by Jordi Zamora Jordi Zamora – Sat Dec 6, 11:42 pm ET
WASHINGTON, (AFP) – After decades of tense ties, President-elect Barack
Obama has an opening to bring change to relations between uneasy
neighbors Cuba and the United States.
Washington and Havana do not have full diplomatic ties. And the United
States has had a full economic embargo on Cuba since 1961.
Ties between communist-ruled Cuba and Washington remained strained
during the two administrations of President George W. Bush. Then in July
2006 Fidel Castro stepped aside after major surgery and almost 50 years
in power, and his brother Raul Castro took the helm formally in February.
Cuban President Raul Castro, 77, and Fidel Castro, 82, have underscored
that Cuba is ready to talk -- if the United States is ready to drop its
age-old carrot-and-stick diplomacy.
And Obama seems to be eyeing some change in US handling of the Americas'
only one-party Communist country. He said on the campaign repeatedly in
recent months that if elected he would ease restrictions on travel to
Cuba by Americans and on remittences sent to Cuba by US-based relatives.
Yet for now Obama has ruled out lifting US sanctions saying that they
could be used to keep pressuring Havana.
Prevailing US law says the trade embargo cannot be ended while Fidel
Castro or Raul Castro is in power -- legislation approved under the last
Democratic US president Bill Clinton.
Another option that could be in the works would be for Washington to
take Cuba off its State Department list of countries it officially says
promote terrorism.
That could go a long way in improving relations on the diplomatic front,
according to Archibald Ritter, at the Norman Patterson School for
International Affairs in Ottawa.
Meanwhile, the United States is keenly aware of business opportunities
looming just 90 miles away.
Despite the embargo, US farmers have become the top suppliers of food to
Cuba -- because it is sold in cash only, as part of a loophole allowed
in the wake of a major hurricane that damaged Cuban crops. And Cuba's
belief that it has much more significant oil reserves than previously
thought also is not lost on US oil giants currently missing out on the
exploration phase.
"I think ... petroleum can play a very major role in the near term
future. Whether the Cuban estimates of reserves are reliable or not, we
can say there is a potential," said Terry L Maris, a University of Ohio
Cuba expert.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081207/pl_afp/uscubapoliticsdiplomacyobamatransition_081207044222
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