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Hints at renewing ties
with Cuba
By Marifeli Perez-Stable,
mps_opinion@comcast.net. Posted on Thu,
Feb. 15, 2007 in The
Miami Herald.
Mexican President Felipe Calderón
just passed the hundred-day mark. Expectations
weren't high -- demonstrating the forcefulness
that eluded his predecessor and broadening
his reach beyond a bare-bones electoral
win -- but he did all right. Deployment
of nearly 30,000 troops against drug traffickers
in six Mexican states quickly showed the
president's mettle and won him high standing
in public opinion.
Soon enough, clouds gathered all the same.
In mid-January, the rising cost of tortillas
-- the basic staple, whether hugging lobster
or humbler ingredients -- presented Calderón
with his first domestic crisis. Ongoing
still, this crisis is emblematic of the
Mexican maze, which neither NAFTA (1994)
nor Vicente Fox's administration (2000-2006)
did much to clear, and will be the subject
of my next column. Foreign policy -- specifically,
relations with Cuba -- stirred the always
brewing pot of nationalism, which I address
today.
The script is familiar. In Latin America,
only Mexico defied the United States and
maintained normal relations with Cuba after
the revolution came to power. For many Mexican
politicos, noninterference in other countries'
internal affairs was and is a sacrosanct
principle. Nothing political is so pristine,
however. For decades, Mexican intelligence
services cooperated with the CIA on Cuban
matters. And by denouncing Augusto Pinochet's
human-rights abuses, Mexico blinked the
holy writ aside. The list of instances is
long.
Principles aside, Cuba has been a means
to burnish Mexico's nationalist credentials.
As in the United States, domestic political
considerations weigh heavily on Mexican
policy toward the island. Even before Fox
dislodged the Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI) from the presidency, Cuba policy
was changing. As the citizenry embraced
human rights and democracy, both played
a larger hand in Mexican foreign policy.
Unfortunately, that wasn't all. When President
Ernesto Zedillo started moving away from
the traditional policy, Cuba entered the
PRI's internal struggles. Recalcitrant PRI
followers -- known as dinosaurs -- resisted
the efforts of those within the party who
let the past be, and looked forward. Bashing
Pinochet was one thing; doing the same to
Fidel Castro quite another.
Even if it had been flawlessly implemented,
Fox's Cuba policy would still have been
anathema to the old-school PRI and their
kin, the Party of the Democratic Revolution
(PRD). The debate has always been more about
Mexico than Cuba. Today's Mexico is a far
cry from what it was 25 years ago. Civil
liberties, competitive elections and macroeconomic
stability are now part of the landscape.
Nonetheless, much is left to be done regarding
citizen empowerment, economic competitiveness
and social justice.
How to get from here to there is the heart
of the matter. Mexico's political class
is split between those who fully embrace
competition -- economic and political --
and those who fall back on the corporatist
controls of the past. Why shouldn't a Mexico
that already has traveled down the first
road craft a new foreign policy, Cuba included?
If Mexico isn't the same, neither is Cuba.
Though not yet near a democratic transition,
Cuba is amid a succession that should be
followed closely. For Zedillo's and, especially,
Fox's policies to have succeeded, Havana
-- i.e., the Comandante -- would have had
to accept the new rules of engagement, which
he refused to do. It really does take two
to tango.
What will Raúl do?
Will Raúl Castro follow suit or
break new paths in the island's external
relations? Neither Mexico nor Cuba benefits
from the tensions of the past few years.
Two days ago, Patricia Espinosa, Mexico's
foreign minister, announced an acercamiento
-- a rapprochement -- toward Cuba. Without
the elder Castro, Mexico and Cuba could
well forge ties that leave the past behind.
Calderón is walking a foreign-policy
tightrope (domestic as well, but that's
in two weeks). He is committed to giving
Mexico a higher Latin American profile without
diminishing the indispensable relationship
with the United States. Obstacles abound:
Brazil, for instance, doesn't want Mexico
in South America. Yet, there are opportunities
that should not be missed such as Cuba's.
Through dialogue and diplomacy, Mexico,
Brazil and others in the region could help
the island land softly from its long national
nightmare. Along the way, however, Castro's
victims over five decades must -- one way
or another -- be given the recognition and
respect long denied them.
Marifeli Pérez-Stable is vice president
for democratic governance at the Inter-American
Dialogue in Washington, D.C., and a professor
at Florida International University.
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