Americans support thaw in U.S.-Cuba ties

The spectre of Communism may have long ceased to exist in American psyche, but U.S. conservatives have been trying to resurrect that fear this election season citing Democrat Bernie Sanders’s campaign for ‘democratic socialism’.

President Barack Obama’s Cuba visit fits well into this narrative, promoted mainly by Senator Ted Cruz, who is considered the alternative to Donald Trump, front runner in the Republican presidential race. The only outcome of this visit, according to Mr. Cruz, is to “legitimise the corrupt and oppressive Castro regime”.

“..President Barack Obama, a retinue of celebrities in tow, is expected …to hang out with [Cuban President] Raul Castro and his henchmen…, ” Mr. Cruz said in an op-ed article on Sunday.

This could be an extreme view, as Mr. Cruz is often given to. Opinion polls have consistently shown majority of people supporting ties with Cuba since December 2014 when Mr. Obama announced a new opening with the U.S.’s Caribbean neighbour. A wide range of expert opinion also supports the Obama initiative. A poll by CBS and New York Times on Monday found six out of 10 Americans to be in support of Mr. Obama’s initiative. Mr. Trump also supports rebooting the U.S.’s relations with Cuba, though he thinks Mr. Obama has not made a “good deal”.

Mr. Trump took offence at the fact that Mr. Castro himself did not receive the President at the airport. “Wow, President Obama just landed in Cuba, a big deal, and Raul Castro wasn’t even there to greet him. He greeted Pope and others. No respect,” Mr. Trump tweeted. The White House said it took no offence and Mr. Castro was not expected to receive the President.

Though Republican Congressional leaders are not in a mood to allow Mr. Obama any elbowroom on any policy issue, several lawmakers of the party are in support of the Cuba initiative and at least five of them are part of the delegation accompanying Mr. Obama. Senators Jeff Flake and Mark Helle and Representatives Mark Sanford, Tom Emmer and Reid Ribble are travelling with Mr. Obama. “It’s about Americans’ freedom and embracing engagement rather than isolation as a way of changing other governments,” Mr. Sanford said.

Richard Feinberg and Ted Piccone, experts on Cuba at Brookings in Washington DC, wrote in a comment article: “…the odds of wringing short-term concessions from Cuba’s proud and nationalist leaders are stacked against Obama”, but “this trip should be judged by its ability to expand constituencies in both countries who want a more open and prosperous Cuba”.

Conservative pushback

There is a growing constituency in the U.S. for better relations with Cuba, but the conservative pushback is also unrelenting. Conservative magazine National Review wrote in an editorial immediately after Mr. Obama announced his trip last month: “An opening to the Castro dictatorship was neither urgent nor necessary nor in the American interest. Obama simply wanted to do it. It was on his list. The dictatorship had been dreaming about this kind of rapprochement for well over half a century. So had the American Left.”

Equally curious is an allegation that Mr. Cruz and Senator Marco Rubio – who dropped out of the presidential race – have been repeating in this context. They have said several times in recent months that Mr. Obama was planning to “gift Guantanamo Bay to Castro”, referring to the U.S naval base in Cuba, which is held by the U.S., based on a decades old bilateral pact.

Mr. Obama had promised to shut down a prison in that base that holds terror suspects. The Republican candidates have sought to conflate two unrelated issues by raising this in the context of relations with Cuba.