Cuba and its exiles
Campa, Román de la
Cuban affairs drew many headlines in 1994. Spring marked the beginning of a headlong cascade of events: a bungled attempt by the Havana regime to stage a dialogue with moderate exiles in April,...
...Our Cuba policy is inextricably bound to the influence of Miami's Cuban community— a sort of exile nation within the United States built with the conviction that it holds a special position in contemporary American history...
...interests...
...There have been two attempts to stage talks between the two Cubas— one in 1979, the other in 1994...
...shores in July and August, subsequent bilateral meetings with the United States throughout early fall, a November solidarity gathering in Cuba with what remains of the Latin American left, a non-invitation to Miami's Summit of the Americas in early December, the Vatican's appointment of a new Cuban cardinal in mid-December, an ongoing debate over the encampment of nearly thirty thousand Cubans in Guantanamo, rioting by Cubans in Panama, more bilateral meetings to discuss immigration and perhaps the economic blockade scheduled for early 1995, and so forth...
...Not easily...
...But such conventional wisdom fails to take into account the influential Cuban-American community—its stakes in the Cuba question, its importance in contemporary American politics, and its fears that Castro will retain or even strengthen his hold on power...
...Both were sponsored by Havana against Miami's opposition...
...Consider the historical role played by the exile Cuban nation in U.S...
...commitment to legal immigration from Cuba...
...Cuba remains trapped in a series of historical binds: the lingering cult of a revolutionary leader turned omnipotent dictator, a controlled economy suddenly submitted to the law of neoliberal markets, the remnants of a cold war with the United States, and most important, a long-distance civil war with a transplanted ruling class in Miami still thirsting for revenge...
...And if trading with China is acceptable, why not deal with Cuba...
...Needless to say, much larger and trickier questions lie beyond these small steps...
...Flow, however, all bets are off...
...Even the Wall Street Journal and the late Richard Nixon dismissed its value...
...One can't simply apply the cold, broad strokes of geopolitical calculation where there is an internal community capable of claiming a role in policy formation...
...Upon arrival, they received immediate political asylum and considerable financial assistance from the U.S...
...In Miami, there are more than fifty organized political groups, most of them with leaders from the Batista period of Cuban politics...
...They are more affected by measures against traveling and sending money to Cuba than exiles from earlier waves...
...Or is it between Cuba and Miami...
...A 1994 UN vote on the blockade left the United States practically alone against the world...
...But they could be the beginning of a bridge over a thirty-six-year-old breach...
...elites have created a community of mutual interests...
...Meanwhile, Cuba has become the only country left in the Western hemisphere whose families are kept apart for strictly political reasons...
...blockade on Cuba's economy...
...But class, racial, and ideological differences have been masked by the wealth and power of the first group, some 200,000 upper- and middle-class professionals, many of them first-generation Cubans of Spanish ancestry who were politically and economically displaced (and in some cases victimized) by the revolution...
...they are also likely 208 • DISSENT Politics Abroad to be less Americanized and have many more family members waiting for currency or a visa...
...Is there room for Cubans from both sides to step beyond this huge ideological divide...
...One is now aiming to extract yet more sacrifices from three generations of self-denying revolutionaries facing economic collapse...
...law guaranteeing immediate residency and expedited citizenship to all Cubans who reach American territories...
...True enough, neither Kennedy nor subsequent presidents delivered the much-awaited successful invasion of Cuba on their behalf...
...Prolonging a feud with Castro also seems pointless after the demise of the socialist economy, unless one is bent on punishing Cubans who don't take to the seas...
...The list goes on, but the impasse remains...
...In the early sixties it galvanized America's fears of a spreading revolution led by Che, Fidel, Allende, Bishop, and ultimately Sandino...
...Accordingly, Castro is moving toward the Chinese model of external market relations with internal political controls, while Mas Canosa is threatening all foreign governments who dare invest in Cuba...
...In each instance Miami berated all participants and ridiculed the good will of independent exiles willing to talk...
...In a recent letter to various embassies, he warns that a future Cuban government will place all the assets of those who deal with Castro in a trust until the losses incurred by the first wave of Cuban exiles are paid off...
...Castro remains the only voice of power in Cuba...
...But Mas Canosa's Cuban-American Foundation is the only exile organization powerful enough to have a lobby in Washington and an agenda for the exile nation...
...q SPRING • 1995 • 209 IMPACT VISUALS/ChriStOpher Smith 210 • DISSENT...
...government...
...No other group of immigrants commands a measure like the "Cuban Adjustment Act of 1965," the U.S...
...politics...
...The other seeks to fuel the pretense that there was no need for a revolution in the first place...
...Over the last thirty-six years, Miami has absorbed three distinct migration waves from Cuba...
...Cubans in Guantanamo find themselves in a new era that features Proposition 187 and a U.S...
...Besides, Americans are not accustomed to having restrictions placed on where they travel or invest, particularly after the collapse of the Soviet empire...
...The immediate agenda is clear: allow Cuban families to see and help each other across the political divide without limitations, release the 30,000 Cubans from Guantanamo and Panama so they can enter the United States, review or repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1965 so Cuba does not blame another exodus on it, promote and monitor legal mechanisms for emigration from Cuba...
...But perhaps the time has come for another try, this time under the auspices of a third party— say Mexico or Canada—with OAS (Organization of American States) supervision...
...All agree in their opposition to Castro but disagree on who should take power when he is finally overthrown...
...Cuban immigrants from subsequent waves, such as those waiting in Guantanamo, have long known they can find immediate work and credit in this Spanish-speaking enclave of U.S...
...Still no opening in sight for bridging the thirty-six-year-old rift between Cuba and Washington...
...capitalism...
...But Cuban exiles were given a free hand to fashion Miami after their most cherished memories of prerevolutionary Havana...
...By and large, Miami's Cubans and U.S...
...In Cuba these exiles also found their sentiments betrayed, as the sponsors exerted absolute control over the meetings...
...First came the "historical exile" of the early sixties, then the Martel boatlift of 1980, and finally the recent exodus of "raft-people...
...Each has its own candidate for president...
...His credentials are impeccable: neither Cuba nor Miami trusts him completely...
...Within a few decades, they transformed Miami from a provincial tourist town into a thriving Latin capital...
...In this uncharted post-contra period of GATT and NAFTA, both Miami and Cuba must revise their scripts in response to shifting U.S...
...Moreover, their memories of Cuba are fresher and perhaps more realistic...
...Spring marked the beginning of a headlong cascade of events: a bungled attempt by the Havana regime to stage a dialogue with moderate exiles in April, a mass exodus of Cuban balseros (rafters) to U.S...
...A most likely convener for such a dialogue could be the new Cuban cardinal, Jaime Ortega...
...Does anyone really believe China has more respect for human rights than SPRING • 1995 • 207 Politics Abroad Cuba...
...Nonetheless, it is clear that a growing number of working-class Cubans from the last migration wave favor a less drastic policy toward Cuba...
...The growing consensus is that capitalism will undo the revolution sooner than any other measure...
...Castro and Mas Canosa (head of the CubanAmerican Foundation) are both opposed to constructive negotiations among Cubans...
...Most Americans believe the time has come to end the decades-long U.S...
Vol. 42 • April 1995 • No. 2
