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Bitterness returns to D.C.-Havana
relations
By Gary Marx, Chicago
Tribune. Posted on Sun, Jan. 01, 2006
in the Macon Telegraph.
HAVANA - After months of relative calm
on the U.S.-Cuba diplomat front, the two
nations have returned to the caustic rhetoric
that has often characterized their relationship
since Fidel Castro took power in 1959.
The brief period of calm coincided with
the replacement of James Cason, the tough-talking
former top U.S. diplomat in Havana, with
Michael Parmly, an experienced career diplomat
who spent his first three months in Cuba
quietly meeting with fellow diplomats, opposition
figures and others.
But that changed when 54-year-old Parmly
delivered a blistering speech in which he
criticized Cuba for being out of step with
the global shift toward democracy.
"The Cuban regime does not represent
the people, nor does it have any interest
in bettering their lives," Parmly told
a crowd of 100 gathered at his residence
Dec. 10. "Rather, the regime is obsessed
with self-preservation."
In the speech marking International Human
Rights Day, Parmly compared the practice
of Cuban government supporters surrounding
the homes of dissidents and hurling insults
to tactics used by Nazi "brown shirts"
and Ku Klux Klan members.
Cuban officials reacted with indignation.
"To compare Cuba to the worst fascism,
and the worst racism of the United States
... it is very hurtful," said Randy
Alonso, moderator of state television's
nightly "Round Table" program,
which reflects the view of the Cuban government.
In December, Castro referred to Parmly
as "that little gangster," and
Cason as the "former gangster."
He later called U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice a "madwoman"
after she reconvened a U.S. government commission
whose stated goal is to assist Cuba's transition
to democracy.
"I am going to tell you what I think
about this famous commission," said
Castro, who then used vulgar language to
describe the group to the Cuban National
Assembly.
The return of mutual enmity does not surprise
diplomats and other observers who argue
that officials in Cuba and the United States
often appear more comfortable confronting
each other than trying to resolve their
differences.
While the two nations cooperate on everything
from migration to anti-narcotics operations,
experts say Castro goes out of his way to
portray the United States as Cuba's mortal
enemy to tap into Cuban nationalism and
rally support around his government.
By the same token, President Bush's confrontational
approach toward Castro garnered votes among
some Cuban exiles in South Florida and may
have helped secure his re-election in 2004.
Yet, Bush also appears to hold a deep antipathy
toward Castro, experts say.
"It goes beyond the benefit of the
Florida vote," said Mark Falcoff, a
Latin American scholar at the American Enterprise
Institute, a think tank in Washington.
The relationship between Cuba and the United
States has been in decline since 2002, when
President Bush appointed Cason as the top
U.S. diplomat in Cuba.
Cason became the very public face of a
toughened U.S. policy toward Cuba characterized
by tightened sanctions and increased material
support for the island's dissident movement.
"I was a big fan of Mr. Cason,"
said Alfredo Mesa, executive director of
the Cuban American National Foundation,
a powerful Miami-based exile group. "He
was very effective. He had a very interesting
way of delivering his message."
Cason's tactics were often unconventional.
During his three-year tenure in Havana,
Cason placed a mock prison cell at the U.S.
diplomatic mission in Havana to highlight
the plight of jailed Cuban opposition activists.
In December 2004, he infuriated Cuban officials
by adorning the front lawn of the U.S. mission
with holiday decorations that included Santa
Claus and Frosty the Snowman but also a
sign with the number 75, a reference to
the 75 Cuban dissidents jailed in 2003.
Cuban officials responded by placing a
huge billboard outside the U.S. diplomatic
mission in Havana showing hooded and bloodied
Iraqi prisoners being tortured by U.S. soldiers
at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Cason also was lampooned in a cartoon series
that aired on Cuban national television.
In one episode, Cason - in a wizard's hat
- tries to change Cuba's socialist system
by waving a magic wand. Angry Cubans react
by chasing Cason, who transforms into a
rat as he sprints back to the U.S. diplomatic
mission.
Falcoff argued Cason's in-your-face style
of diplomacy raised the profile of Cuba's
struggling dissident movement internationally.
But others said Cason may have harmed the
dissidents by provoking a backlash from
Cuban officials.
"He made his support for the dissidents
a bigger story than their own activities,"
said Philip Peters, a Cuba expert at the
Lexington Institute, a Washington-area policy
group.
A specialist in post-conflict situations
with stints in Afghanistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Parmly has pledged to bring a lower profile
to the job than his predecessor. But he
vowed to continue implementing Bush administration
policy, whose stated goal is to speed the
end of Cuba's one-party system of government.
"Cuba's future will be determined
by Cubans," Parmly said in his Human
Rights Day speech. "Our role is to
support those working for democratic change."
© 2006 KRT Wire and
wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.macon.com
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