US rapprochement with Cuba is long overdue

The United States has finally come around to admitting that sanctions against Cuba haven’t worked and that it was time to adopt a new approach: normalisation and engagement.

With the help of the Vatican, which facilitated secret talks between the US and Cuban governments over the past 18 months, President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced that Washington will restore full diplomatic relations with the Communist country, a tiny island nation that has been on the American psyche as long as anybody can think of. 

In real terms, the new direction mean Americans can travel to Cuba and spend their dollars without worrying about breaking any US law. 

Obama has gone as far the law permits him in terms of normalising relations with Cuba. The 1996 law imposes stiff sanctions on Cuba until there is a regime change.

As of this week, the sanctions are gone but the regime is likely to continue, but not necessarily in the current form and oppressive ways.

Today, only 20 per cent of Cubans have access to the Internet. That could change with normalisation of ties with the US.

And with freedom of movement, one can be sure that there will be more than just cigars and great athletes – boxers and baseball players – flooding the shore of the USA. And let’s not overlook Cuba’s growing entrepreneurial class.

“We must learn the art of coexisting with our differences in a civilised manner,” Cuban president Raul Castro said not long ago as the country began a process of economic reform that includes lifting travel restriction on its citizens. 

The US must continue to press for real changes in this island nation that has so much to offer the world – from its athletes to its medical personnel who have become more than just a showpiece for Cuba and contribute significantly in lands across the oceans. 

Cuba’s role in combating Ebola in West Africa was nothing less than impressive. Hundreds of the country’s medical professionals were put in the frontlines of the pandemic to help to contain the virus. 

The Democrats in the US may lose Cuban votes in Florida in the next election, although Republicans appear split over the new approach. 

But let’s face it, America as a whole stands to gain from the lifting of sanctions. 

Besides not having to justify their misguided foreign policy to the world, US businessmen will have access to all sorts of opportunities, from untapped energy to tourism. 

But don’t expect Cuba to end its repressive ways overnight. In the past, Cuba used to exploit the American embargo to garner sympathy from the world community. It worked for many years. 

And the mystique behind Fidel Castro as the underdog standing up to a superpower also helped, but only to some extent. 

But with the new approach, Cuba will no longer have the luxury of being able to point fingers at Washington for the economic hardship at home. 

Cuba won’t become a democracy any time soon. But lifting sanctions could open up the country to other possibilities and ideas that could nudge its leaders toward a more democratic and open society.

Economic liberalisation doesn’t always equate to a free society. But how the US deals with Cuba from now on can also help set the direction in which the country will move.