Tag: Obama’s Cuban trip

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What did Obama’s Cuban Trip Achieve?

The results of President Obama’s recent trip to Cuba, and, indeed, the reasons for his traveling there at all, remain shrouded in mystery.

The original timing of Washington’s opening of relations with Cuba raised eyebrows.  The Russians had just resumed their naval presence in the island nation, ruled by the same family that had urged Moscow to strike the United States with nuclear weapons in the 1960’s. The harsh repression of the Cuban people had not considerably lessened, Havana continued to harbor American criminals, and the Castro regime still supported terrorists.

None of these factors had changed before the President’s visit, and none has even started to change since.

Raoul Castro humiliated Mr. Obama by not greeting him at the airport, did not express any willingness to discuss human rights issues in any meaningful way, and did not show any sign of disinviting Moscow’s spy ships from its ports.  But the dictator did enthusiastically mention one point: his desire to have the United States return the Guantanamo Bay naval base to Cuba.

As the New York Analysis of Policy & Government noted before Mr. Obama flew to Cuba, the President has been dedicated to both closing the prison at the “Gitmo” base as well as reducing the overall U.S. defense budget.

There no reliable, fully comprehensive details of what the President and Castro discussed. We remain concerned that handing over the entire base to Havana may have been a key point.

The White House  itself has not listed any significant gains for the U.S.:

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Those limited returns are hardly substantive.

The aftermath of the trip hardly provides any encouraging news. A Yahoo news item notes this disappointing fact:

“On Tuesday, President Obama addressed Cubans about the importance of human rights and peaceful dialogue. On Thursday, pro-democracy demonstrators in Havana were beaten and arrested by Cuban police agents just steps away from where Obama had spoken. The demonstration occurred three blocks from the Grand Theater of Havana, where Obama spoke live to the Cuban nation, and was swiftly broken up by plainclothes officers, who attacked demonstrators violently and then stuffed those they had captured into police cars and swept them away within moments. “

While Cuba has gained from the President’s visit, there is little more than “hope” that anything America is seeking will be accomplished. In a March 22 press conference, Secretary of State John Kerry was asked:  “You’ve said in the past that the embargo would not be lifted unless there’s improvement on the human rights record of Cuba, yet yesterday the President said he believed that the embargo would be lifted. Would that happen if there is no progress in the human rights record in Cuba?”

Kerry’s response was typical of the vacillating foreign policy stance the Obama administration has adhered to:” No, I think the President is really referring to – it would be lifted over a period of time, because there will be, I’m confident, changes taking place. Changes are taking place in Cuba even now. I mean, I know some people want some dramatic announcement that all of a sudden, okay, here’s the new rules of the road, but that’s not the way it’s going to happen. But there is more political space today in Cuba than there was before the announcement of our embassy and before I came here to raise the flag, and in the year following, more people are traveling, more people are exchanging information, more people are meeting. There is an atmosphere of transformation that is taking place, and it doesn’t happen overnight anywhere. It has never happened; it’s been a slow, long building process in most places.”

This has been a standard course of action in President Obama’s international dealings.  The United States provides solid concessions, such as handing Russia the lead in nuclear weapons in the New Start Treaty, giving Iran the financial considerations it seeks, and so on, while getting no guaranteed gains in return.  It has not worked well for the U.S.

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Why is the President Travelling to Cuba?

Mr. Obama’s March 21 visit to Cuba will the first by a U.S. president in 88 years. The question is why the President believes it is appropriate to travel there now.

U.S. Cuban relations, already rocky following Fidel Castro’s alliance with the U.S.S.R., took a dramatic turn for the worse when Havana decided to serve as a forward base for Moscow’s nuclear missiles in 1962. A little known postscript to that event, detailed by the World Press  was Castro’s attempts to retain 100 tactical nuclear weapons even after the Soviets were forced to withdraw by a U.S. naval blockade. The Cuban regime wasn’t just a passive host. Havana urged Moscow  to launch an atomic strike against America.

Despite The President’s claims that significant progress has been made, the facts speak otherwise.  The Castro regime continues to oppress its people, and continues to support terrorism. In addition, it has again become an outpost for the Russian military in the western hemisphere.

Amnesty International reports that “Peaceful demonstrators and human rights activists are routinely detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly and movement. Activists are often detained to stop them from attending public demonstrations or private meetings. Independent journalists reporting on these detentions are themselves harassed by the authorities or put behind bars. Often, the relatives of those detained are never informed of their loved ones’ whereabouts. According to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional), there were 768 “politically” motivated detentions in August 2015 alone – up from 674 in July 2015. “

The situation, since Mr. Obama’s opening to the Castro regime, has become worse, not better.

It’s not just what the Castro regime does inside its own nation that’s a problem for the U.S.—it’s actions directly endangering America need to be taken into account.

The Congressional Research Service notes that “On April 14, 2015, the President announced his intention to rescind the terrorism designation (Cuba had remained on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1982) from the government of Cuba, a decision that was fulfilled by the Secretary of State on May 29, 2015.”   This is contrary to the evidence.

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Another issue noted in the 2013 terrorism report that has been mentioned for many years is Cuba’s harboring of fugitives wanted in the United States. The report maintained that Cuba provided such support as housing, food ration books, and medical care for these individuals. U.S. fugitives from justice in Cuba include convicted murderers and numerous hijackers, most of whom entered Cuba in the 1970s and early 1980s.16 For example, Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list on May 2, 2013. Chesimard was part of militant group known as the Black Liberation Army. In 1977, she was convicted for the 1973 murder of a New Jersey State Police officer and sentenced to life in prison. Chesimard escaped from prison in 1979, and according to the FBI, lived underground before fleeing to Cuba in 1984.17 In addition to Chesimard and other fugitives from the past, a number of U.S. fugitives from justice wanted for Medicare and other types of insurance fraud reportedly have fled to Cuba in recent years.

The danger is even greater than terrorism.

The Diplomat reports that “A senior Russian defense official has announced that Moscow is looking to build military bases throughout different countries in Asia and the Western Hemisphere” including Cuba.”

Capital Hill Cubans notes that “Throughout the year, the Castro regime has continued to host and harbor Russian spy ships tasked with monitoring sensitive U.S. defense networks… The Russian research ship Yantar has been tracked from the northern Atlantic near Canada since late August as it makes its way south toward Cuba. Defense officials familiar with reports on the Russian ship say the Yantar is believed to be gathering intelligence on underwater sensors and other equipment used by U.S. nuclear submarines based at Kings Bay, Georgia. The submarines, their transit lanes and training areas stretch from the coastal base through the Atlantic to Europe.”

Fox News reports that Cuban troops are operating in Syria, manning Russian tanks as they attack rebel forces supported by the United States.

Cuba oppresses its own people, supports terrorism, and enthusiastically acts as a forward base for the dangerous and aggressive Putin regime.  President Obama needs to explain why he believes it is appropriate to travel to Cuba, and why he continually and incorrectly states that conditions there have improved.