This is truly, as the President said today, "what change looks like". A fresh approach to foreign policy is one reason people voted for Barack Obama and why his poll numbers have steadily improved since his December announcement on Cuba.
Presidents Obama and Castro have achieved a sea change, freeing both countries from the dead hand of the past.
Normal diplomatic relations means mutual respect for the institutions of governance and administration in each country, even if neither is a perfect model of freedom, democracy and non-discrimination.
President Obama has a lot of potential power to bring us closer to the full normalization of relations.
From my perspective of 15 years of regular visits and intensive work with Cuba, preceded by two decades of similar work with Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, President Obama's priorities for the remainder of his term should be:
1) Clarify that individuals as well as groups, have a general license for people to people travel. That will permit significantly lower cost visits by individuals, families, groups of friends, etc. with a self-directed program, unrestricted use of private bed and breakfasts (casas particulares), movement around Cuba on public transportation, etc.
2) End prohibitions on and criminalization of Cuba's use of the dollar internationally, with the expectation that Cuba ends the 10% penalty on dollar exchanges.
3) Suspend the Cuban Adjustment Act so that no one is rewarded to enter the US illegally or overstay a visa.
4) Enable US schools to provide scholarship funding for undergraduate, graduate and professional school students who are returning to Cuba.
5) Create a binational commission and selection process for non-political US government scholarships, including Fulbright and Humphrey.
6) End all US government programs in Cuba that do not meet normal criteria of host country approval, such as the US obtains in Vietnam and Egypt and European and Canadian governments routinely obtain in Cuba.
7) Reprogram $20 million in democracy funds so they manifest the appropriate mutual respect for a country with which we have normal relations and are no longer covert forms of political intervention. Five million dcollars should be allocated for grants to enable Cubans and Americans to participate in a wide range of each other's academic and professional conferences and exchanges, with priorities and selection the responsibility of a binational commission.
8) Open up trade with the US for all exports and imports by the private (cuenta propista) and cooperative sectors.
9) Treat dissidents as only one more opinion group within Cuba. We should continue to argue for the right of political opponents to organize publicly, as we do in Vietnam, China, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and for their ability to receive non-US government funded support from Cuban Americans, but end the disproportionate attention and virtual sponsorship a marginal group of dissidents currently receive from American officials. Our diplomats should press the Cuban government for informal access to the wide range of opinion within State and Party institutions, including universities, research institutions and publications as well as to the large number of private associations and mass organizations.
10) Remove prejudicial and unnecessarily provocative language from OFAC criteria for specific or general licenses and for remittances, e.g. "the predominant portion of the activities must not be with individuals or entities acting for or on behalf of a prohibited official of the Government of Cuba, as defined in 31 CFR § 515.337, or a prohibited member of the Cuban Communist Party, as defined in 31 CFR § 515.338".
11) Conduct discussions about the status of wanted fugitives currently residing in both countries, both common criminals and politically motivated exiles and asylum cases.
John McAuliff
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
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