New relationship is a greater challenge to Obama than to Havana

[Judi Lynn]

New relationship is a greater challenge to Obama than to Havana

Blanche Petrich • August 19, 2015



HAVANA — During the five decades of confrontation between the United States and Cuba, there were periods of top-secret contacts and meetings, periods ruled by an absolute freeze, and times when the threats of the hemispheric power rose and even became violent.

There were moments so critical that Gen. Alexander Haig, a notable “hawk” in the administration of President Ronald Reagan, once warned the Soviet ambassador in Washington (Anatoly F. Dobrynin) and Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda de la Rosa that the Pentagon might decide to bomb the island.

At another juncture, Haig himself acknowledged that a dialogue with Fidel Castro was indispensable for Washington and in 1982 traveled to Mexico City to meet with Cuban Vice President Carlos Rafael Rodríguez. Pragmatism or realpolitik was assumed by both administrations. Much of that history is still untold.

Diplomat Ramón Sánchez-Parodi, who headed the Cuban Interests Section in Washington from Sept. 1, 1977 to April 30, 1989, realizes that, in the face of the new reality, with full relations established between the old rivals, “we Cubans should tell our version of history.”

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[Judi Lynn]

1. Interesting thought from the article:

“They are the ones who must dismantle the state of affairs they have created,” he says. “We did not blockade them or sanctioned them or financed their internal subversion. How can they maintain the blockade and pretend that they’re normalizing the relationship? I cannot imagine.”