WASHINGTON: Saying “We don’t have to be imprisoned by the past,” President Barack Obama announced the U.S. would reopen an embassy in Cuba this summer, a major step in restoring relations with the communist country severed in 1961.
Formaly diplomatic ties will begin July 20, after a notification period to Congress.
“There are Americans who want to travel to Cuba,” Obama said from the Rose Garden. “There are American business that want to invest in Cuba. … Above all Americans want to get to know their neighbors to the south.”
Obama said Secretary of State John Kerry would go to Cuba this summer for the flag raising.
Whlle public support has grown, resistance to the thaw remains fierce among some Florida Republicans. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami said in a statement that an embassy “will do nothing to help the Cuban people and is just another trivial attempt for President Obama to go legacy shopping.” Sen. Marco Rubio made similar comments and said he would work to oppose Obama’s nominee for ambassador.
But elsewhere in Florida, Tampa especially, the decision is welcomed as long overdue.
“Today we turn the page on 50 years of acrimony between our two countries with the intent to empower the Cuban people and support the emergence of a democratic, prosperous and stable Cuba,” said U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa. “An embassy in Havana will enable us to effectively promote American interests, protect and assist American citizens traveling to Cuba, and increase engagement with the Cuban people. An embassy is not a gift to a foreign country, but represents a sign that two countries are committed to deepening bilateral relations.”
Obama began to formally end the thaw last year and recently Cuba was removed from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, a condition from Havana before moving with embassies. The U.S. has an “interests section” there under the auspices of the Swiss government — and Cuba has one in Washington. But embassies would bring stronger services.
Rubio of Florida, the son of Cuban immigrants, has vowed to fight funding for an embassy and Obama’s nominee for ambassador.
“Throughout this entire negotiation, as the Castro regime has stepped up its repression of the Cuban people, the Obama Administration has continued to look the other way and offer concession after concession,” Rubio said in a statement Wednesday. “The administration’s reported plan to restore diplomatic relations is one such prized concession to the Castro regime.
“It remains unclear what, if anything, has been achieved since the President’s December 17th announcement in terms of securing the return of U.S. fugitives being harbored in Cuba, settling outstanding legal claims to U.S. citizens for properties confiscated by the regime, and in obtaining the unequivocal right of our diplomats to travel freely throughout Cuba and meet with any dissidents, and most importantly, securing greater political freedoms for the Cuban people. I intend to oppose the confirmation of an Ambassador to Cuba until these issues are addressed. It is time for our unilateral concessions to this odious regime to end.”
But James Williams of Engage Cuba, an interest group backed by business, said: “Opening embassies in Washington and Havana is an important step toward the day when Americans can make their own decisions on where they travel, and our businesses can compete with the rest of the world. We are making history by making it clear that America’s engagement isn’t a concession, it is a show of strength and the best way to promote our values and create opportunities for both Americans and the Cuban people.”
A bigger hurdle for Obama is lifting the economic embargo, which Congress must do.
