radical
regimes and voices in the Islamic world by condemning Israeli policies
in terms of genocide against the Palestinian people and rallying NAM to
the defense of Hezbollah/Lebanon and Syria.

The development of a Non-Aligned Movement under the leadership of a
Cuba-Venezuela-Iran axis is not a welcomed event. Its aims are to
undermine American policies and objectives in the world; to weaken U.S.
influence, particularly in Latin America and the Middle East; and to
develop an alternative to Western democracies' influence on the
developing world. Moreover, Islamic fundamentalism supported by Cuban
militancy and Iranian and Venezuelan petrodollars constitutes a major
and complex challenge of global proportions.

Notes:

1. Cf. U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, "The Tricontinental
Conference of African, Asian, and Latin American Peoples: A Staff
Study," (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966),
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/tricontinental.htm.

2. For further details on NAM's origins and summits since 1961, see the
official NAM Secretariat website hosted by current (2003-2006) chair
Malaysia, http://www.e-nam.org.my/main.php?pg=2 (accessed September
2006). For a non-official account, see Wikipedia, "Non-Aligned
Movement," (accessed September 2006).

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