Thawing Relations with Cuba

For nearly fifty years U.S.-Cuban relations have been “frigid” to say the least. But judging from the recent noises emanating from Washington and Havana, a new day of U.S. Cuban relations appears to be on the horizon.

While I am a firm believer in the necessity of hard-line foreign policy in many situations, I personally believe that it has long been time for the U.S. to develop a meaningful relationship with Cuba. In my opinion, the United State’s approach to Cuba has largely been dictated by past grudges and not the current state of affairs. While the U.S. has managed to forgive—or at least “move past”—Russia’s role in the Cuban Missile Crisis and other Cold War events, U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba has remained frozen in time. This, I assert, is largely due to the electoral significance of South Florida and the traditional political views of Hispanic voters. However, the fact that Obama was able to handily win this demographic despite his moderate stances on Cuban foreign policy, evidences a clear shift in American public opinion.

The Castro brothers are not my favorite people, and there are many serious issues that need to be addressed over the course of diplomatic negotiations—such as the welfare of Cuba’s many political prisoners. I am aware that many Americans have strong feelings on this issue, and would prefer to leave Cuban relations in their present state. But in the grand scheme of foreign relations, U.S. conflicts with countries like Cuba and Venezuela are but quibbles compared to the very serious and foreign policy issues concerning country such as Iran and North Korea. Moreover, totally apart any ethical or philosophical impetus for unity, I believe that it is of upmost importance that the United States develop strong relationship with the whole of the Western Hemisphere given rise of economic and military power that is presently occurring in the Far East.

I would love to write more about Cuba, and the larger history of U.S.-Cuban relations which I believe to be largely misunderstood by many Americans. However, it is a very busy time of year and I will have to leave things here for now.

In the meantime, I will watch with great interest as the situation unfolds…