Reuters
By Jeff Franks Jeff Franks – Wed Mar 31, 10:36 am ET
HAVANA (Reuters) – U.S.-Cuban relations have fallen to their lowest
point since Barack Obama became U.S. president and are in danger of
getting worse unless the two countries take serious steps toward ending
five decades of hostility, according to Cuba experts.
After a brief warming last year, both countries appear to be falling
back into old, antagonistic ways, obscuring whatever progress that has
been made and hindering further advances, the experts said this week.
"The past year has proven that when it comes to U.S.-Cuba relations, old
habits die hard," said Dan Erikson of the Inter-American Dialogue think
tank in Washington.
Obama, who took office in January 2009 and has said he wanted to recast
U.S.-Cuban relations, lifted restrictions on travel by Cuban Americans
to the communist-ruled island and initiated talks on migration issues
and direct postal service.
Since then, Cuban Americans have flooded the island and the two longtime
ideological foes have held their first high-level discussions in years.
But recent developments have been mostly negative.
Cuba jailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross in December on suspicion of
spying and continues to hold him without charges.
Cuba's government has been condemned internationally for its treatment
of opponents, including imprisoned dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who
died in February from a hunger strike, and the "Ladies in White," wives
and mothers of imprisoned dissidents, were shouted down by government
supporters during protest marches this month.
Obama rebuked the Cuban government in a strongly worded statement on
March 24, saying Cuba continues "to respond to the aspirations of the
Cuban people with a clenched fist."
U.S. officials think they have done enough to elicit a more positive
response from Cuba, while Cuba complains that Obama has done too little.
'GENUINE GOODWILL'
Miami attorney Timothy Ashby, a former U.S. Commerce Department official
in charge of trade with Cuba, said neither has done what is necessary to
overcome 50 years of bitterness.
"Neither government is willing to take a significant step that would
serve as a demonstration of genuine goodwill," he said.
Both nations have taken actions that have not helped the fragile
improvement begun by Obama.
Obama angered the Cuban government in November when he responded to
questions via email from dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, who
Cuban leaders view as at least complicit with their enemies in Europe
and the United States.
In February, Assistant Secretary of State Craig Kelly provoked a bitter
Cuban reaction when he met with dissidents following migration talks
with Cuban officials in Havana.
Cuba, in turn, has soured the political climate by harshly criticizing
Obama for his lack of action while taking little of its own.
Its detention of Gross, which U.S. officials say Cuba has refused to
discuss, has called into question its desire for change even among those
who want better relations.
In a letter last week to Cuba's top diplomat in Washington, 41 members
of the U.S. House of Representatives said the detention of Gross "has
caused many to doubt your government's expressed desire to improve
relations with the United States."
"We cannot assist in that regard while Mr. Gross is detained in a Cuban
prison," said the legislators, who included sponsors of pending
legislation to end a U.S. ban on travel to Cuba.
The United States has said Gross was in Cuba to expand Internet services
for Jewish groups, but conceded he entered the island on a tourist visa
that would not permit such work.
His work was funded under U.S. programs aimed at promoting democracy in
Cuba, which Cuban leaders view as part of a long U.S. campaign to topple
their government.
U.S. officials are saying behind the scenes that there will be no more
initiatives with Cuba until Gross is released.
Domestic political concerns are among the reasons cited for the lack of
U.S.-Cuban progress, with Obama mindful of possible criticism from
conservatives for moving too quickly and Cuban President Raul Castro
dealing with anti-U.S. hardliners while he tries to fix Cuba's weak economy.
"Sadly, there are reactionary forces on either side of the Florida
Straits," Ashby said.
The United States could move rapprochement along by removing Cuba from
its list of nations considered state sponsors of terrorism, a
designation that has long angered Cuba, Ashby said.
At the same time, Cuba must release Gross either outright or, if
necessary, on something like parole if it insists on putting him on
trial, according to John McAuliff of the New York-based Fund for
Reconciliation and Development, which promotes better relations between
the two countries.
Western diplomats in Havana also said Cuba must treat its dissidents
better, saying another death would be a serious blow to relations with
both the United States and Europe.
(Editing by Tom Brown and Will Dunham)
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