Baby Steps Toward Change of U.S.-Cuba Policy

President Raul Castro is shaking things up in Cuba. But with everything on the plate of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, I thought it might be quite some time before they were able to focus on U.S.-Cuba policy... a policy largely unchanged since 1962. However, with a little nudge from an important Republican, small signs of change are in the air.

First, Cuba policy made a little noticed appearance in Secretary Clinton's confirmation hearings. In that process, Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) submitted many written questions to Clinton, including several on Cuba. In one response she wrote:

"We anticipate a review of US policy regarding Cuba and look forward to working with members of the Committee and other members of Congress as we move forward to the consideration of appropriate steps to take to help advance US interests and values in the context of relations with Cuba."

Second, Lugar, who is the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, just released a report titled "Changing Cuba Policy -- In the United States National Interest." Steve Clemons at The Washington Note said:

"For US-Cuba policy junkies, the report is pretty breathtaking in its indictment of decades of American failure in trying to adjust Cuba's national government's behavior via sanctions and an embargo."

Next, Jake Colvin at Democracy Arsenal says President Obama has the prerogative to make fairly substantial changes in this area without Congressional approval. He wrote:

President Obama retains wide discretion to make significant changes to U.S. Cuba policy, as Presidents Clinton and Bush demonstrated.

And finally, the U.S. House of Representatives voted last month to ease some travel and trade restrictions on Cuba. The bill, which still needs U.S. Senate approval, would make it a little easier for Cuba to do agricultural business with the United States and it would allow a little more freedom to Americans hoping to visit family members living in Cuba.

One more note: The BBC web site recently asked users, "Should the US rethink the Cuban embargo?" They received nearly 1500 comments before closing off the discussion.

More:

• Is Removal of Cuba From "State Sponsors" List Inevitable?, from Counterterrorism Blog
• Rethinking U.S.-Cuba policy, editorial from the Chattanooga Times
• Baby Steps On Cuba, from The Americas Quarterly