Obama Cuddles Up to the Cuban Tyrants

As the debate over President Obama's loosening of US-Cuba relations is reported widely, an Industry Week article focuses on the commercial and economic aspects of Obama's effort to lift the trade embargo on Cuba that has been in place for more than 50 years. Among Obama initiatives, the White House said it will expand how much money Americans can send to the impoverished country and open up the flow of US tourists. But investment and trade will remain strictly controlled under laws passed by Congress and Cuba's own restrictions, preventing moves to enter the Cuban market by industries from US hoteliers to oil companies and automakers. Gary Hufbauer of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington estimates that a full thaw in relations could open up $5 to $10 billion in investment into Cuba : "This is only the beginning of a long path to normalization. For the most part, US firms are still blocked, not only by US sanctions, but also by the heavy hand of the state in Cuba." The deal announced by the White House will increase the flow of dollars into Cuba, quadrupling the maximum remittances allowed to $2,000 per quarter, and gives general permission for a broad range of US visitors to the country. It also permits the flow into Cuba of American building materials and agricultural equipment to support the country's tiny private sector. The White House said : "This change will make it easier for Cuban citizens to have access to certain lower-priced goods to improve their living standards and gain greater economic independence from the state." Obama's action will also allow US banks to set up accounts with Cuban financial institutions to facilitate transfers and the use of US credit and debit cards, which will facilitate more visits to the country, as well as a greater inward flow of dollars. The White House also said that the US telecommunications industry will be permitted to build infrastructure in Cuba for telephone and internet services, improving communications between the two countries. But beyond that, there was little for businesses, because the 50-year-old embargo officially remains in place. ~~~~~ Specifically, President Obama has the power to make significant changes to the embargo and US-Cuba relations without any action from Congress. First, Obama can make sanctions less restrictive in practice by exercising his licensing authority under current laws that give the executive branch the authority to issue licenses that permit US citizens to undertake certain commercial activities and to visit and send money to family members on Cuba. Vox quotes Lawrence Ward, a partner at the law firm of Dorsey and Whitney who specializes in sanctions compliance law, as saying that the President has broad authority to implement various general licenses. So, even if Congress does not act, Obama could ease the embargo, even if, legislatively, it was still in place. For instance, Ward told Vox that "the President has wide latitude in general licenses authorizing travel to Cuba," even though a full repeal of the travel ban could only be accomplished through legislative action. Second, the President can remove Cuba from certain types of sanctions by changing its classification as a "State Sponsor of Terrorism." Technically, the Secretary of State makes that determination, not the President. And, the White House said in a statement that it has asked Secretary of State John Kerry to review whether Cuba should be removed from that list, and submit a report on his conclusions within six months. If Cuba is no longer designated as a sponsor of terrorism, it will no longer be subject to a variety of different sanctions, including restrictions on imports of weapons and "dual-use" technology, and a ban on its government doing business with US citizens and institutions. Finally, Obama has wide latitude in determining whether to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, regardless of whether Congress grants him permission. The Constitution specifically grants the President the authority to send and receive ambassadors, and this is generally interpreted to include the authority to recognize foreign governments. But, officially and completely ending the embargo would require congressional action. The embargo is supported by several federal laws, including the Trading With the Enemy Act and the 1996 Helms-Burton Act that keeps the embargo in place until Cuba has a democratic government and the Castro brothers, Raoul and Fidel, are out of government. The President can't repeal those laws unilaterally - he needs Congress to do it. Congress also controls the "power of the purse," which may complicate plans to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the incoming chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has already pledged to block all funding for a new embassy in Cuba. Congressional action on the Cuba embargo is not likely to happen anytime soon. ~~~~~ So, what can Congress do to stave off the full implementation of Obama's Cuba normalization plan? Congress can : (1). deny Obama funds to reopen an embassy in Havana, (2). stall the nomination of a potential ambassador, (3). vote down a bill to open up travel more widely, and (4). ignore requests from the White House to lift the 50-year-old embargo. When Republicans control the Senate next year, the party would be in a good position to carry out some of their plans. Speaker John Boehner said : “Relations with the Castro regime should not be revisited, let alone normalized, until the Cuban people enjoy freedom – and not one second sooner. There is no ‘new course' here, only another in a long line of mindless concessions to a dictatorship that brutalize its people and schemes with our enemies.” Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would defer the upper chamber’s response to Cuba policy changes to Rubio. ~~~~~ Dear readers, today's media defense of Obama's steps to normalize relations with Cuba has taken two tacks. First, liberal politicians and media analysts point out the suffering of average Cubans under the Castro regime. Undoubtedly true. But, dealing with Cuba will largely benefit the Cuban power elite. Even the progressive Democrat Jimmy Carter said yesterday that he had been in the Cuba homes of Raoul and Fidel Castro and he said "they are not suffering." And nobody today has taken note of the food and medicine long since provided to Cuba by America or the pre-Obama permission to send money from America to help family members still in Cuba - money needed because the Castro regime has wrecked the Cuban economy, under which the average monthly wage is US$ 20. The second argument for rapprochement with Cuba is that it is much like President Nixon's approach to China. I'm not sure why the American experience with China should be viewed favorably. What has the US effort in China gained? A manipulated Chinese currency that has allowed a flood of cheap and often defective goods to be sold in America - the demand that US companies with affiliates in China share their patented technology, leading to the Chinese stealing and copying of valuable US patented trade secrets - no easing of the Chinese gulags where political dissidents disappear into black holes of torture and death - and strict control and censorship of the Chinese people's use of the Internet and social media. This last seems to include the likelihood that even if North Korea hacked Sony and stopped the release of "The Interview" film, it was carried out not from North Korea but through China. Is this Obama's dream for Cubans? Continued political repression, torture, severe censorship and extreme poverty? Because if China is the model, that will be the result in Cuba. America and freedom will lose. Tyranny will win. President Reagan had the plan that worked -- spend militarily and force economic collapse on the tyrants. That is how Soviet Communism was defeated, not by cuddling up to the tyrants.