Cuba

Today, March 1st, marks the 30th anniversary of Cuba’s placement on the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.  In 1982 Cuba was added to this list because, according to the Congressional Research Services 2005 report, “At the time, numerous U.S. government reports and statements under the Reagan Administration alleged Cuba’s ties to international terrorism and its support for terrorist groups in Latin America.” The report goes on to recall Cuba’s involvement in supporting revolutionary movements in Africa and other Latin American countries. In “1992 Fidel Castro stressed that his country’s support for insurgents abroad was a thing of the past,” mainly due to the fall of the Soviet Union and subsequent loss of resources following the fall. 

Last night on "Strategy Session with Antonio Gonzalez" on 90.7 KPFK, LAWG's Senior Associate, Mavis Anderson, discussed the current political reality of U.S. policy towards Cuba. While there are some who will criticize President Obama's slow movement in changing our outdated Cuba policy, "kudos should be given where kudos are due," says Anderson. Obama has made some of the changes available to him under executive authority in permitting Cuban Americans to travel freely back and forth to the island, liberalizing the travel licensing process, and also issuing a veto threat if any legislation is proposed in Congress that aims at repealing his positive changes.

Taking advantage of President Obama’s liberalized regulations that have re-established people-to-people licensed travel to Cuba, members of LAWG staff partnered with Witness for Peace and led a delegation of 25 people to study and learn about the art and culture of Cuba. Our delegation met with artists such as Sandra Ramos, Kadir and Kelvin Lopez, saw performances by students in one of Havana’s many schools for the arts, visited Ernest Hemingway’s home, witnessed the magic of the Cuba National Ballet, participated in folkloric dance led by a community group “Okantomi,” dialogued with members of the Cuban National Assembly, Ministry of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Tourism, Union of Artists and Writers, and the United States Interests Section in Havana.

Significant changes being implemented by the Cuban government to permanently alter the island's economy have so far fallen on deaf ears in Washington.

A new report by the Center for Democracy in the Americas, Cuba’s New Resolve: Economic Reform and its Implications for U.S. Policy, identifies a number of measures the Obama administration should take to support and facilitate the economic reform process in Cuba. According to the report, Cuba is undergoing the most significant changes to its socialist system since the 1959 Revolution. Despite moves to increase the private sector, decentralize decision-making, increase autonomy for farmers and "a fundamental shift in economic thinking," the Obama administration has downplayed the reforms as insufficient.