Peter Hakim reminds us of this important section of Obama's Nobel Prize acceptance speech:
"… in a world in which threats are more diffuse, and missions more complex, America cannot act alone… The promotion of human rights cannot be about exhortation alone. At times, it must be coupled with painstaking diplomacy. I know that engagement with repressive regimes lacks the satisfying purity of indignation. But I also know that sanctions without outreach — condemnation without discussion — can carry forward only a crippling status quo. No repressive regime can move down a new path unless it has the choice of an open door."
viernes, febrero 26, 2016
sábado, febrero 20, 2016
jueves, febrero 18, 2016
Obama is going to Cuba. Here's why:
Cuba is only 90 miles from Florida, but for a long time the distance between our two countries seemed a lot greater.
For more than fifty years, the United States pursued a policy of isolating and pressuring Cuba. While the policy was rooted in the context of the Cold War, our efforts continued long after the rest of the world had changed.
Put simply, U.S. Cuba policy wasn't working and was well beyond its expiration date.
Cuba's political system did not change.
The United States was isolated within our own hemisphere — and in the wider world — which disagreed with our approach.
Most importantly, our policy was not making life better for the Cuban people — and in many ways, it was making it worse.
So in 2014, President Obama changed course. And on March 21–22, President Obama and the First Lady will visit Havana, Cuba.
He will be the first American President since Calvin Coolidge in 1928 to visit Cuba; President Coolidge traveled to Cuba on a U.S. battleship, so this will be a very different kind of visit.
Here's how we got here:
Early in the Obama administration, we made it easier for Cuban-Americans to travel and send remittances to Cuba — because the President believed that Cuban-Americans are our best ambassadors to the Cuban people.
We later pursued many months of secret negotiations hosted by the Canadian government and supported by Pope Francis and the Vatican. And on December 17, 2014, President Obama announced — along with President Raul Castro of Cuba — that the United States and Cuba would begin a new chapter and take steps to normalize relations.
Since then, we have made progress in opening up relations between our two countries. Last summer, we restored diplomatic relations and Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Cuba to raise the American flag over our Embassy. This enhanced diplomatic presence makes it much easier for the United States to advance our interests and values in Cuba, as we do in countries around the world.
We've been able to engage Cubans from all walks of life. We've facilitated visits to Cuba by U.S. lawmakers, businesses, and academics. Changes in U.S. policies and regulations have allowed for greater travel and commerce between our countries. In fact, over this period, the number of authorized American visitors to Cuba has gone up by 54 percent, enabling increased people-to-people engagement. This will continue to increase, as earlier this week, the United States and Cuban governments reached an agreement that will restore direct flights between our countries for the first time in over 50 years — a change that will allow up to 110 direct flights to Cuba from the United States each day.
We've already seen indications of how increased engagement can improve the lives of the Cuban people. Cuba's nascent private sector — from restaurant owners to shopkeepers — has benefited from increased travel from the American people. Increased remittances to Cuba from the United States has helped Cuban families. Openings for American companies also hold the potential of improving the lives of ordinary Cubans — for instance, American companies will be enabling travelers to stay in Cuban homes and setting up a factory that will provide equipment for farmers.
The Cuban government has taken some steps to fulfill its commitment to expand access to the Internet, expanding wireless hotspots and announcing an initial broadband connection. These are steps that should be built upon to increase connectivity to the wider world and access to information for the Cuban people.
Still, this progress is insufficient. There is much more that can be done — by the United States, and by the Cuban government — to advance this opening in ways that will be good for Cubans, and good for the United States. That is why President Obama is traveling to Cuba. We want to open up more opportunities for U.S. businesses and travelers to engage with Cuba, and we want the Cuban government to open up more opportunities for its people to benefit from that engagement. Ultimately, we believe that Congress should lift an embargo that is not to advancing the Cuban people's individual well-being and human rights, and remove onerous restrictions that aim to dictate to Americans where they can and cannot travel.
Even as we pursue normalization, we've made clear that we will continue to have serious differences with the Cuban government — particularly on human rights. While Cuba released Alan Gross, a number of political prisoners and recently hosted the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, we continue to oppose and speak out against restrictions on rights like freedom of speech and assembly — and space for independent civil society — that the United States supports around the world.
While we do not seek to impose change on Cuba, we strongly believe that Cuba will benefit when the Cuban people can exercise their universal rights. President Obama has raised these issues in his discussions with President Castro, and will continue to do so.
As the President has said, Cuba will not change overnight, nor will all of the various differences between our countries go away. But the guiding principle of our Cuba policy — our North Star — remains taking steps that will improve the lives of the Cuban people.
That will be the President's message on his trip — where he'll have the opportunity to meet with President Castro, and with Cuban civil society and people from different walks of life. Yes, we have a complicated and difficult history. But we need not be defined by it. Indeed, the extraordinary success of the Cuban-American community demonstrates that when we engage Cuba, it is not simply foreign policy — for many Americans, it's family.
Our opening to Cuba has also created new possibilities for the United States in Latin America — a region that used to uniformly oppose our Cuba policy, and which now welcomes our new beginning.
We have worked with Cuba and other countries to support President Santos and the Colombian people as they are pursuing an end to a decades-long civil war. Following the President's trip to Cuba, he and the First Lady will travel to Argentina — a country with a new President who wants to begin a new chapter of improved relations with the United States.
This is yet another indication that the future is bright for the United States in our own hemisphere.
You can follow along as we prepare for the President's trip by visiting wh.gov/cuba-policy.
Ben Rhodes
White House Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications & Speechwriting.
For more than fifty years, the United States pursued a policy of isolating and pressuring Cuba. While the policy was rooted in the context of the Cold War, our efforts continued long after the rest of the world had changed.
Put simply, U.S. Cuba policy wasn't working and was well beyond its expiration date.
Cuba's political system did not change.
The United States was isolated within our own hemisphere — and in the wider world — which disagreed with our approach.
Most importantly, our policy was not making life better for the Cuban people — and in many ways, it was making it worse.
So in 2014, President Obama changed course. And on March 21–22, President Obama and the First Lady will visit Havana, Cuba.
He will be the first American President since Calvin Coolidge in 1928 to visit Cuba; President Coolidge traveled to Cuba on a U.S. battleship, so this will be a very different kind of visit.
Here's how we got here:
Early in the Obama administration, we made it easier for Cuban-Americans to travel and send remittances to Cuba — because the President believed that Cuban-Americans are our best ambassadors to the Cuban people.
We later pursued many months of secret negotiations hosted by the Canadian government and supported by Pope Francis and the Vatican. And on December 17, 2014, President Obama announced — along with President Raul Castro of Cuba — that the United States and Cuba would begin a new chapter and take steps to normalize relations.
Since then, we have made progress in opening up relations between our two countries. Last summer, we restored diplomatic relations and Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Cuba to raise the American flag over our Embassy. This enhanced diplomatic presence makes it much easier for the United States to advance our interests and values in Cuba, as we do in countries around the world.
We've been able to engage Cubans from all walks of life. We've facilitated visits to Cuba by U.S. lawmakers, businesses, and academics. Changes in U.S. policies and regulations have allowed for greater travel and commerce between our countries. In fact, over this period, the number of authorized American visitors to Cuba has gone up by 54 percent, enabling increased people-to-people engagement. This will continue to increase, as earlier this week, the United States and Cuban governments reached an agreement that will restore direct flights between our countries for the first time in over 50 years — a change that will allow up to 110 direct flights to Cuba from the United States each day.
We've already seen indications of how increased engagement can improve the lives of the Cuban people. Cuba's nascent private sector — from restaurant owners to shopkeepers — has benefited from increased travel from the American people. Increased remittances to Cuba from the United States has helped Cuban families. Openings for American companies also hold the potential of improving the lives of ordinary Cubans — for instance, American companies will be enabling travelers to stay in Cuban homes and setting up a factory that will provide equipment for farmers.
The Cuban government has taken some steps to fulfill its commitment to expand access to the Internet, expanding wireless hotspots and announcing an initial broadband connection. These are steps that should be built upon to increase connectivity to the wider world and access to information for the Cuban people.
Still, this progress is insufficient. There is much more that can be done — by the United States, and by the Cuban government — to advance this opening in ways that will be good for Cubans, and good for the United States. That is why President Obama is traveling to Cuba. We want to open up more opportunities for U.S. businesses and travelers to engage with Cuba, and we want the Cuban government to open up more opportunities for its people to benefit from that engagement. Ultimately, we believe that Congress should lift an embargo that is not to advancing the Cuban people's individual well-being and human rights, and remove onerous restrictions that aim to dictate to Americans where they can and cannot travel.
Even as we pursue normalization, we've made clear that we will continue to have serious differences with the Cuban government — particularly on human rights. While Cuba released Alan Gross, a number of political prisoners and recently hosted the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, we continue to oppose and speak out against restrictions on rights like freedom of speech and assembly — and space for independent civil society — that the United States supports around the world.
While we do not seek to impose change on Cuba, we strongly believe that Cuba will benefit when the Cuban people can exercise their universal rights. President Obama has raised these issues in his discussions with President Castro, and will continue to do so.
As the President has said, Cuba will not change overnight, nor will all of the various differences between our countries go away. But the guiding principle of our Cuba policy — our North Star — remains taking steps that will improve the lives of the Cuban people.
That will be the President's message on his trip — where he'll have the opportunity to meet with President Castro, and with Cuban civil society and people from different walks of life. Yes, we have a complicated and difficult history. But we need not be defined by it. Indeed, the extraordinary success of the Cuban-American community demonstrates that when we engage Cuba, it is not simply foreign policy — for many Americans, it's family.
Our opening to Cuba has also created new possibilities for the United States in Latin America — a region that used to uniformly oppose our Cuba policy, and which now welcomes our new beginning.
We have worked with Cuba and other countries to support President Santos and the Colombian people as they are pursuing an end to a decades-long civil war. Following the President's trip to Cuba, he and the First Lady will travel to Argentina — a country with a new President who wants to begin a new chapter of improved relations with the United States.
This is yet another indication that the future is bright for the United States in our own hemisphere.
You can follow along as we prepare for the President's trip by visiting wh.gov/cuba-policy.
Ben Rhodes
White House Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications & Speechwriting.
President Obama to Travel to Cuba and Argentina
President Obama to Travel to Cuba and Argentina
President Obama and the First Lady will travel to Cuba on March 21st and 22nd and Argentina on March 23rd and 24th. In Cuba, the President will work to build on the progress we have made toward normalization of relations with Cuba - advancing commercial and people-to-people ties that can improve the well-being of the Cuban people, and expressing our support for human rights. In addition to holding a bilateral meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro, President Obama will engage with members of civil society, entrepreneurs and Cubans from different walks of life. This historic visit - the first by a sitting U.S. President in nearly 90 years - is another demonstration of the President's commitment to chart a new course for U.S.-Cuban relations and connect U.S. and Cuban citizens through expanded travel, commerce, and access to information.
In Buenos Aires, the President and First Family will meet with the new Argentine President, Mauricio Macri, to discuss President Macri's reform agenda and recognize his contributions to the defense of human rights in the region. The President will deepen efforts to increase cooperation between our governments in a range of areas, including trade and investment, renewable energy and climate change, and citizen security. It has been nearly two decades since the last bilaterally focused visit by a U.S. President to Argentina, Latin America's third largest country.
President Obama and the First Lady will travel to Cuba on March 21st and 22nd and Argentina on March 23rd and 24th. In Cuba, the President will work to build on the progress we have made toward normalization of relations with Cuba - advancing commercial and people-to-people ties that can improve the well-being of the Cuban people, and expressing our support for human rights. In addition to holding a bilateral meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro, President Obama will engage with members of civil society, entrepreneurs and Cubans from different walks of life. This historic visit - the first by a sitting U.S. President in nearly 90 years - is another demonstration of the President's commitment to chart a new course for U.S.-Cuban relations and connect U.S. and Cuban citizens through expanded travel, commerce, and access to information.
In Buenos Aires, the President and First Family will meet with the new Argentine President, Mauricio Macri, to discuss President Macri's reform agenda and recognize his contributions to the defense of human rights in the region. The President will deepen efforts to increase cooperation between our governments in a range of areas, including trade and investment, renewable energy and climate change, and citizen security. It has been nearly two decades since the last bilaterally focused visit by a U.S. President to Argentina, Latin America's third largest country.
viernes, febrero 12, 2016
"El excepcionalismo cubano" - publicado en 2004, pero pudiera haber sido 2014!
El excepcionalismo cubano
Ted Henken. El Nuevo Herald, 21 de agosto de 2004.
El cambio en la política norteamericana de inmigración hacia Cuba en 1994 y 1995 no fue ni tan súbito ni tan completo como generalmente se cree. En primer lugar, un cambio en la política de brazos abiertos hacia los inmigrantes cubanos se había estado desarrollando desde hacía tiempo. Un cambio gradual ya había empezado a negar una automática aceptación ideológica de todos los cubanos como ''refugiados del comunismo'' a principios de los años 60 y a estigmatizarlos en Estados Unidos como delincuentes tras el puente del Mariel de 1980. Félix Masud-Piloto nos dio una actualización de este gradual desplazamiento hacia el cierre de la tradicional entrada de los cubanos en su estudio De exiliados bienvenidos a inmigrantes ilegales (1996), en el cual argumentaba que los cambios en la política de inmigración hacia Cuba representaban 'una completa inversión de una política inmigratoria de 35 años destinada a dar la bienvenida como refugiados políticos a casi cualquier cubano que alegara estar 'escapando de la represión de Fidel Castro'. Sin embargo, creo que esas declaraciones del tipo 'todo o nada' pasan por alto el hecho de que el tratamiento especial ha sobrevivido a los esfuerzos de buscar un tratamiento imparcial del caso.
Los acuerdos migratorios EEUU-Cuba de 1994 y 1995 tuvieron un éxito a corto plazo en resolver el problema de la peligrosa migración en alta mar y por haber estimulado ''una emigración segura, legal y ordenada'' de Cuba a EEUU gracias a una generosa política de conceder a Cuba un mínimo de 20,000 visas anuales. Sin embargo, un cambio de política que parecía en su época ser ''una completa inversión'' ha resultado ser mucho más complejo y matizado en la práctica. Después del 2 de mayo de 1995, todos los cubanos recogidos en el mar han sido devueltos a Cuba. Este importante giro de política ha sido ejecutado de forma consistente, aunque en aquella época pocos observadores comprendieron las implicaciones del hecho de que ni los acuerdos de septiembre de 1994 ni los de mayo de 1995 afrontaban la aplicabilidad de la Ley de Ajuste Cubano (CAA) de 1966. Irónicamente, esto es cierto aun cuando el acuerdo de septiembre de 1994 estipula claramente: ''Los EEUU han descontinuado su práctica de conceder libertad bajo palabra a todos los inmigrantes cubanos que lleguen a territorio de EEUU de manera irregular''. Lo que significa que prácticamente todos los cubanos que arriban a territorio norteamericano, por cualquiera que sea el medio, reciben permiso para quedarse.
Aunque el alto porcentaje de las repatriaciones marítimas muestra una nueva consistencia en la política migratoria norteamericana hacia los cubanos detenidos en el mar, los inmigrantes de la isla siguen disfrutando de un número de beneficios que otros inmigrantes no tienen. Entre los países que envían inmigrantes, Cuba está sola con un mínimo de 20,000 visas anuales. Para todos los demás grupos nacionales del hemisferio occidental, esta cifra constituye un límite máximo de inmigración permitida, no una cuota garantizada. Por otra parte, aun si el secretario de Justicia fuera a rescindir mañana la CAA, los cubanos que lleguen a las costas norteamericanas no podrían ser deportados a Cuba hasta que ambos países instituyan un acuerdo bilateral de deportación. Finalmente, el programa de refugiados que tienen los cubanos es un acuerdo especial al que sólo tienen acceso otros tres países del mundo.
Uno pudiera preguntarse por qué los cubanos han seguido recibiendo una consideración especial de inmigración pese a los esfuerzos por terminar su status privilegiado. Considero que tanto los intereses burocráticos como los políticos pueden explicar la permanencia del excepcionalismo cubano. En primer lugar, las múltiples agencias locales, estatales y federales implicadas en la salvaguardia de las fronteras frecuentemente trabajan con objetivos contradictorios y obedecen diferentes grupos de leyes, lo cual conduce a lo que yo llamo una ''política por omisión''. Por ejemplo, la Guardia Costera de EEUU considera que su misión es garantizar la seguridad en el mar y la protección de las fronteras del país. De esta forma, tiene poder para detener inmigrantes marítimos no autorizados y aplicar los Acuerdos Migratorios EEUU-Cuba 1994-1995, que requieren que intercepten y devuelvan a los cubanos detenidos en el mar (pies mojados), como hacen con los inmigrantes marítimos no autorizados de todos los países.
Una de las lecciones a sacar tiene que ver con la cantidad de inmigración ilegal cubana en la última década. En directa contradicción con habituales suposiciones de que la inmigración cubana ilegal está ''fuera de control'', lo más sorprendente sobre el flujo de cubanos en los últimos 10 años es que no hayan venido más cubanos a EEUU como balseros o boteros dado el hecho de que todavía sufren de una crisis económica y una represión política generalizadas en su país, y que siguen disfrutando de excepcionales beneficios a su llegada a EEUU. Las diversas tendencias contradictorias que todavía funcionan en el caso cubano lógicamente debían llevarnos a esperar una migración marítima masiva desde Cuba cuando, en realidad, no ha sido así desde los acuerdos de 1994-1995. En realidad, la estructura política del actual régimen cubano puede, irónicamente, actuar como un freno a la potencial emigración.
A pesar de todos sus problemas, el gobierno cubano ha sido capaz de mantener un mínimo de servicios sociales básicos, garantizar una estable aunque tensa paz social, y evitar gran parte del caos sociopolítico que ha acompañado los choques económicos en la mayor parte del resto de América Latina. Nuestra preocupación sobre los actuales niveles de inmigración cubana pudieran estar desubicados. Una preocupación potencialmente mucho mayor es la emigración cubana después de Castro, durante una transición, o bajo una dirección diferente y menos autoritaria.
Una segunda lección se refiere a la anacrónica CAA. Mientras, la actual interpretación de la ley es una violación directa del acuerdo migratorio de septiembre de 1994: ''En ninguno de los dos documentos (los acuerdos migratorios de septiembre de 1994 y mayo de 1995) el gobierno de EEUU ha dicho que los cubanos que lleguen ilegalmente a suelo norteamericano serán devueltos a Cuba, ni el gobierno cubano ha dicho que aceptará la devolución de los que alcancen tierra'' --como ha observado Siro del Castillo.
En realidad, con excepción de un número relativamente pequeño de ''excluibles'' del Mariel, el gobierno cubano no ha aceptado deportados cubanos. La existencia de la ley les permite a ambos gobiernos tratar de echar la culpa al otro por políticas migratorias contradictorias y frecuentemente inhumanas. Ambos gobiernos tienen razón.
La máxima ironía en la actual aplicación de la CAA es la muy real probabilidad de que sólo será finalmente revocada cuando Castro y su régimen ya no controlen el gobierno cubano. Si esto sucediera, el gobierno cubano conseguiría su deseo de que EEUU deje de alentar a los cubanos a emigrar sólo después (y directamente porque) ha cesado de existir. Por supuesto, los políticos norteamericanos probablemente aleguen que ya no hay una ''necesidad'' de ese tratamiento especial en una Cuba postcastro. Pero la presión para emigrar de Cuba probablemente aumente y no disminuya en el previsible futuro postcastro.
Profesor de Baruch College, adscrito a la Universidad de Nueva York (CUNY).
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)
