Stark Contrast: Reality in Cuba vs The White House Narrative

In memory of  Laura Pollán, Ladies in White founder, who died under suspicious circumstances five years ago today in Cuba. A victim of President Obama's good intentions in Cuba. 

President Obama's National Security Adviser Susan Rice earlier today

The White House today made public a Presidential policy directive on United States-Cuba Normalization that is divorced from reality on numerous fronts. The directive purports to do a number of things as outlined below:

(1) describes the U.S. vision for normalization with Cuba and how our policy aligns with U.S. national security interests; (2) assesses progress toward normalization; (3) describes the current and foreseen strategic landscape; (4) describes priority objectives for normalization; and (5) directs actions required to implement this PPD.

 It also serves as a useful guideline for a critical appraisal that was not present today at The Wilson Center when National Security Adviser Susan Rice made the case for the President's Cuba policy without mentioning the worsening collapse in trade between the United States and Cuba over the past three years, the exodus of over a 100,000 Cuban refugees to the United States since December 2014, and the return of a Russian military presence to Cuba after a decades long absence. Not to mention rising violence and repression against Cuban dissidents during the Obama administration not seen in years.

Instead the big news was about Cuban rum and cigars, produced from factories and lands stolen from their owners, could now be brought back by Americans who had visited Cuba putting an end to sanctions initiated by President John Kennedy over half a century ago. Ambassador Rice spent a lot of time talking about the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and how they had transcended those times of distrust.  She failed to mention that the same men who lobbied the Soviet Union to launch a nuclear first strike on the United States remain in power today, and asked the Russians to do it again in the 1980s.

The Obama Administration vision of normalization is guided by the following concerns:

• The security of the United States, its citizens, and U.S. allies and partners.

The disconnect between the aim and the reality is abysmal. Consider that the same day normalization was announced on December 17, 2014 President Obama commuted the sentence of an unrepentant murderous Castro spy. Gerardo Hernandez was serving a double life sentence for espionage against the United States, and his role in a murder conspiracy that cost the lives of the three U.S. citizens and a permanent resident. The freed Cuban spy and his network, had been given instructions to engage in acts of sabotage at a local airport and to send a mail bomb to assassinate a retired CIA agent at his home in South Florida. Furthermore in the months that followed the State Department removed Cuba from the list of state terror sponsors while there was still evidence of behavior by the regime to be kept on it and watered down the report on human trafficking in Cuba. Despite this history the PPD calls for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to "support broader United States Government efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, with Intelligence Community elements working to find opportunities for engagement on areas of common interest through which we could exchange information on mutual threats with Cuban counterparts." A former NSA official has written that "Obama just opened the door for Castro's spies."

Spy convicted of murder conspiracy freed by Obama honored by Raul Castro

• A strong, innovative, and growing U.S. economy in an open international economic system that promotes opportunity and prosperity.

Under the Obama administration trade between Cuba and the United States has collapsed to levels not seen since 2002. Other countries with "normal" relations have fared worse. Argentina is seeking repayment of 1.3 billion dollars it is owed by the Cuba. Meanwhile the Castro regime calls for 75% of its debt with Argentina to be written off.  In 2013 Mexico waived 70% of the 487 million dollar debt it was owed by the Cuba. Russia, Venezuela, China, Japan, Spain, France, Romania, Brazil, and Italy are owed billions of dollars. Russia forgave $29 billion dollars of debt that the Castro regime owed the Russians.  Canadians have had to pursue Cuban maritime debts by seizing Cuban vessels and negotiating payment through Canadian courts. Iran agreed in September 2016 to restructure a 55 million dollar debt owed to it by Cuba. This is a deadbeat regime not a trading partner.

• Respect for universal values at home and around the world. 

 Again the goal expressed is contradicted by the policy implemented on at least three high profile occasions. First, Carnival Cruise Line signed an agreement with the Castro regime on March 21, 2016 to sail to Cuba from the United States. In order to conduct their core mission Carnival had to agree to enforce General Castro's policy that bans all Cubans from traveling into the island by water. It did not matter if Cubans born on the island were now citizens of another country. Obama's Treasury Department on July 7, 2015 signed off on the Carnival Cruise Line - Castro alliance ignoring that an entire class of Americans would be discriminated against based on their national origin. Mass protests, boycotts and lawsuits led the Castro regime to blink when it became apparent that popular outrage would lead the cruise ship company to cancel its cruises. 

Second, the U.S. embassy in Cuba floated a trial balloon that announced that the United States government accepted that U.S. citizens of Cuban descent born in the United States are not recognized by the Castro regime as Americans but as Cuban nationals subject to the dictatorship's laws and regulations. Even though one was born in the United States and has never applied for dual nationality in Cuba they are treated as a Cuban born by the Castro regime in terms of responsibilities but not rights and the Obama State Department went along with it in order to have "normal relations." This also means that these U.S. citizens would be denied consular access in Cuba. The State Department had to back track in May of 2016 when this trial balloon sunk amidst negative press coverage and popular outrage. 

Third, American Airlines is pulling Cuban-American pilots and flight attendants off flights to Cuba in order to placate demands by the Castro regime. Fabiola Santiago, of The Miami Herald, obtained an American Airlines memo announcing the policy as follows: “Please remember that those who are Cuban born should be removed with pay from Cuba flights until we can verify what requirements the Cuban government has for these crew members.”

• A rules-based international order that promotes peace, security, and opportunity. 

The Obama administration engaged in outreach to the Castro regime beginning in 2009, intensifying through 2013 and finally announced the new policy on December 17, 2014.  While these friendly, and secret communications were taking place, the Castro dictatorship was caught smuggling tons of weapons into North Korea in 2013 in violation of international UN sanctions, got its hands on a U.S. Hellfire missile in 2014 and held on to it for over a year despite repeated requests by the Obama administration to have it returned, and has led the way to defend brutal outlaw regimes the world over. Legitimizing the dictatorship in Cuba and ending economic sanctions that were part of a containment policy only serves to undermine the above desired objective.

Freedom will return to Cuba some day, but the Obama administration's engagement with the dictatorship that begin in 2009 has and will extend the life of the Castro regime as Bill Clinton's engagement with Fidel Castro in the 1990s gave another twenty years to the totalitarians in Cuba. Sadly over the past seven years opposition leaders who could have led a democratic transition, such as Laura Pollán and Oswaldo Payá, were killed in what appears to have been extrajudicial killings carried out by Castro's intelligence agents.

 

Obama Cuba Policy Legacy: Resurrecting systemic legal segregation

"If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas." - Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac

President met Castro in Panama as Cuban activists attacked by Castro's diplomats

The Obama Administration beginning in 2009 pushed for a normalization of relations with an abnormal and totalitarian regime in Cuba that treats its own people as chattel. On December 17, 2014 the announcement was formally made and since then new relations established.

Throughout this process human rights have not only worsened in Cuba, but also in the United States with the approval of The White House until popular outrage has forced them to back track. Consider for a moment three episodes from 2016.

Protests against Carnival for discriminating against Cubans to appease Castro regime

First, Carnival Cruise Line signed an agreement with Castro regime officials on March 21, 2016 to sail to Cuba from the United States. In order to conduct their core mission Carnival had to agree to enforce the Castro dictatorship's policy that bans all Cubans from traveling into the island by water. It did not matter if Cubans born on the island were now citizens of another country.   Obama's Treasury Department on July 7, 2015 signed off on the Carnival Cruise Line - Castro regime alliance ignoring that an entire class of Americans would be discriminated against based on their national origin. Mass protests, boycotts and lawsuits led the Castro regime to blink when it became apparent that popular outrage would lead the cruise ship company to cancel its cruises.

Second, the U.S. embassy in Cuba floated a trial balloon that announced that the United States government accepted that U.S. citizens of Cuban descent born in the United States are not recognized by the Castro regime as Americans but as Cuban nationals subject to the dictatorship's laws and regulations. Even though one was born in the United States and has never applied for dual nationality in Cuba they are treated as a Cuban born by the Castro regime in terms of responsibilities but not rights and the government of the USA goes along with it in order to have "normal relations." This also means that these U.S. citizens would be denied consular access in Cuba. The State Department once again had to back track in May of 2016 when this trial balloon sunk amidst negative press coverage and popular outrage. 

Discriminating against Cuban born crew to placate Castro regime

Thirdly, American Airlines is pulling Cuban-American pilots and flight attendants off flights to Cuba in order to placate demands by the Castro regime. Fabiola Santiago, of The Miami Herald, obtained an American Airlines memo announcing the policy as follows: “Please remember that those who are Cuban born should be removed with pay from Cuba flights until we can verify what requirements the Cuban government has for these crew members.” The Democracy Movement has announced that if American Airlines does not end this policy that they will take action.

President Obama's Cuba policy legacy is to resurrect systemic legal segregation against American citizen's based on their national origin in order to placate a foreign dictatorship. Benjamin Franklin was right: "If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas."

U.S. Cuba Policy: Violating the Civil Rights of Americans to Appease the Castro regime

Normalizing relations didn't change the Castros but it has changed the United States for the worse

The United States government accepts that U.S. citizens of Cuban descent born in the United States are not recognized by the Castro regime as Americans but as Cuban nationals subject to the dictatorship's laws and regulations. Even though one was born in the United States and has never applied for dual nationality in Cuba they are treated as a Cuban born by the Castro regime in terms of responsibilities but not rights and the government of the USA goes along with it in order to have "normal relations." The United States Embassy in Havana explains it as follows:

Dual Nationality
The Government of Cuba does not recognize the U.S. nationality of U.S. citizens who are Cuban-born or are the children of Cuban parents.  These individuals will be treated solely as Cuban citizens and may be subject to a range of restrictions and obligations, including military service.  The Cuban government may require U.S. citizens, whom the Government of Cuba considers to be Cuban, to enter and depart Cuba using a Cuban passport.  Using a Cuban passport for this purpose does not jeopardize one's U.S. citizenship; however, such persons must use their U.S. passports to enter and depart the United States.  There have been cases of Cuban-American dual nationals being forced by the Cuban government to surrender their U.S. passports.  Despite these restrictions, Cuban-American dual nationals who fall ill may only be treated at hospitals for foreigners (except in emergencies).  See the paragraph below on Consular Access for information on Cuba's denial of consular services to dual American-Cuban nationals who have been arrested, as well as the paragraph below on Children's Issues for information on how dual-nationality may affect welfare inquiries and custody disputes.

Cuban-American dual nationals should be especially wary of any attempt by Cuban authorities to compel them to sign "repatriation" documents.  The Government of Cuba views a declaration of repatriation as a legal statement on the part of the dual national that she/he intends to resettle permanently in Cuba.  In several instances, the Government of Cuba has seized the U.S. passport of dual nationals signing declarations of repatriation and has denied these individuals permission to return to the United States.

Worse yet the United States does not object to these Americans of Cuban descent being denied consular access. Nor does the United States government object to citizens of the United States who are Cuban born being subjected to the following discriminatory practices by the Castro regime:

• Americans visiting Cuba must present a valid passport and a special tourist card that costs $75.
• Cuban-born Americans who immigrated after January 1971 must purchase a Cuban passport — even though they have renounced their Cuban citizenship and are now U.S. citizens. These passports are valid for six years and cost $375. To keep these passports active, holders must pay $230 every two years.
• Cuban-born Americans who left Cuba before January 1971 may use their U.S. passport, but must apply for an HE-11 visa, which costs $250, lasts only 90 days and can take months to obtain.

These discriminatory practices are not taking place in a vacuum. Consider for a moment that a U.S. company, Carnival Cruise Line, in order to appease the Castro regime refused to sell tickets to the Cuba cruise to U.S. Citizens of Cuban origin until protests, lawsuits and bad press forced them to change.  The U.S. government signed off on Carnival's discriminatory treatment of Cuban Americans in 2015.
 

Cuban-Americans protest Carnival discrimination based on national origin

Furthermore how Cuban Americans are valued by the U.S. government, including those who have fought for this country, should be reflected on, following the the release of Gerardo Hernandez on December 17, 2014 who had been found guilty of conspiracy to murder.  One of his victims was a United States Marine, Armando Alejandre Jr., who spent eight months in Vietnam and was murdered by the Castro regime on February 24, 1996  blown to bits in international airspace while engaged in the search and rescue of Cuban rafters. Armando was killed along with two young men born here in the United States (Carlos Costa and Mario de la Peña)  and a third young man who was a resident (Pablo Morales).
 
The Obama administration freed Gerardo Hernandez, the man doing a life sentence for conspiring to murder three American citizens and a U.S. resident. Worse yet a U.S. Senator assisted in that killer's wife, another Cuban spy being artificially inseminated on the U.S. taxpayers dime.

The Castro regime identifies me as the same as a Cuban-born, because my parents were born in Cuba. If I were to get arrested in Cuba the U.S. government has told me that the Castro regime can deny me U.S. consular service because it does not recognize my U.S. citizenship. This despite being born in the United States and my government goes along with it, just alerting me and other Cuban-Americans to that reality in its embassy's website.

Recognizing that the United States government will treat me differently than other Americans if arbitrarily taken by a dictatorship. That the United States embassy in Havana accepts that I not be treated as a U.S. citizen, including being denied consular services, because the dictatorship in Cuba says so is a sobering experience. This goes beyond visiting and legitimizing dictators but changing the very nature of the United States itself to appease a dictatorship.

Prior to the normalization of relations between the United States and the Castro regime I saw myself as an American but thanks to the Obama administration that has changed. All of us whose parents were born in Cuba are now not treated the same by the U.S. government as policy when we travel to Cuba because the Castro regime refuses to recognize our U.S. citizenship. Unlike other Americans traveling to Cuba,  if your parents were born in Cuba do not expect the U.S. embassy consular services to be given access to meet with you. This is discrimination based on national origin.

I no longer self-identify as an American because despite being born here, raised here and declaring my allegiance to the United States my government views me as less and now recognizes it as a matter of policy. 

I now know that I am a Cuban American, discriminated against by my own government of the United States because of where my parents were born in order to appease the dictatorship in Cuba.

The Castro regime says I am not a U.S. citizen and supposedly views me as a Cuban national but if I fall ill there I would be treated as a foreigner. The dictatorship in Cuba like its counterpart in North Korea is not a government but a travesty of one. Over the past 57 years Cubans have been treated as second class citizens in their own country now thanks to normalization with the United States, Cuban Americans can experience being discriminated against because of their national origin by the United States.

This is another example of how normalized relations with an abnormal regime is anything but normal.

General Castro with the First Lady and the President of the United States