The old fossil hate begins to change

The old fossil hate begins to change

By Gabriela Esquivada



NEW YORK — Granma, the official voice of the Cuban Communist Party,

printed several pictures of the moment when last Friday, February 28,

Fernando González stepped onto the tarmac of José Martí International

Airport in Havana. He had been handcuffed during the flight; his

expression was filled with anxiety. He was also shown in an

old-fashioned VIP room — beige curtains, ornamented rug, heavy armchairs

— where grey-haired men in khakis greeted him as President Raúl Castro

hugged him and called him a hero: the second of the Cuban Five released

after serving his full sentence in the US for conspiracy and failure to

register as foreign a agent.

González Llort, René González (on parole since October, 2011; allowed to

go back to Cuba last year), Antonio Guerrero (estimated release:

September 2017), Ramón Labañino (estimated release: October 2024) and

Gerardo Hernández (two life terms plus 15 years) are considered heroes

in Cuba and have been at the centre of an international campaign for

their freedom.

They were convicted in 2001 as part of the Wasp Network, a group of 10

people (the other five took plea bargains) sent by Fidel Castro, still

in power, to spy on anti-Cuban militant groups in Florida. Cuba had been

the object of right-wing attacks — among them, a series of bombs in the

hotels of a newly revived tourism industry, the main source of national

income after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In one of those attacks

an Italian citizen was killed. One of the Five, Hernández, was charged

with conspiracy to commit murder: he had infiltrated Brothers to the

Rescue before the Castro government shot down two of their planes,

allegedly over Cuban waters, killing four activists. He is expected to

spend the rest of his life in prison.

The trial of the Cuban Five was the longest in US history at that time

and, according to the defence, one of the most unfair; they had limited

access to the evidence and were denied a change of jurisdiction from

Miami to Fort Lauderdale, only 20 miles to the North. As a consequence,

the Jury felt the pressure of the strongly anti-Castrist media and the

extremist exiled. Five years later the UN Human Rights Commission

declared that the trial had been "arbitrary,"because it "did not take

place in the climate of objectivity and impartiality which is

required."Former US President Jimmy Carters aid in 2011, in one of his

friendly visits to Cuba: "In my private talks to President (George W.)

Bush and also with President (Barack) Obama, I have urged the release of

these prisoners."

The Cuban Five case is a sample of the fossil relations between the US

and Cuba. Another one is the embargo, in place for 54 years, which has

only caused suffering to the Cubans without even scratching the surface

of the Castro brothers control over the island — and maybe adding to it

by reinforcing the image of a David-and-Goliath battle.

Six statues enforce the embargo, from the Trading with the Enemy Act of

1917 to the famous Helms-Burton Act of 1996 which strengthened the ban

of business and listed requirements that Cuba should meet in order to

trade again. Nevertheless, the US is among the five largest exporters to

the island. Legal shortcuts allow the US to receive as much as

$457,318,357 in communist cash (Cuba cannot get credit) in exchange for

poultry, pork, corn, wheat and soybean oil, according to US-Cuba Trade

and Economic Council, Inc.

Even if US citizens cannot travel to Cuba without previous government

authorization, they do so through a third country, like Mexico or

Bahamas. The same goes for Cuban-American families who find a way to

avoid restrictions to visit or assist their loved ones on the island.

It is hardly a surprise, then, to know that 56 percent of US citizens

"from every region and across party lines support normalizing relations

with Cuba," as a recent Atlantic Council pollproved. Over 2,000 people

were surveyed by Glen Bolger, a Republican, and Paul Maslin, a Democrat.

The supposedly stubborn Sunshine State showed a higher rate of support:

63 percent.

Democrat Charlie Crist, who wants to be Florida Governor for a second

time, is trying to change his hard-liner image and has announced his

support for ending sanctions against Cuba."The embargo has been there —

what, 50 years now? I don't think it worked. It is obvious to me that we

need to move forward and I think get the embargo taken away," he said in

February on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. Even sugar mogul and exile

leader Alfonso Fanjulsaid he would be "happy" to take back "the family

flag" to Cuba: "If there's an arrangement within Cuba and the United

States, and legally it can be done and there's a proper framework set up

and in place, then we will look at that possibility. We have an open

mind", he said to The Washington Post.

Republican representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Díaz-Balart,

and Senator Marco Rubio, were shocked.

But both Crist and Fanjul want simple things: one, to go back to office

with the promise of job creation for Floridians; the other, to expand

his business. They have paid attention to Raúl Castro's measures to fuel

the private sector through foreign investment and the creation of local

entrepreneurship; also the change of unpopular migration policies which

now allow Cubans (at least those who can get the money to do so) to

travel abroad, and those who fled from poverty, to return.

US liberal press have also been taking note of those changes. "The

Evolution of Cuba," was the title of a piece by Damien Cave in The New

York Times last Sunday; The Boston Globe run an editorial, "Cuba's

reforms pave way for new US policy, too," one year ago. The point is

also simple: if the neighbour does not step onto the island, China

certainly will.

Ever since Cuba's Independence Wars, the love-hate bonds between the

country and the US have been deep and not only political. It is almost

natural that most of US nationals want to end the embargo and do

business with Cuba (62 percent), believe that it should not be in the

list of terrorist countries (52 percent, 61 percent in Florida), wish to

be able to travel without restrictions (61 and 67 percent) and favour

diplomatic coordination on issues of mutual concern (56 and 62 percent).

There are political prisoners in Cuba — among them Alan Gross, the US

Agency for International Development (USAID) subcontractor sentenced to

15 years for "acts against the territorial integrity of the state";

there are three of the Five. There is a communist system evolving in an

unpredictable direction, lacking dissent or freedom of speech and

assisting growing opportunity along with economic inequality; there have

been US$17.5 million assigned for "Cuba democracy programs"out of USAID

budget every year (it seems that not in 2014, due to complaints over

mishandling) for Miami-based organizations. And there are new

generations of Cubans, both on the island and in the US, who have gone

hungry during the so-called Special Period, suffered family diaspora,

and lost the best years of their lives to Cold War leftovers. They want

change — and they're not alone.

Harlot's Ghost recounts the years of Bay of Pigs, the killing attempts

against Fidel Castro, the Missile Crisis and JFK's assassination. The

three words that close Norman Mailer's colossal worksound today as

unsettling as ever: "To be continued."



Source: The old fossil hate begins to change - BuenosAiresHerald.com -

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/153607/the-old-fossil-hate-begins-to-change