The Peanut Seller Arrived / Reinaldo Escobar

The arrival in Cuba on Monday of the former U.S. president Jimmy Carter “to have meetings with President Raul Castro and other leaders” has triggered a series of speculations ranging from the case of Alan Gross to the opening of breaches in the blockade-embargo.

But the oddest thing, in my view, is that this visit comes after a group of programs designed specifically to discredit and demonize meetings between opponents and personalities from Cuban civil society with American diplomats and citizens have been aired on national television .

Personally, I think it’s a good thing that Carter will talk with Raul Castro and be received in his office, what I can’t understand is: who has given Carter a certificate of good behavior that disassociates him from USAID, the State Department, the CIA and other demons?

Why can one sit and talk with a person who was of the commander-in-chief of all the armies of the Empire, while an ordinary common citizen can’t have a cup of coffee with a simple official from the U.S. Interest Section or with a representative of some American NGO?

28 March 2011