NO TYRANT LEFT BEHIND: RENEWED DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH CUBA: FELICIA SCHWARTZ
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-cuban-embassies-to-reopen-july-20-havana-says-1435762387?mod=trending_now_3
Obama Announces Renewed Diplomatic Ties With Cuba President calls for Congress to lift embargo, says U.S. will continue to raise human-rights concerns
With embassies re-established as of July 20, the U.S. and Cuba will work to expand bilateral cooperation and talks, including those that already have begun on telecommunications and human rights.
“This is a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas,” Mr. Obama said.
However, true normalization between the two countries will come only when decades-old laws banning most U.S. business and travel on the island are lifted, officials said. And even the strongest supporters of current legislative proposals to do so say it is unlikely any laws will pass this year to chip away at the embargo.
ENLARGE The eventual outcome is less predictable. While there are pillars of opposition to reopening U.S.-Cuban ties, there is also momentum behind a push for change, with a bipartisan group of lawmakers seeking to undo travel and trade plans seen as a significant hurdle to normalization. One measure permitting U.S. travel to Cuba, introduced by Sen. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.), has 44 co-sponsors.
The bill lifting travel restrictions is further along than two companion bills lifting restrictions on trade, but it is still expected to face significant Republican opposition in both chambers.
The White House supports the piecemeal approach proponents of normalization are taking in Congress and sees the travel ban as a good place to start, a senior administration official said. Officials believe the travel ban could be lifted before Mr. Obama leaves office.
The White House also is in touch with groups that advocate removing the embargo, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a growing number of Cuban-American and other lobbying groups, as well as the pope, who supported the start of talks in 2013.
“They are going to be the most effective advocates for this on the Hill in terms of building bipartisan support,” the senior administration official said.
An alliance with the Chamber of Commerce, a longtime supporter of expanded ties with Cuba, would reprise a formula that helped the administration on one recent policy victory: expansion of the president’s power to strike trade agreements.
Jodi Bond, a vice president for the Chamber’s International Division who oversees the Americas, said Wednesday’s announcement is an important first step that will build momentum for congressional support.
“It allows the diplomats to discuss the government-to-government relationship and is one that helps to define some of the parameters for a commercial relationship,” she said. “There are so many state, local and federal entities that are going to be working to lift the embargo, and you start with travel…but you also need to keep your eye on the big picture.”
James Williams, president of the pro-normalization advocacy group Engage Cuba, said the resumption of diplomatic ties shows that Mr. Obama’s policy has staying power.
ENLARGE “I think this will be a catalyst for further action,” Mr. Williams said. “I think you’re going to see companies put a lot more shoulder and muscle into the advocacy and lobbying operation in Congress, which is going to have a profound effect.”
The group says it is working with major U.S. firms such Procter & Gamble Co. and Cargill Inc., and trade and industry groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers.
Among opponents, Republican critics of Mr. Obama’s Cuba policy are looking to block Mr. Obama’s ambassador nomination as one protest tactic, though Mr. Obama doesn’t have a nominee to put forward yet and is unlikely to do so imminently.
Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the chief of mission of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, will become the chargé d’affaires, or the top U.S. diplomatic officer in the absence of an ambassador, once the embassy reopens on July 20. Mr. DeLaurentis has the rank of ambassador already and is currently serving his third tour in Cuba. He is widely respected in Latin America.
Other possible methods to set back Mr. Obama’s policy, including denying the president funds to open an embassy, are likely more difficult as any restriction would be subject to his veto. “It’s certainly not a slam dunk,” a Senate Republican aide said.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, said the resumption of diplomatic relations represents “unconditional surrender to Fidel and Raúl Castro.” He pledged to hold up any nominee Mr. Obama may seek to move through the Senate to head an embassy and to block new funds for embassy construction in Havana.
Administration officials said such a move would compromise U.S. priorities.
“Respecting obviously Congress’s prerogatives on budgetary issues, it would be a shame if Congress impeded implementation of some of the very things that we think we all agree we want to do, such as better outreach to the Cuban people all over the island, or additionally, for example, the possibility of additional agencies being present in Cuba to help facilitate dialogue on fugitives and law enforcement,” a senior State Department official said.
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Despite the lingering issues, Mr. Obama said the U.S. policy of isolating Cuba had failed.
“Americans and Cubans alike are ready to move forward,” Mr. Obama said. “I believe it’s time for Congress to do the same.”
The White House gave Congress the required 15-day notification to open an embassy on Wednesday.
Mr. Obama, speaking to reporters from the Rose Garden, said that Secretary of State John Kerry would travel to Havana for a flag raising this summer.
Under formal letters exchanged between the U.S. and Cuba earlier Wednesday, full diplomatic relations will resume on July 20 and the embassies will be re-established.
Cuba’s foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez plans to be in Washington on July 20 for a ceremony to reopen Cuba’s embassy, the Cuban government said Wednesday. Mr. Kerry is expected to travel to Cuba after that ceremony in Washington, likely in August.
A senior State Department official said the U.S. embassy in Cuba would operate similarly to other embassies in restrictive environments. The U.S. and Cuba reached agreements on diplomats’ travel, embassy access and staffing.
U.S. officials said American diplomats in Cuba will be able to reach out to different levels of the population under terms negotiated between Washington and Havana. U.S. diplomats will have to notify the Cuban government of their travel plans, an improvement from the current arrangement in which they must obtain approval for travel on the island, the official said.
ENLARGE “Every U.S. embassy faces a different set of constraints, but we believe we’ve made sufficient progress to begin embassy operations,” the senior State Department official said. “We’ve said for a long time that one of the things that was important to us was that in any agreement we reached to have embassy be a welcoming place for both Americans and Cubans, and we believe that the access that we have negotiated with our Cuban counterparts will make that the case.”
In Havana, Mr. DeLaurentis on Wednesday delivered a letter to Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Marcelino Medina, from Mr. Obama addressed to Cuban President Raúl Castro, officials said. In Washington, head of the Cuban Interests Section José Ramón Cabañas delivered a letter to Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken from Mr. Castro to Mr. Obama confirming the decision to restore ties.
Mr. Obama plans to travel to Cuba, U.S. officials have said, and would become the first sitting American president to do so in more than 80 years.
On Wednesday, the senior administration official said Mr. Obama would want to make sure “conditions are right” in Cuba before he travels there.
“We will want to see that the conditions are right in Cuba, and so we would not want to see for instance any deterioration in the human rights environment,” the official said. “If things continue to move forward on a positive trajectory it’s certainly something that the president is very interested in.”
—Carol E. Lee and Isaac Stanley-Becker contributed to this article.
Write to Felicia Schwartz at Felicia.Schwartz@wsj.com
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