US President Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba is historic in every sense of the word, because we tend to call a lot of things historic. The fact that this is the first visit by a US president to Cuba in about 90 years makes its significance eloquently clear. No president has been there since Calvin Coolidge in 1928, a time when presidents visited few countries, and the enmity between the two countries has been so deep-rooted and vitriolic a rapprochement was considered impossible.
Obama reached in Havana on Sunday with his family for a three-day visit. He will meet with Cuban leaders and businessmen and say that both countries will get more out of working together than staying apart. Hundreds of media persons from all over the world are in Havana to cover the historic trip.
The détente with Havana should go as one of the greatest foreign policy successes of Obama and will become part of his legacy. He cannot unilaterally lift sanctions embedded in a number of laws dating to the early 1960s, but he made some much needed policy adjustments. Recently, he eased curbs on banking and travel, both of which will give a huge boost to the relations and pave the way for further reforms and relaxations that should finally lead to a full normalization in relations between the two countries, though it will take time.
The warm-up in relations is also a lesson in the futility of US economic sanctions against Cuba. The sanctions failed to achieve anything significant; they failed to cause a popular uprising against the Cuban government and nor did it force the Cuban regime to surrender to Washington. The sanctions only caused economic hardship to ordinary Cubans, which the Castro regime blamed on the US government and its policies. The current rapprochement stems from a realization that both sides stand to gain nothing from a continuation of hostility that has already run for decades and outlived its purpose.
At the same time, there have been some frank exchanges between President Raul Castro and Obama. Obama pushed Havana to improve its record on democracy and human rights as he met with Castro, but the latter responded by decrying US ‘double standards’. “We continue to have serious differences, including on democracy and human rights,” Obama said at a joint news conference.
Both sides are likely to take their relations forward. Cuba expects US to end the trade sanctions. Castro said they could achieve much better relations if Washington lifted its 54-year-old trade embargo on the island. But the policies of the next US president will be crucial in deciding the direction of the relations.
US President Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba is historic in every sense of the word, because we tend to call a lot of things historic. The fact that this is the first visit by a US president to Cuba in about 90 years makes its significance eloquently clear. No president has been there since Calvin Coolidge in 1928, a time when presidents visited few countries, and the enmity between the two countries has been so deep-rooted and vitriolic a rapprochement was considered impossible.
Obama reached in Havana on Sunday with his family for a three-day visit. He will meet with Cuban leaders and businessmen and say that both countries will get more out of working together than staying apart. Hundreds of media persons from all over the world are in Havana to cover the historic trip.
The détente with Havana should go as one of the greatest foreign policy successes of Obama and will become part of his legacy. He cannot unilaterally lift sanctions embedded in a number of laws dating to the early 1960s, but he made some much needed policy adjustments. Recently, he eased curbs on banking and travel, both of which will give a huge boost to the relations and pave the way for further reforms and relaxations that should finally lead to a full normalization in relations between the two countries, though it will take time.
The warm-up in relations is also a lesson in the futility of US economic sanctions against Cuba. The sanctions failed to achieve anything significant; they failed to cause a popular uprising against the Cuban government and nor did it force the Cuban regime to surrender to Washington. The sanctions only caused economic hardship to ordinary Cubans, which the Castro regime blamed on the US government and its policies. The current rapprochement stems from a realization that both sides stand to gain nothing from a continuation of hostility that has already run for decades and outlived its purpose.
At the same time, there have been some frank exchanges between President Raul Castro and Obama. Obama pushed Havana to improve its record on democracy and human rights as he met with Castro, but the latter responded by decrying US ‘double standards’. “We continue to have serious differences, including on democracy and human rights,” Obama said at a joint news conference.
Both sides are likely to take their relations forward. Cuba expects US to end the trade sanctions. Castro said they could achieve much better relations if Washington lifted its 54-year-old trade embargo on the island. But the policies of the next US president will be crucial in deciding the direction of the relations.
