EU official suggests shift in policy on Cuba

EU official suggests shift in policy on Cuba
By Tom Evans, CNN
November 23, 2009 8:26 p.m. EST

* EU official suggests less emphasis on human rights in Cuba policy
* Signs suggest new EU president will soften policy toward island nation
* Many members of U.S. Congress support a relaxation of travel ban to Cuba

(CNN) -- A European Union commissioner Monday told CNN's Christiane
Amanpour that Europe's policy toward Cuba in the future will place less
emphasis on human rights in the island nation than now.

The EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, Karel De
Gucht, who is just back from a visit to Havana, Cuba, told Amanpour, "We
have relations with a lot of oppressive regimes and we have a special
regime for Cuba. It makes no sense singularizing them."

His comments come amid indications that Spain, which will hold the
presidency of the EU for six months beginning in January 2010, intends
to soften the organization's policy toward Cuba. The European Union
currently criticizes Cuba's human rights record, but does not support
the U.S. trade embargo against Havana.

The Obama administration, which has offered Havana a "new beginning,"
insists it will maintain sanctions as long as Cuba refuses to release
political prisoners and improve human rights. But many critics overseas
and a rising number in the United States say the embargo has totally
failed to change the Cuban regime's policy and it is time for change.
Video: World's relations with Cuba
Video: Travel ban debated in Cuba, too

Many in the U.S. Congress now support at least a relaxation of the
government's travel ban on Americans wishing to go to Cuba.

The lawmaker leading that effort, Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the
House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Amanpour there's a better chance
now than ever of getting that travel ban lifted. "The brave people in
Cuba who are standing up to this despotic regime want more contact with
Americans," he said.

"I'm not here to say that getting rid of the travel ban will lead to
immediate change in the regime," he added. "But in my heart of hearts, I
believe that Castro does not want the travel ban to be repealed.

"He loves using American policy as a scapegoat for his own repression
and for the terrible economic conditions the Cubans now live under. We
are serving his purposes by our current policies."

The congressman was supported by the director of Human Rights Watch's
Americas division, Jose Miguel Vivanco. His organization has just
released a scathing report titled "New Castro, Same Cuba" on what it
says is the sweeping repression of Cubans by Raul Castro's government.

Vivanco said the Obama administration should not only scrap the travel
ban, but also the U.S. trade sanctions against Cuba because they have
utterly failed in achieving American goals. "Regime change is rejected
by the rest of the world. Nobody in Europe agrees with the U.S. Nobody
in Latin America."

He said the United States should "build up a multilateral coalition that
has the political power and the moral authority to exercise effective
pressure on the Cuban government."

Lawrence Wilkerson, a former chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell, was damning in his criticism of the U.S. trade embargo on
Cuba. He called it "stupid and idiotic," adding, "It makes no sense. We
need to move towards normalized relations."

Wilkerson, who is now co-chairman of the U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative at
the New America Foundation and recently visited Cuba, told Amanpour, "We
need to adopt a new policy. That policy needs to be a policy of
engagement so that we can have more impact on raising the standards of
living of the average 11.5 million Cubans and so we can be around when
the change (in leadership) does inevitably occur."

He added, "We need to work on this together, unlike the previous
administration I served. This needs to be congressional, and it needs to
be executive, and it needs to be the American people."

CNN asked the Cuban government to provide a representative to join
Amanpour's discussion, but it said it had no one available.

EU official suggests shift in policy on Cuba - CNN.com (23 November 2009)
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/11/23/europe.cuba.us/