Wednesday,
December 17, 2014
Folks,
there is something to chew on. The United States says that it will restore ties
with Cuba in the coming months and open an Embassy in Havana (Cuba) in about 18
months’ time. Celebration time for those persistently opposed to the US’
hostility to Cuba for more than half a century? Anguish among the Obama
critics?
Whatever
the case may be, this new development adds a different complexion to the kind
of relationship that has existed between the US and Cuba since Fidel Castro led
the masses against the Batista administration to establish Cuba as a state to
be centrally controlled (Call it socialism or communism).
Here
is how some of the major news media in the world carried that happening:
·
'New chapter' in US-Cuba ties (BBC
News at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30516740)
·
“After Alan Gross release, Obama seeks to
resume full diplomatic ties with Cuba”
- U.S., Cuba
to restore ties after 50 years of hostility Reuters
- Obama: US
re-establishing relations with Cuba Associated Press
- US reportedly beginning talks to loosen Cuba embargo The Verge
- Americans
Are Ready to End the Cuban Embargo The Atlantic
And Yahoo News reveals a
gripping aspect: “18 months of secret talks in Canada and at the Vatican, an
Obama-Castro phone call” (http://news.yahoo.com/after-alan-gross-release--obama-seeks-to-resume-full-diplomatic-ties-with-cuba-152343480.html).
Those
familiar with the vicissitudes of this US-Cuban sour relationship know the
deeper-level implications; those not familiar may be scratching their heads to
find out why the sudden U-Turn by the US, especially at this time that the Obama
administration is struggling to regain public confidence and move the country
where the critics say it hasn’t yet reached in their reckoning of global
politics in our time.
Those
critical of Obama’s handling of affairs may go the extra mile to question the
rationale behind this move to thaw relations with Cuba when there are
indications that the country is abandoning or has abandoned its
socialist/communist agenda nor has it democratized the system well enough to
give the citizens the freedom to do things as those in the US and other
democracies do.
In
effect, Cuba is still Cuba, regardless of the back stage position taken by the
US’ nemesis (Fidel Castro). His brother, Raul, is in firm control, introducing
piecemeal measures to suggest that there is some relaxation of the firm grips
on the Cuban system. But Cuba under Raul Castro remains the Cuba that has
persistently poked its finger into the US’ eyes all these years.
The reverberations
of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis are still strongly being felt in the minds of
those familiar with what happened. So also are many others. But Cuba today is
less radical, which may give us the inkling to suggest that the US seems to be
swayed by what it anticipates to be a lessening of the iron grips on the
system. Apparently, the Obama administration has gone for the bite. What
follows next will go a long way to shape the future course for both countries
directly and the world at large.
In any
case, though, it is heart-warming that the US has come to this point of
realization: that its decades-long strangulation of the Cuban system hasn’t
accomplished the desired results. No military invasion, no ban on exports to
Cuba, no tightening of the noose of any sort has broken the resolve of the
Cuban system to remain what it has been all these years. So, why continue to do
so? Something must crack, which has just happened.
With
this thawing of relations between the two countries, the world should be given
the hope that Cuba can have its place of pride in the community of nations and
release its full potential for addressing global crises. After all, Cuban
doctors are acknowledged as among the best in the world; and given the leeway,
Cuba can contribute more to the world than it has been allowed to do so far
within the context of the US’ bullying tactics.
Let’s
celebrate this new direction and wait for developments. Certainly, Obama has
gone a long way to add a remarkably positive page to the annals of world
history just as his predecessor, JF Kennedy, did to set the pace for the
acrimony that has dogged the US-Cuba relations.
If
Cuba has remained viable and vibrant despite the US’ stranglehold on it—and the
withdrawal of the massive financial aid that the then Soviet Union gave it but
which vanished as Gorbachov’s “glasnost” and “perestroika” sheared Russia of
its superpower status—then, something must click in someone’s brain pan to know
what stuff makes up the Cuban system. It is like a bone being licked by a
duck!!
In
that sense, the thawing of relations between both countries should bring in
dividends, not woes. I welcome it and will wait to see how it pans out.
I shall return…
·
E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
·
Join
me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor to continue
the conversation.
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