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CUBA: "It’s Time to Talk" Say US
Lawmakers
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA (IPS) - Seven Democratic
congresspersons from the U.S. concluded that
it is possible to talk about any issue with
Cuba and that "it is time" to do so, at the
end of a five-day visit during which they
met with both Raúl and Fidel Castro.
"Our basic message back to our country would
be, it's time to talk to Cuba. The time is
now," said Rep. Barbara Lee of California,
who led the congressional Black Caucus
delegation that arrived in Havana on Friday,
Apr 3 to "learn and talk" and explore the
possibilities of a thaw in relations between
the two countries.
The visiting lawmakers met for over four
hours on Monday with President Raúl Castro.
"It was a very good meeting. It was very
open and we discussed a wide range of
issues," Lee told reporters.
"All of us are convinced that President
Castro would like normal relations and would
see normalisation, ending the embargo, as
beneficial to both countries," said the
congresswoman, who is chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus.
Castro, she added, "said everything was on
the table."
A statement by the Cuban government
published Tuesday said that a number of
issues were addressed in the meeting, "with
an emphasis on the possible future evolution
of bilateral relations and economic ties
after the arrival to power of a new U.S.
administration" – a reference to the Jan. 20
inauguration of President Barack Obama.
In a news briefing with several of her
fellow legislators, Lee added that they did
not touch on "specifics" in their meetings
with Castro and other officials, but said
"We talked about all the issues necessary to
normalise relations between our two
countries."
On the basis of respect for sovereignty, all
questions can be discussed, said Rep. Laura
Richardson, also of California, who
mentioned the fight against drug and human
trafficking as areas in which better
cooperation was possible.
Besides Lee and Richardson, the delegation
was made up of Reps. Mel Watt of North
Carolina, Bobby Rush of Illinois, Emanuel
Cleaver of Missouri, Marcia Fudge of Ohio
and Mike Honda of California.
All of the members of the delegation sit on
committees that carry some weight in the
lower house of Congress, where they belong
to the 42-member Black Caucus, which has
votes and influence, as Lee pointed out.
Former Cuban president Fidel Castro said he
admires Lee, who leads the Black Caucus, for
her "fighting spirit."
"In general, (the visiting lawmakers)
believe that 68 percent of U.S. public
opinion is in favour of a change in policy
towards Cuba," Fidel Castro wrote in a
column on the "touchy issue" of bilateral
relations and the visit by the Democratic
legislators.
Lee, Richardson and Rush also met with the
former president, who stepped aside in July
2006 when he underwent intestinal surgery
and has retired from public life.
Richardson said Castro talked, like Obama,
about "turning the page" in U.S.-Cuba
relations.
She added that "He looked right into my eyes
and he said, 'How can we help? How can we
help President Obama?'"
The delegation plans to present Obama and
the State Department with a report on their
impressions and recommendations, ahead of
the Fifth Summit of the Americas to be held
Apr. 17-19 in Trinidad and Tobago.
The group of lawmakers also met with the
head of the Cuban parliament, Ricardo
Alarcón, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez,
and Minister of Foreign Trade and
Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, as well as
the families of the five Cubans who have
spent over 10 years in prison in the United
States on charges of espionage and
conspiracy, known as "the Cuban five".
They also visited the Latin American School
of Medicine (ELAM), which educates young
people from countries all around the world.
Several young people from the United States
have graduated from the Cuban medical
school, and more could do so if bilateral
ties were normalised, commented the
legislators, who also toured the
Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering
Centre, a leader in Cuba’s scientific R&D.
In his column, Fidel Castro praised a
proposal by Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of
Indiana, who urged Obama to send a special
envoy to start direct conversations with
Cuba on certain issues.
"There is no need to emphasise what Cuba has
always said: We do not fear dialogue with
the United States, nor do we thrive on
confrontation, as some foolish people
think," Castro wrote in the column, which
was published Monday.
Dialogue "is the only way to secure
friendship and peace among peoples," wrote
the elder Castro, who is still the head of
Cuba’s Communist Party.
But there are sceptics in Cuba with regard
to the apparent consensus in the Cuban
government that it is possible to negotiate
with the Obama administration, and the
growing movement in the U.S. in favour of
the normalisation of ties between the two
countries.
"I’ve seen similar episodes in the past that
did not come to fruition. I prefer not to
err on the side of over-enthusiasm," said an
analyst who preferred not to be identified.
An academic who spoke to IPS said Obama
might be awaiting the outcome of the debate
in Congress on measures to ease the nearly
five-decade embargo against Cuba – like a
loosening of travel restrictions - before
engaging in eventual negotiations.
"For now, the economy is the highest
priority," he added.
The source said the start of bilateral
dialogue was possible even without the prior
lifting of the embargo or a solution to the
case of "the Cuban five".
"The most logical approach, and what
everyone expects, would be to start with the
least sensitive issues of shared interest,
in which cooperation is most likely:
migration, drug trafficking interdiction, or
better conditions for trade in food and
medicine, for example, while leaving the
most complex issues for later," he said.
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