By George Gedda, Associated Press Writer. Yahoo!
WASHINGTON, 17 (AP) - Madeleine Albright, much like her 10 immediate
predecessors, is stepping down as secretary of state with Cuban President Fidel
Castro as firmly entrenched as ever, and the prospect does not please her.
"People ask me what I'm really disappointed in,'' Albright said
recently, reflecting on her four years in office. "The Middle East is one.
The other is that I didn't see a change in Cuba.''
Castro is no less discouraged about U.S. policies. During the campaign,
Castro and his lieutenants complained that neither George W. Bush (news - web
sites) nor Al Gore (news - web sites) showed any hint of a more flexible policy
toward his regime.
Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell (news - web sites) offers Cubans
little comfort.
A decade ago, following the collapse of a number of communist regimes, some
as a result of U.S. military pressure, Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, put Cuba on a short list of hostile countries where he said change was
needed. Coming from the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s top officer, some Cuban
officials saw the remark as a warning.
Bush said in August he has no plans to ease the Cuban embargo, in place for
38 years.
"I challenge the Castro regime to surprise the world and adopt the ways
of democracy,'' he said at the time. "Until it frees political prisoners
and holds free elections and allows free speech, I will keep the current
sanctions in place.''
Says Robert Zoellick, a top foreign policy adviser to Bush and the
president-elect's pick to be U.S. trade representative: "Sadly, economic
ties to Cuba will not benefit the people. Today, they will just empower Castro's
secret police, his army, and his chokehold on the country.''
For his part, Castro has shown no interest in reaching out to the United
States. Last year, his regime erected facilities adjacent to the U.S. diplomatic
mission in Havana as a permanent venue for anti-American demonstrations.
To protest credit restrictions on otherwise newly unhindered U.S. food and
medical sales to the island, the Cuban government turned out 800,000
demonstrators last fall - almost 10 percent of the island's population.
Nationally televised anti-American round-table discussions are another regime
staple.
One indicator of the Bush administration's view of Cuba will occur in July
when it must decide whether to waive or enforce legislation that allows
Americans to sue in U.S. courts foreign companies operating on Cuban properties
that were confiscated from the Americans.
Since the law was approved in 1996, President Clinton (news - web sites)
invariably has exercised his waiver authority, much to the annoyance of
Cuban-American lawmakers and of the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, Jesse Helms, R-N.C. a co-author of the legislation.
Superficially, relations between the two countries seem frozen in time - but
that is misleading.
Dan Fisk, an associate at the conservative Heritage Foundation, notes that
pro-embargo forces have had to contend with a well-organized corporate campaign
that persuaded Congress to ease restrictions on the sale of humanitarian
necessities last year.
Fisk says the campaign is just beginning. "The long term focus is the
end of restrictions on U.S. intercourse with the island,'' he says.
Another new wrinkle under Clinton has been an emphasis on people-to-people
contacts between Americans and Cubans.
More and more Americans are visiting the island. Officials believe that such
contacts are an antidote to the regime's rhetoric and could nurture
pro-democracy sentiments, but many in the anti-Castro camp believe the
administration may have oversold the concept.
Bush is getting plenty of advice on Cuba policy.
James R. Jones, who served Clinton as ambassador to Mexico and is now linked
to the liberal Center for National Policy, says the embargo is "no longer
sustainable'' and should end. He also urges cooperative arrangements with Cuba
on such issues as countering narcotics traffickers. Clinton generally has
limited bilateral discussions to migration issues.
A panel of the Council on Foreign Relations, in a recent report, said an
easing of the embargo would help facilitate a transition in Cuba and reduce the
possibility of turmoil in the post-Castro era. This, in turn, would lessen
pressures for U.S. military intervention, the report said.
EDITOR'S NOTE - George Gedda has covered foreign affairs for The Associated
Press since 1968.
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