CUBA-US: More Fuel on the Fire, and a Few Sparks of Hope

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, May 21 1997 (IPS) - A failed attempt to provoke a pro-democracy strike, orchestrated by Cuban exiles in the United States, contributed to increasing the already high level of tension between the two nations.

But funnily enough, the friction has coincided with some tentative signs of a thaw in relations over the last few days.

The Miami based “Democracy Movement” announced they would be sending a fleet of 35 boats and 15 aircraft to approach three points on the islands on Saturday May 17.

Their explicitly stated aim was to provoke a nation-wide strike against the Fidel Castro administration.

In the event, the sizeable fleet announced shrank to just eight boats and two planes.

And according to the local press, this cost the United States some 15 million dollars in military protection.

The national strike did not happen. But, moreover, the majority of the island’s population were not even aware of the call for the stoppage, and those who did hear the news on radio emissions from the United States did not take any notice.

“I didn’t even know about it. These groups might have a lot of influence in Miami, but here they’ve got no pull here,” said a 38 year-old engineer who spent his Saturday doing the weekly shopping.

Friction between the United States and Cuba has been increasing almost without interruption since the Cuban airforce shot down two civilian aircraft flown by the “Brothers to the Rescue” group on February, 1996 close to the island.

This episode brought a swift end to the brief period of rapprochement, which had followed signing of the 1995 migration agreements, with President Bill Clinton approving the Helms-Burton Law strengthening the economic blockade on the island, after having resisted for months.

His U-turn truncated all ideas of an imminent end to the embargo, instead causing international controversy with the Law’s plans to censure third countries working with Cuba.

“This round was won by the Cuban Right in Miami. They achieved what they wanted: an about face in relations between Havana and Washington,” an expert at the US Interests Section of the Havana university told IPS.

Although visits from US citizens never totally stopped and the business sector continued to show interest in the island, the tension is still present and friction is increasingly frequent.

In 1997, Clinton announced the “Plan of support for a democratic transition in Cuba.”

This was interpreted by the local authorities as “one more US government attempt to buy the island,” and the Castro government reacted strongly, gaining international support against the US move.

Only this month, Cuba accused the United States of biological warfare before the United Nations, saying it had delibarately introduced an insect which attacks crops, also stating the nation maintained a constant aggressive barrage of radio and television emissions on the island.

Cuba’s foreign minister, Roberto Robaina, said May 8 that if the United States does not respect the UN rules on the prohibition of chemical weapons, Cuba would reserve the right to take the case to the pertinent authorities.

On April 4, Castro accused Washington of “trying to provoke discontent and disorder in the country,” classing the “only allies of imperialism,” as lumpen proletariat and protagonists of social disorder.

The United States got the approval of an anti-Cuban resolution in the UN Human Rights Commission for the sixth time running, but the votes against doubled compared with last year.

Only the migration issue remained untouchable, although the arrival of a group of boat people on US territory this month caused disarray amongst officials there, unable to decide whether to accept them or repatriate them to Cuba, as was announced towards the end of last year.

The migration negotiations, which should go ahead with certain regularity, have not been resumed since the meeting in Havana, last December, which ended with the perspective of a new agreement on the repatriation of all Cubans illegally entering the United States.

At the same time, some tentative signs of a warming of detente have started to appear on the horizon.

US daily “The Miami Herald” said on May 5 the department of State and Treasury would be looking into how to authorise visas to US citizens wishing to visit the island during the Papal visit, within the terms of the embargo.

The television station CNN announced from Washington on May 9 that the US government was looking into resuming direct flights to and from the island next year.

All flights were suspended following the “airplane crisis,” but, according to the report, “around 100,000 of the Cubans resident in the United States go to the island each year, legally or illegally.”

Last weekend, coinciding with manoevres by the fleet of Cuban exiles around the island, the United States allowed the Caravan of US-Cuban Friendship to cross the borders with Mexico and Canada unopposed.

“We didn’t even have to pay the toll. The government practically opened the doors and told us to come in. No one was worried about what we were carrying, they simply said: you are free to take aid to Cuba,” Caravan representative Gail Walker said to the local press.

Walker, daughter of the US reverend Lucius Walker, who leads this solidarity movement, arrived in Havana this weekend at the head of one of the groups preparing to donate 500 tons of children’s goods to the island.

In his opinion, the United States wants to show itself to the world “as the provider of humanitarian aid to the Cubans,” an image which will to some extent counteract the widespread effects of the policy of the economic blockade and its effects on the population.