Obama’s policy shift on the country was a historic turning point, but it seems most policymakers haven’t turned with him, writes Shannn Ebrahim.
It is a shocking double standard that US companies are not allowed to export medicine to a critically sick Cuban child if he is the son of a member of the Cuban Communist Party. But last week the US rolled out the red carpet for the fifth most important person in the Vietnamese Communist Party. Nothing is about ideo-logy anymore - only strategic interests.
Despite what President Barack Obama may have said on October 14 about a new policy direction on Cuba, dying Cuban children cannot access essential life-saving medicines from the US if their parents emanate from the Communist Party. So much for the normalisation of relations, or the great American values of freedom of thought and association.
Obama’s internationally lauded policy shift on Cuba this year was a historic turning point, but it seems the majority of the US policy-making establishment haven’t turned with him.
But Obama and Hillary Clinton are not without fault in their attitude towards Cuba, as they haven’t experienced a Damascus moment where they accept that past US policy towards the island nation was flawed - they accept only that US policy did not produce the results the US wanted.
Ultimately it is not for the US to determine the destiny or political system of Cuba, it is for the Cubans themselves to decide what works best for them.
Instead of accepting the Cuban political system for what it is - for both its flaws and its incredible achievements in terms of healthcare and education - there is only an insistence that the Cuban system must mirror that of the US in order to provide a better life for the Cuban people. In politics 101 that's called paternalistic neo-colonialism.
Is the US political and economic system really worth emulating? Only the rich can successfully vie for political power and are largely captured by well-resourced interest groups. The contest is not over government policy, but over whose rhetoric is the most fierce and convincing. The majority of Americans don’t have access to affordable healthcare, and public education is discredited for its failure to prepare students for the marketplace.
Cuba, on the other hand, may be bent on maintaining a one-party political system, but it does spend 30 percent of its national budget on education, ensuring that its graduates have a job at the end, and 23 percent on healthcare. Is there another country that can say it spends 53 percent of its budget on healthcare and education? By comparison, the US spends 28 percent of its national budget on healthcare and education.
Obama’s new policy direction on Cuba speaks of US financial and material support for “agents of change” in Cuba, which smacks of neo-colonial interference in the internal affairs of a neighbouring country. It also suggests a continuing lack of respect for Cubans to decide their own future on their own terms.
It is a step in the right direction that the US has published new regulations that provide additional flexibility in the sanctions regime imposed on Cuba. It falls far short, however, of signifying a true change or truly easing economic relations. The fundamental features of the sanctions regime continue to punish Cuba.
Prior to his historic visit to Cuba this year, Obama announced in March that he was authorising transactions by Cubans in US dollars, but eight months later it is not possible for Cubans to make deposits in dollars or to get credit from US banks. The banks won’t allow such transactions as they are afraid of being penalised.
As for medicine, there are specific medications in the US for particular diseases that can't be bought by Cuba. The regulations also stipulate that drug companies must certify the end-user if they want tosell medicine to Cubans. The end user cannot be a member of the Communist Party, according to the Helms-Burton Act, which is yet to be repealed. Most drug companies find such certification impractical and therefore won't export to Cuba.
A common misconception is that Americans can now enjoy holidays on Cuban beaches, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. US citizens are not free to travel to Cuba for vacations unless they are Cuban residents and are allowed to “explore” business opportunities in Cuba under only 12 specific categories.
Many have asked Cuban ambassadors around the world why Cuba has agreed to normalise relations with the US when it continues to be punished by sanctions, and the US is occupying its territory with a military base against the will of the Cuban people.
What it says about Cuba is that it has chosen dialogue over confrontation. It is hoped that its optimistic belief in the utility of dialogue will prove sound, and that one day Cuban children will have access to the essential and life-saving medicines they need.
* Shannon Ebrahim is Independent Media’s foreign editor.
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