CUBA-USA:
IN THE END, HE DID NOT HAVE WHAT HE NEEDED TO HAVE.
By: Dr. Néstor García Iturbe
September 11, 2015.
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Historical coincidences are always interesting and especially in connection with September 11 there are quite a few.
Today, the Nobel Peace Prize Winner signed a “Presidential Determination” exercising his authority to keep Cuba, until September 14, 2016, under the Trading with the Enemy Act.
In doing so, he makes a mockery of his Secretary of State, John Kerry, who recently said in Havana that the United States and Cuba were not enemies or rivals, but neighbors. It also gives a sample of little political acumen by signing this determination on 11 September, when he could have signed it on the10th, or the 12th, to avoid coinciding with other events that occurred on September 11th, in which the United States has been involved.
On a September 11, another US President, from the same oval office where the Nobel Peace Prize Awarded works, took the Presidential Determination to launch a coup d’etat against the constitutional government of Chile. This resulted in the death of thousands of Chileans, including President Salvador Allende, and thousands of others who suffered humiliation and torture. The United States never described all those atrocities as human rights violations by the perpetrators of the coup; because, of course, it participated in their commission.
On another September 11, the events that resulted in the destruction of the World Trade Center, known as the Twin Towers, occurred. The then-President was at that moment visiting a school and when he heard the news, took the Presidential Determination to spend more time talking to the children and going over their notebooks, as if he had been prepared for what was taking place. We all know the story that has been spinned around these events, including the plane that struck the Pentagon, the remains of which were never seen, and the one that was going to attack the White House that disappeared without further explanation.
Also on a September 11, in New York City, terrorists who were residents in the US shot dead the Cuban diplomat Felix Garcia. The terrorist who was accused and convicted of the crime is already free; perhaps as a result of another Presidential Determination.
Mr. Obama, history judges men by the determinations they make at a given moment. If they act rightly and courageously according to justice, or if they act wrongly and capriciously, as if justice and the world were meaningless to them.
In the context we are describing, it is impossible not to remember Comandante Juan Almeida, who died on a September 11 and who –in the middle of a fierce battle against the forces of the Batista dictatorship, indeed supported by US determination– famously shouted: “Nobody here surrenders, cojones”.
Mr. Obama, our national poet Nicolas Guillen, in one of his famous and well-known poems, repeated something very consistent with the Cuban Revolution, when he wrote that “I now have what I had to have.”
In your case, by taking this Presidential Determination to keep Cuba under the Trading with the Enemy Act until September 14, 2016, you have shown that you do not have what you needed to have.
TEXT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release September 11, 2015
September 11, 2015
Presidential Determination
No. 2015-11
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
SUBJECT: Continuation of the Exercise of Certain Authorities Under the Trading With the Enemy Act
Under section 101(b) of Public Law 95-223 (91 Stat. 1625; 50 U.S.C. App. 5(b) note), and a previous determination on September 5, 2014 (79 FR 54183, September 10, 2014), the exercise of certain authorities under the Trading With the Enemy Act is scheduled to terminate on September 14, 2015.
I hereby determine that the continuation for 1 year of the exercise of those authorities with respect to Cuba is in the national interest of the United States.
Therefore, consistent with the authority vested in me by section 101(b) of Public Law 95-223, I continue for 1 year, until September 14, 2016, the exercise of those authorities with respect to Cuba, as implemented by the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 515.
The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to publish this determination in the Federal Register.
BARACK OBAMA
TOURISM AND REVOLUTION MUST GO HAND IN HAND
ByManuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the US government is working to reach a deal with Cuba by year’s end that would allow tourists to fly on scheduled commercial flights between the two countries.
The agreement would allow airlines to establish regular service between the U.S. and Cuba as early as December, marking the most significant expansion of bilateral tourism ties between the U.S. and Cuba since the 1950s, when Americans regularly traveled back and forth to Havana without the limitations imposed by Washington from the 1960s.
The Obama administration –says the Journal– is also exploring further steps to loosen travel restrictions for US citizens to the island nation despite the still in place unconstitutional decades-old ban imposed by Washington.
Only Congress can lift the U.S. travel and trade blockades imposed against Cuba following the popular triumph in the island. Nevertheless, says the Journal, Mr. Obama has executive authority to grant exceptions to them. He announced several last December –such as allowing Americans to use credit and debit cards in Cuba and expanding commercial sales and exports between the two countries.
The WSJ recalls that U.S. laws authorize citizens to travel to Cuba with special licenses only for specific purposes, including business trips, family visits or people-to-people cultural exchanges.
The negotiations are partly centering on how many flights a day would be permitted between the two countries and whether Cuba’s state-owned airline, Cubana de Aviación, can serve the U.S. The WSJ sources were not certain about this last issue.
Many U.S. airlines, including American Airlines and Jet Blue, are eager to serve Cuba and have been pushing regulators to authorize scheduled service.
Four shipping companies in Florida (90 miles from Cuba): United Americas Shipping Services, Havana Ferry Partners, United Caribbean Lines and Airline Brokers, announced receipt of US Treasury permission to operate ferries between the two countries, while noting that they still need additional permits including that from Havana.
The reestablishment of diplomatic relations, which culminated on August 14 with the official reopening of the US Embassy in Havana, has been one of the catalysts for the accelerated growth of visitor arrivals to the Caribbean country.
Between January and July of this year (2015), 88,996 people from the United states traveled to the island, despite the fact that the blockade does not allow them to do so as true tourists because Washington does not authorize them to visit beaches or other fun and recreation centers so they do “not bring their money to Castro “.
The rapprochement between the two countries has increased world interest in Cuba. The island in turn is developing different strategies to strengthen the tourism industry, improve the quality of hotel services and expand its capacity.
To attract foreign capital, the island has adopted a new Foreign Investment Act. Meanwhile, increasing ties between the private and state sectors in the Cuban economy, bring an important complement to meet the growing demand for rooms, restaurants and other services.
The Italian publication specializing in tourism issues in the Caribbean Travel Trade Caribbean (TTC) wonders in its latest issue if the “wave” of potential US tourists expected in Cuba would be good or bad for other Caribbean islands more dependent on the leisure industry.
Cuba, which continues its socialist project with the same drive as before, argues that the eventual normalization of its relations with the US will not damage the economies of tourism-dependent Caribbean countries.
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association welcomed Cuba as an integral part of the Caribbean and called for the development of cooperation with Cuba in all aspects of tourism. It also called on governments of the region to adopt a new program for tourism development involving high-level discussions with the US and Cuban authorities with a view to developing a Tourism Initiative in the Caribbean Basin to promote in an “economically viable, secure and stable way” this industry in the region.
But Cuba’s tourism infrastructure will have to be strengthened before the full impact of “the wave” occurs in the industries of other Caribbean destinations. Cooperation between countries in the region will be the best antidote against the problem; and the Cuban revolution has demonstrated many times its ability to face great challenges.
September 12, 2015.