Former Cuban ambassador to Washington, José Ramón Cabañas, describes the relationship between the two countries as “a war scenario”
EFE/Juan Palop (via 14ymedio), Havana, August 26, 2024 — Cuba is used to “sailing in turbulent waters,” says José Ramón Cabañas, director of the official Center for Foreign Policy Research (CIPI) of Cuba, when asked in an interview with EFE about the potential expansion of the international context for the island.
The possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House, the instability in Caracas after the elections, the change in the presidency of Mexico and the turn to the right in the European institutions after the last elections are elements that can affect Cuba, in itself in a deep crisis.
“Cuba has been able to navigate in very turbulent waters,” answered Cabañas, who was ambassador in Washington during the bilateral approach known as the ’thaw’.”
He recognizes that the tightening of the policies of the United States and the European Union towards Cuba, as well as the distancing of some regional partners, “can be one of the possibilities” in the “immediate future.”
In his opinion, the US sanctions against the Island have “exactly” the same effects “from an economic” and “social” point of view as an armed conflict
However, he adds that the Island is “a country of struggle and winning,” and its diplomacy “has experience” in adverse contexts. “In one way or another we have been at war since 1959,” he says in reference to the triumph of the Revolution led by Fidel Castro.
In his opinion, the US sanctions against the island have “exactly” the same effects “from the economic” and “social” point of view as an armed conflict. Then there is what he calls a cultural and media battle, which contribute to generating a “state of tension” equivalent to “a war scenario.”
On whether this situation justifies limitations on fundamental rights, he asks that Cuba not be asked “questions that are not news elsewhere,” and he points to the recent trials of violent far-right demonstrators in the United Kingdom.
According to independent records, in Cuba there are more than a thousand prisoners for political reasons, most of them arrested after the anti-government protests of July 11, 2021. Havana says that they were tried following due process.
Cabañas argues that American foreign policy will not be changed “dramatically” by the Democrat Kamala Harris or the Republican Donald Trump. “Biden has not been diametrically different from Trump,” he adds.
He believes that their positions with respect to Israel, Ukraine, China and Venezuela will remain the same. Cuba, he continues, “is not a strategic issue” for the United States, although it is part of “that great equation.” The Island is “fundamental” only on the issue of migration.
In Washington, he says, there is a “bet” on the “implosion” of Cuba, although there are also sectors that propose another approach.
Cabañas denies that there are Chinese espionage bases and that the recent visit of a Russian flotilla called into question his defense that Latin America and the Caribbean are “zones of peace.”
On this point, Cabañas disdains “the human rights argument” to maintain the sanctions: “They keep this handy when there is no other reason.” The key, he says, is that there be a “political decision” in the White House to talk and cooperate, despite the differences, as happened during the thaw.
With regard to Europe, he regrets that it always seeks “the reflection of the US” in its relationship with Cuba, when he believes that it would be more advantageous to “think in terms of the benefit of the EU as a group of countries, even in its relationship with Latin America.”
Asked if Cuba’s economic and energy needs generate decompensated relations that Moscow or Beijing take advantage of for their geopolitical revenue, Cabañas answered that the commercial relationship of an “underdeveloped” country with a power “is always asymmetrical.”
However, he defends independence from Cuban foreign policy: he denies that there are Chinese espionage bases on the Island and that the recent visit of a Russian war flotilla to Havana called into question his defense that Latin America and the Caribbean are “zones of peace.”
He also denies that Havana has followed the Russian argument in the war in Ukraine. “Cuba believes that the differences between states must be resolved peacefully,” says Cabañas, who asks not to forget the record and the role of NATO.
Despite the combined effect of the country’s dollarization, food insecurity and external economic and energy dependence, the director of the CIPI maintains that Cuban national sovereignty has not been eroded.
In his opinion, the Cuban crisis is the product of the “blockade,” an “imposed scenario,” although he recognizes that it is also due to Cuba’s own decisions, referring to the failed monetary reform of the Ordering Task, and he states that issues such as agricultural decline are within their “capabilities.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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