Barack Obama has taken the first real steps towards thawing the icy relations that have defined the last 50 years between Cuba and the United States. While lower on Obama's international agenda than the more pressing and dangerous problems of the Middle East and Pakistan, Cuba sits symbolically on America's doorstep, a gnawing thorn in the side of an America determined to change its international image. Ignoring the failures of U.S. policy in respect of Cuba would have left Obama open to genuine charges of hypocrisy – of improving America's profile far from home, without picking up its foot to notice its neighbor. The pace of change may prove to be faster than many external commentators first expected.

The U.S. economic embargo of Cuba has not yet been lifted, but many of the human obstacles which have marred the quality of life for Cubans are being lowered. In March, Obama signed a government spending bill designed to ease economic restrictions between the two countries, enabling Cuban-Americans to travel to the island once a year and send money back home. While a policy of restriction remains in place, this is at least a notable improvement on Bush's policy which effectively prevented all but immediate family members traveling to the island for just two weeks, and then only once in every three years.
Restrictions on medicines and food also are being relaxed, as are the rules on U.S. telecommunications companies, who will be permitted to apply for licenses to operate in Cuba. Until now - and despite Raul Castro himself lifting an internal ban on mobile phones when he came to power 14 months ago - external communication remain accessible to the few rather than the many in Cuba, mobile and internet connections outside the capital remain rare and sporadic.
Of course, the utility of these communications will depend to a considerable degree on the Cuban government's next moves, and whether it will allow such companies to operate within its borders, bringing news of the outside world to a country which has spent half a century in isolation. The new, relaxed rules also permit Cuban-Americans to send home gift packages containing clothes, personal hygiene items and other basic necessities which are in short supply. Women looking for tampons in Cuba, and men looking for fishing gear are likely immediately to benefit from the new rules.
Recent reports from Washington have suggested that a significant shift in U.S. policy needed to take place quickly, although a complete reversal of the embargo still seems out of range in the immediate future. In December, a distinguished panel of experts advised the U.S. administration to adopt a policy of critical and constructive engagement with Cuba in order to restore normal relations between the two states, and to promote democratic governance within Cuba. In October 2008, the UN's general council passed its 17th resolution requiring the U.S. to lift its embargo. Only Israel and Palau voted with the U.S. in favor of maintaining its blockade, while 185 countries voted against it.
Obama's administration said last month that it will not lift its embargo until signs of democracy finally emerge from the Caribbean state. Raul Castro, after his first full year in power, has indicated that he is prepared to negotiate, without any preconditions.
Fidel Castro, whose public absence over the last two years has led to an international rumor mill about his ill health -- and even rumors of his death -- met with a U.S. congressional group last week. They described him as healthy, energetic and clear thinking. Always unable to resist the challenge, Castro Senior last week wrote in the state-run Granma newspaper that “the measures of the United States against Cuba, throughout almost half a century, constitute a total failure”. He continued that Cuba has never feared dialogue which, he says, is the only way of procuring peace and friendship.
At the fifth Summit of the Americas beginning later this week, where one of the aims is said to be “securing human prosperity”, the focus will be on what, if any, dialogue takes place between Raul Castro and President Obama. It is high time that hostile rhetoric and a juvenile embargo are brought to a swift end.
(Source: The Guardian