Should reason prevail…
By Manuel E. Yepe
July 2008
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter
Lippmann.
There’s no waste in the
inaugural speech Barack Obama would supposedly deliver in January 2009, should
he stick to the text prepared by the experienced British journalist and
historian Richard Gott published in The Guardian last July 9.
Gott explains in his
“project” that although Iraq and the US economy have dominated the US
presidential race, Latin America presents important challenges for the next
president to solve, and to that effect, assuming Barack Obama wins the election
in November, he recommends a text that amounts to a whole new continental agenda.
Obama would say: “In
some parts of the world, in recent years, we have tried to do too much. In Latin
America, we have done too little. With our attention focused elsewhere,
anti-American forces have moved in to fill the vacuum. Today we have little to
build on, and few friends in the continent. Yet I have promised change, US
citizens have voted for change, and change is what I intend to bring about.”
Then he would go on to
recall some positive features of fellow past presidents like Franklin Roosevelt
and John Kennedy. About the latter he would say that the “Alliance for Progress”
was an approach to Latin America seen as an “alternative to the revolutionary
rhetoric of Castro”.
Obama would recognize that
“the
continent has changed dramatically since that time, notably in the 20 years
since the end of the cold war. Latin America has begun to stand up, to march
forward without assistance. It has thrown off the military dictatorships that
successive American governments so misguidedly supported. Democracy is no longer
the exception, but the rule. We cannot ignore these developments: neither the
banner of Simón Bolívar that now flies again over much of the continent, nor the
sudden explosion of the indigenous peoples that has spread out from the
countries of the Andes.”
What follows would be: “The
most significant change will concern the island of Cuba, where the policies of
my 10 immediate predecessors have failed to advance the interests of the United
States. We meet today in the month of the 50th anniversary of the original Cuban
revolution, in January 1959, and we have to recognize that the Castro brothers
are still alive and in power. Cuba is not a democracy in the way that we
understand the term, yet the island's government is recognized and accepted by
all our southern neighbors. We need to accept this fact and take a new and
different approach. Cuba is not a prison island. It is not a failed state.
Unlike the United States, it is a country where its black citizens, half the
population, enjoy equal status with whites. Yet, like the United States, it is a
country that will welcome change on its own terms. We should recognize and
respect that possibility”.
Obama would then level some
criticism at the hopes for annexation that several US presidents have held since
the 19th century, which paved the way for conflicts between both countries. He
would compare mistakes such as the 1898 military intervention in Cuba with the
US occupation of Iraq, “neither well-planned nor well-executed”. In the case of
Cuba, those mistakes “would fuel Castro’s revolutionary struggle half century
later”.
Then he would announce two
important appointments: “Former President Jimmy Carter will become my personal
representative for Cuban affairs. He will now immediately fly to Cuba to
communicate in the name of my government the decision to lift the travel ban on
US citizens and end the economic embargo, and to prepare the ground for my own
presidential visit. He will work toward an eventual agreement on the outstanding
issues between our two countries. We shall also put on the table the future of
our naval base on the island at Guantánamo Bay, whose infamous prison we propose
to close”.
“At
the same time, I have asked Wayne Smith, our oldest former US state department
official, to come out from academic retirement to become the chief of our
embassy in Havana and work toward the normalization of our diplomatic relations
with Cuba.
In his speech, Obama would
announce his plan to fly from Havana to Caracas to greet President Hugo Chávez,
welcome his contribution to the peace process in Colombia, and offer US support
to him and to President Uribe of Colombia, to advance that process by “calling
a halt to our own Plan Colombia, which is a drain on our resources that should
be diverted to more socially useful ends”.
He would also say: “From
Caracas I shall fly to Brasilia to talk to President Lula, and then to Bolivia
to greet Evo Morales and express the support of America for the indigenous
resistance against white settler rule that is now changing the face of the
Americas.
According to the speech
suggested by Gott, Barack Obama would make those visits to make the North
Americans identify with the peoples of Latin America in their capacity to
embrace change and reinvent their history, to make sure that the voice of the
United States is heard in this great new chorus of liberation.
The ultimate inaugural
speech to be delivered by the new US president next January is likely to bear no
resemblance to the text written by Gott as an exercise in interpreting reality
on the basis of the Union’s true interests about its security. Coming out of the
White House, a statement like this would bring the head of state face-to-face
with unscrupulous reprisals by the less clever corporations and the
industrial-military complex.
(The author of this article is an attorney, retired diplomat, political
scientist and continues to teach at the Cuban Foreign Ministry's school for
diplomats, ISRI, in Havana, Cuba.)
---ooOoo---
SI IMPERARA LA RAZÓN
Por Manuel E. Yepe
No tiene desperdicio el discurso que formularía Barak Obama al asumir en enero
de 2009 la presidencia, si utilizara el texto que le preparó el veterano
periodista e historiador inglés Richard Gott y que apareció en el Guardian, de
Londres, el 9 de julio en curso.
Gott explica en su “proyecto” que aunque Irak y la economía del país han sido
los temas dominantes en la pugna electoral, América Latina presenta retos
importantes que el próximo presidente de los Estados Unidos debe resolver y, a
tales efectos, asumiendo que Barack Obama sea el triunfador en las elecciones de
noviembre, le recomienda un texto que equivale a una nueva agenda continental.
Obama diría que “en algunas partes del mundo hemos tratado de hacer demasiado,
en América Latina hemos hecho demasiado poco. Con nuestra atención puesta en
otras partes, las fuerzas antiamericanas han venido a ocupar los vacíos. Hoy
tenemos poco que construir en el continente y pocos amigos con quienes hacerlo.
Sin embargo, yo prometí cambios, la ciudadanía votó por el cambio y es
precisamente cambio lo que pretendo hacer.”
A
continuación, Obama recordaría algunos aspectos positivos de sus predecesores en
el cargo presidencial, Franklin Roosevelt y John Kennedy. Respecto a este último,
diría que la Alianza para el Progreso era un programa de aproximación con
América Latina que constituía una “alternativa a la retórica revolucionaria de
Castro”.
Luego, Obama reconocería que, “desde entonces, el continente ha cambiado
dramáticamente, especialmente en los últimos veinte años, desde el fin de la
guerra fría. Latinoamérica ha comenzado a levantarse, a marchar adelante sin
asistencia. Ha derrocado las dictaduras militares que sucesivos gobiernos
estadounidenses desacertadamente apoyaron. Las democracias dejaron de ser una
excepción para convertirse en la regla. No podemos ignorar estos hechos, ni que
la bandera de Simón Bolívar ondea de nuevo sobre buena parte del continente, ni
la repentina explosión de los pueblos indígenas que se ha expandido desde los
países andinos.”
Obama señalaría que el más significativo cambio será en relación con la isla de
Cuba, “donde las políticas de mis diez predecesores inmediatos han fracasado en
el objetivo de hacer avanzar los intereses de los Estados Unidos. Nos reunimos
hoy en el mes del 50º aniversario de la revolución cubana, que triunfó en enero
de 1959, y tenemos que reconocer que los hermanos Castro están aún vivos y en el
poder. Cuba no es una democracia en el sentido en que nosotros damos al término,
pero el gobierno de la Isla es reconocido y aceptado por todos nuestros vecinos
sureños. Aceptemos la realidad y asumamos un enfoque nuevo y diferente. Cuba no
es una isla prisionera ni es un Estado fracasado. Cuba es, a diferencia de los
Estados Unidos, un país cuyos ciudadanos negros, la mitad de la población,
disfrutan del mismo status de los blancos. Al igual que los Estados Unidos, es
un país que busca cambios, pero en sus propios términos. Debemos reconocer y
respetar esto”.
Seguidamente, Obama abordaría críticamente los propósitos de anexión que, desde
el siglo XIX albergaron varios presidentes de los EEUU, lo que generó una
relación conflictiva entre ambos países. Compararía los errores de la ocupación
militar de Cuba en 1898 con los que actualmente comete Estados Unidos en Irak,
“mal planeadas y mal ejecutadas". En Cuba, “las secuelas de esos errores
nutrieron la lucha revolucionaria de Castro 50 años más tarde”.
Obama anunciaría entonces ciertas importantes designaciones: “El expresidente
Jimmy Carter será mi representante personal para asuntos cubanos. Volará
inmediatamente a Cuba para comunicar, a nombre de mi gobierno, la decisión de
autorizar irrestrictamente los viajes a la Isla de ciudadanos estadounidenses y
de poner fin al embargo económico contra Cuba, así como a preparar condiciones
para una visita presidencial mía. Trabajará también por lograr un acuerdo acerca
entre los principales problemas que afectan las relaciones entre los dos países.
En la mesa de discusión estaría el futuro de nuestra base en la bahía de
Guantánamo, cuya infamante prisión nos proponemos clausurar.
“También he pedido a Wayne Smith, nuestro más antiguo ex funcionario del
Departamento de Estado, que abandone su retiro académico para asumir la jefatura
de nuestra Embajada en La Habana y trabajar hacia la normalización de nuestras
relaciones diplomáticas con Cuba.”
En su discurso, Obama anunciaría su intención de viajar de La Habana a Caracas
para saludar al Presidente Chávez, agradecerle sus aportes al proceso de paz en
Colombia y apoyarle, junto a su homólogo colombiano Uribe, en la tarea de
avanzar ese proceso, “al que contribuiríamos poniendo fin a nuestro Plan
Colombia, que drena nuestras finanzas y cuyos fondos podrán ser destinados a
fines sociales más útiles.”
También anunciaría que, de Caracas, viajará a Brasilia, para conversar con el
presidente Lula, y luego a Bolivia, para saludar a Evo Morales y expresar por su
conducto el apoyo de los Estados Unidos a la resistencia indígena contra los
colonos blancos que actualmente está haciendo cambiar el rostro de las Américas.
Según el texto propuesto por el periodista Richard Gott, Barak Obama explicaría
que todos esos viajes que habría de emprender tendrían como fin hacer que los
norteamericanos se identifiquen con los pueblos de Latinoamérica en su capacidad
de abrazar los cambios y remodelar su historia, para lograr que la voz de los
Estados Unidos se escuche en el gran nuevo coro de la liberación.
No es muy probable que el discurso inaugural del nuevo presidente estadounidense
que tome posesión en enero se parezca algo al texto que elaboró Gott a modo de
ejercicio de interpretación de la realidad partiendo de los verdaderos intereses
de la Unión relativos a su seguridad. Una declaración de este tipo, salida de la
Casa Blanca, la enfrentaría a inescrupulosas represalias de las corporaciones
menos astutas y del complejo militar industrial.
Julio, 2008
Caracteres + espacios: 5963 Caracteres – espacios 5018 Palabras: 954
A new agenda in Latin America
The US has long meddled in the
affairs of its southern neighbours. It's time to rectify the
mistakes of the past
-
-
Though Iraq and the US economy have
dominated the US presidential race, Latin America
presents important challenges for the next president to
solve. Assuming Barack Obama wins the election in November, this
is the inaugural speech he should give next January.
My fellow Americans, I turn now to
the problems within our own hemisphere. In some parts of the
world, in recent years, we have tried to do too much. In Latin
America, we have done too little. With our attention focused
elsewhere, anti-American forces have moved in to fill the
vacuum. Today we have little to build on, and few friends in the
continent. Yet I have promised change, US citizens have voted
for change, and change is what I intend to bring about.
Two of my Democratic predecessors,
at similar defining moments in our history, put forward fresh
policies to govern our relationship with Latin America.
President Franklin Roosevelt talked of
"the
policy of the good neighbour" in his inaugural speech of
March 1933, and he brought an end to our long period of
interventionism. He withdrew our Marines from their occupation
of Haiti, and he withdrew most of the clauses of the Platt
Amendment of 1901, the colonial document that subjected the
Cuban people to eternal American supervision.
A second attempt to improve
relations with our southern neighbours was made by President
Kennedy in March 1961. He offered what he called "an alliance
for progress", a far-reaching programme of reform and
development. His words still have a positive echo nearly half a
century later:
"We propose to complete the
revolution of the Americas, to build a hemisphere where all
men can hope for a suitable standard of living and all can
live out their lives in dignity and in freedom. ... Let us
once again transform the American continent into a vast
crucible of revolutionary ideas and efforts, a tribute to
the power of the creative energies of free men and women, an
example to all the world that liberty and progress walk hand
in hand. Let us once again awaken our American Revolution
until it guides the struggles of people everywhere - not
with an imperialism of force or fear, but the rule of
courage and freedom, and hope for the future of man."
President Kennedy's words evoked
huge enthusiasm in Latin America and were seen as an alternative
to the revolutionary rhetoric of Castro. Yet the continent has
changed dramatically since that time, notably in the 20 years
since the end of the cold war. Latin America has begun to stand
up, to march forward without assistance. It has thrown off the
military dictatorships that successive American governments so
misguidedly supported. Democracy is no longer the exception, but
the rule. The continent has become that "vast crucible of
revolutionary ideas and efforts" of which President Kennedy
spoke. We cannot ignore these developments: neither the banner
of Simón Bolívar that now flies again over much of the
continent, nor the sudden explosion of the indigenous peoples
that has spread out from the countries of the Andes.
I now propose a fresh raft of
changes in American policy, comparable to those put forward in
1933 and 1961, that will re-emphasise our commitment to peaceful
change and development. The most significant change will concern
the island of Cuba, where the
policies of my 10 immediate predecessors have failed to
advance the interests of the United States. We meet today in the
month of the 50th anniversary of the original Cuban revolution,
in January 1959, and we have to recognise that the Castro
brothers are still alive and in power. Cuba is not a democracy
in the way that we understand the term, yet the island's
government is recognised and accepted by all our southern
neighbours. We need to accept this fact and take a new and
different approach. Cuba is not a prison island. It is not a
failed state. Unlike the United States, it is a country where
its black citizens, half the population, enjoy equal status with
whites. Yet, like the United States, it is a country that will
welcome change on its own terms. We should recognise and respect
that possibility.
Long before Castro, indeed before
the Platt Amendment, the United States and Cuba had an entwined
and often conflictive relationship. Several American presidents
in the 19th century had annexationist ambitions. Spanish-owned
Cuba and America's southern states grew rich together on the
basis of black slavery and white sugar. When the Cuban war of
independence broke out 150 years ago, in 1868, tens of thousands
of Cubans escaped the fighting to establish their homes and
businesses in the United States. Thirty years later, after an
accidental explosion that caused the destruction of our
battleship, the Maine, in February 1898, US forces joined the
Cuban independence struggle, landing between Santiago and
Guantánamo and destroying the Spanish fleet.
Our military occupation of Cuba,
like our occupation of Iraq, was neither well-planned nor
well-executed, and it left bitter memories. Its legacy would
fuel Castro's revolutionary struggle half century later, and our
own failed attempts to strangle it at birth. This history we
need to relearn, and to understand its implications.
Today I announce two important
appointments. Former President Jimmy Carter will become my
personal representative for Cuban affairs. He paid a
visit to Havana in 2002 and is familiar with Cuba's leaders.
He made important policy suggestions on that occasion, calling
for unrestricted travel to the island by US citizens and for an
end to the US economic embargo. He will now immediately fly
there again to reiterate his original proposals in the name of
my government and to prepare the ground for my own presidential
visit. He will work toward an eventual agreement on the
outstanding issues between our two countries. We shall also put
on the table the future of our naval base on the island at
Guantánamo Bay, whose infamous prison we propose to close.
At the same time, I have asked Wayne
Smith, our oldest former US state department official with an
intimate knowledge of Cuba, to come out from academic retirement
to become the chief of our embassy in Havana, the so-called US
Interests' Section of the Swiss Embassy. Smith is a former
member of the US Marine Corps, and he held this post between
1979 and 1982. He will work toward the normalisation of our
diplomatic relations with Cuba.
From Havana, I shall fly to Caracas
to greet President Hugo Chávez, to welcome his call for an end
to the guerrilla war in Colombia. I shall offer our support to
him and to President Uribe of Colombia, with the hope of
establishing a peace process that will bring that long conflict
to an end. Just as we need to close down our conflict with Cuba,
so too we must call a halt to our own Plan Colombia, started so
imaginatively by President Clinton, yet now a drain on our
resources that should be diverted to more socially useful ends.
From Caracas, I shall fly to
Brasilia to talk to President Lula, a towering statesman who has
worked with the continent's presidents to achieve common ground
on so many distinctive projects. Then I shall fly to La Paz to
greet Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia in
500 years, and to him I shall express the support of America for
the indigenous resistance against white settler rule that is now
changing the face of the Americas. I shall make these visits so
that we North Americans may rejoice with the people of Latin
America in their capacity to embrace change and to reinvent
their history. We must ensure that the voice of the United
States, given added colour and richness by our own Hispanic
citizens, is heard in this great new chorus of liberation.
This article was first
published on
guardian.co.uk on Wednesday July 09 2008. It was
last updated at 14:00 on July 09 2008.
