Lawrence Martin. montrealgazette.com Southam News. Tuesday
20 March 2001. Montrealgazette.com
Cuba had its chance, says Lloyd Axworthy from his new digs in British
Columbia. "We gave them an opportunity but they didn't come through the
door."
So it is only right, says the former minister of foreign affairs, that the
Castro regime not be invited to the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City a
month from now.
John Manley, Axworthy's successor, slammed the summit door shut on Cuba last
week. It may be one of the few times the two men, who represent somewhat
different ideological swaths, concur. "What John is expressing," said
Axworthy, "is the policy direction of the last year and a half."
In fact, says Mark Entwistle, a former Canadian ambassador in Cuba, there
was never any realistic chance Castro would be invited to the confab of 35
nations. "It's a pre-ordained decision." Invite Cuba, Entwistle says,
and you lose the United States. "No host is going to throw that monkey
wrench into the works. The Americans would have just bolted."
Still, the idea that even Axworthy is down on the little island to the point
where he doesn't want it at Quebec is significant. If there was anyone who could
have made peace and progress with Cuba, it was the left-leaning Axworthy. He
wasn't exactly our man in Havana. But he was close to the mold of Pierre Trudeau
in terms of his liberal attitude. Castro, we recall, was such a hit with Trudeau
that he took front and centre stage at the former prime minister's funeral in
Montreal last autumn. This will likely be the dictator's last appearance here
for some time to come.
Signs of Co-Operation
Prime Minister Jean Chretien said two years ago in Santiago that Cuba should
be welcomed into the "gran familia" of the Americas. Ottawa signed
agreements with Cuba on economic development and women's rights. Axworthy wanted
its support on the creation of an international criminal court. There were
signs, thought Axworthy, that Havana would be co-operating with the United
Nations on its economic and social-rights agenda.
But then the chill set in. It coincided, oddly, with the aftermath of the
visit of the pope to Cuba in January 1998. Hard-liners seemed to get the upper
hand. There was no follow-up on some of the earlier promises. What really
angered Ottawa was the arrest and trial of dissidents and the severe sentences
doled out to them. Axworthy complained but "we were basically told to mind
our own business."
In the last year or two, he said, "the Castro regime has almost gone
out of its way to oppose progress." Axworthy is at a loss to explain it but
others, like Entwistle, say it's likely due to increasing tensions with the
Cuban-American community in Miami. It is that relationship, the former
ambassador notes, that plays havoc with the complex internal politics of Cuba.
Questions of Consistency
The Canadian position on the Quebec summit raises questions of consistency.
It's OK for Ottawa to do business and head off on trade missions with the very
undemocratic China - though Chretien did criticize Bejing's human-rights record
while so doing. And Ottawa is also inviting countries like Haiti and Colombia,
with their dubious democratic-rights records, to Quebec.
Axworthy, who is director of the Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues,
is no fan of these two states. "But I wouldn't say it's hypocritical. At
least in terms of their commitments they abide by the rules. In the case of
Cuba, they're saying, 'We'll do it our way.' "
While expressing his discouragement with Castro, he did say that in the long
term, the door must be kept open to progress. Some things the Cubans do should
not be ignored. "Cuba really does have a first-class public-health system.
In this area Canada should continue to engage actively."
The former foreign affairs minister will not be attending the Summit of the
Americas. As the date for it approaches, any optimism that it will accomplish
much diminishes. There is little chance of any significant progress toward
hemispheric free trade. In any event, experts agree that if ever such a pact
comes about, economic advantages for Canada would be very small.
But, says Axworthy, there can be great value to the summit in the larger
context of shining a light on democratic development in the hemisphere. Even
without Cuba's presence, it is this, he says, that should constitute "the
Canadian signature" on the conference.
- Lawrence Martin is Ottawa-based national-affairs columnist for Southam
News.
Copyright © 2001 CanWest Interactive and The Montreal
Gazette Group Inc., a division of Southam Publications, a CanWest Company.
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