Various Latin American leaders have visited Cuba in a show of support for the nation as well as an overt gesture directed at newly inaugurated President Barack Obama to end the 47 year old U.S. embargo.
In the last month the island nation received visits from Panamanian President Martín Torrijos as well as Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. The most recent Presidential visit took place as recently as this morning when Argentinean President Cristina Fernández visited Havana to sign 11 accords for cooperation in science, technology, commerce, health and energy between the two nations. The presidents of Mexico, Chile, Guatemala and Honduras are also scheduled to visit within the coming months. The main motivation of this flurry of diplomatic activity is a call for the end of a U.S. embargo which has been in place since 1962. A subject that is particularly sensitive to President Obama who has flip-flopped on the issue in the past.
In January 2004 Obama said it was time to "to end the embargo with Cuba" because it had "utterly failed in the effort to overthrow Castro." While in August 2007, speaking to a Cuban audience in Miami, Obama stated that he would not "take off the embargo" as president because it is "an important inducement for change." The key difference between these two statements; the election.
The Cuban-exile vote is considered key for winning Florida along with its 27 electoral votes and candidates generally follow the recommendations of the Cuban community which tend to support a more hard-line stance with the Castro regime. Although this sentiment is now beginning to change as Florida’s Cuban community begins to diversify. Originally the Cuban population in Miami consisted mainly of exiles who had opposed Castro during the Cuban revolution. Now many members of the group are people who emigrated from the island, leaving families and loved ones behind. As a result members of the community are beginning to question the hard-line stance of the embargo.
Under the Bush administration the limitations of the embargo became even stricter. Before Cubans in the U.S. were allowed to visit Cuba once a year and send a care package of over $3,000 to relatives on the Island; under the Bush administration visits were limited to once every three years and Cubans could only send quarterly remittances of up to $300 to family members. Obama has indicated that under his administration many of the restrictions on travel and remittances will be eased.
By: Alberto Ramos Cordero
Sources:
Washington Post and El País
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