DEMOCRACY IN CUBA
Europe might take another step back
BY MARIFELI PEREZ-STABLE
MarifeliPerez-Stable.com
Until June 30, Spain holds the presidency of the European Union. Madrid
has always taken the lead on Cuba, and so it has been since the
Socialists won the 2004 election. Under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero,
Spain prodded the EU to lift sanctions imposed after the Black Spring of
2003. By March 2009, the EU had normalized relations with Havana.
After the Popular Party eked out the Socialists in 1996, Spain moved the
EU to adopt the Common Position, laying out the objective of encouraging
Cuba to launch a democratic transition, respect human rights and open
the economy while rejecting ``coercive measures.''
Instead, the CP offers Havana incentives to mend its ways. Now Madrid
hopes to persuade the EU to eliminate or dilute the Common Position.
Europeans may be Venus to the American Mars, but democracy and human
rights lie at Europe's core. The EU takes the Universal Declarations
literally: Human rights are ours no matter what our politics.
Rescinding the Common Position won't be easy. All EU members must agree
to it, and there's resistance from Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and
the Czech Republic. Last November German Chancellor Angela Merkel told
Zapatero that the CP's fate was entirely in Cuba's hands. It'd be lifted
only if Havana showed meaningful progress.
Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos has been the strongest
advocate for shelving the Common Position. Yet, he recently told
parliament that Madrid would ``confine itself to open a debate'' in the
European Union, a far cry from the promise to lift the CP during his
trip to Cuba last October. A few weeks later Zapatero told Der Spiegel
that he favored ``an exigent dialogue'' with Havana. Some Spanish
officials, moreover, don't like the idea of tying up Spain's EU
presidency with the CP. Cuba is not exactly a top EU priority.
Cuba, nonetheless, struts around with an illusory sense of
self-importance. Foreign ministry officials repeatedly say that
negotiations with the European Union depend on ``the elimination of the
interventionist and unilateral Common Position.'' Reality check: Cuba
needs the EU, not the other way around.
Havana has generally conducted an efficacious foreign policy. Its
relations with countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean are normal if not outright friendly. Last year, for example,
Cuba sailed through its review in the U.N. Human Rights Council, thanks,
in part, to the goodwill earned in the developing world.
To be sure, U.S. policy has also helped Havana insofar as the embargo
musters wider international censure than the regime's ingrained
violations of human rights.
Even so, Cuba is at a foreign-policy crossroads. Its cries of ``national
sovereignty'' won't play well with the European Union. Would Cuban
leaders accept a weakened Common Position? Unlikely. If the EU discards
the CP, the next logical step would be an economic-cooperation
agreement. Only all such EU agreements carry a democratic clause. In
1996, Brussels offered one and Havana sent the EU emissary packing.
In contrast, Vietnam accepted the democratic clause, taking in stride
the occasional reprove on human rights and even making some changes.
Hanoi also signed and ratified the U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, which Cuba signed two years ago with no date in sight for
ratification. Why the difference? Decades ago Vietnam put the economy
and living standards at the center. Ordinary Vietnamese have greatly
benefited while economic interests, not ideological crusades, guide
foreign policy.
Cuba can't or won't do the same. Unlike Vietnam, Cuba offers little in
terms of trade and investment. With Obama changing the tone and some
substance of U.S. policy, railing against ``imperialism'' doesn't carry
the same punch. Calling Obama an ``imperial and arrogant liar'' as Cuban
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez did late last year may win plaudits in
Caracas but not in too many other quarters.
Cuban leaders themselves are, of course, the problem. Neither sticks nor
carrots works with them. If Spain fails to have the CP lifted or if it
succeeds and Havana again turns down European economic cooperation, then
they win once more. Screaming from the barricades is what they do best
no matter how dearly it costs the Cuban people in freedom and treasure.
Marifeli Pérez-Stable is a professor at Florida International University
and Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.
Europe might take another step back - Other Views - MiamiHerald.com (11
February 2010)
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/1473825.html
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