Cuba leadership: Díaz-Canel named Communist Party chief

Cuba's Communist Party has announced Miguel Díaz-Canel will succeed Raúl Castro as the party's first secretary.

Mr Díaz-Canel, who in 2018 succeeded Mr Castro as Cuba's president, had been widely tipped for the arguably more influential post of party leader.

The transition means that the island will be governed by someone other than Fidel or Raúl Castro for the first time since the Cuban revolution in 1959.

Read more at: Cuba leadership: Díaz-Canel named Communist Party chief - BBC News

US Government finally ends preferential treatment for Cuban immigrants and refugees and Havana hails decision

Raoul Castro and Barack Obama

The Cuban Government hailed President Barack Obama's decision to end automatic legal residency for any Cuban who touches US soil, while ordinary citizens mourned the end of an easy pathway to a new life in the United States.

Average Cubans and opponents of the island's communist leaders said they expected pressure for reform to increase with the elimination of a mechanism that siphoned off the island's most dissatisfied citizens and turned them into sources of remittances supporting relatives who remained on the island.

The repeal of the "wet foot, dry foot" policy went into effect immediately after a Thursday afternoon announcement. It followed months of negotiations focused in part on getting Cuba to agree to take back people who had arrived in the US.

Cubans fearful of an imminent end to a special immigration status bestowed during the Cold War had been flocking to the United States since the December 17, 2014 announcement that the US and Cuba would re-establish diplomatic relations and move toward normalisation. About 100,000 left for the United States after the declaration of detente, many flooding overland through South and Central America and Mexico in an exodus that irritated US allies and other immigrant groups and .

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"It was creating serious problems for the security of Cuba, for the security of the United States and for the security of our citizens left vulnerable to human trafficking, migratory fraud and violence as a result of the incentives created by these preferential policies," said Josefina Vidal, Cuba's top diplomat for US affairs.

Obama is using an administrative rule change to end the policy. Donald Trump could undo that rule after becoming president next week. He has criticised Obama's moves to improve relations with Cuba. But ending a policy that has allowed hundreds of thousands of people to come to the United States without a visa also aligns with Trump's commitment to tough immigration policies.

"This was bound to happen at some point," said Havana taxi driver Guillermo Britos, 35. "It could impose a more normal dynamic on emigration, so that not so many people die at sea, but it could also take an escape valve away from the government, which was getting hard currency from the emigrants."

President Bill Clinton created the "wet foot, dry foot" policy in 1995 as a revision of a more liberal immigration policy that allowed Cubans caught at sea to come to the United States become legal residents in a year.

The two governments have been negotiating an end to "wet foot, dry foot" for months and finalized an agreement Thursday.

"Effective immediately, Cuban nationals who attempt to enter the United States illegally and do not qualify for humanitarian relief will be subject to removal, consistent with US law and enforcement priorities," Obama said in a statement. "By taking this step, we are treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries. The Cuban government has agreed to accept the return of Cuban nationals who have been ordered removed, just as it has been accepting the return of migrants interdicted at sea."

A decades-old US economic embargo, though, remains in place, as does the Cuban Adjustment Act, which lets Cubans become permanent residents a year after legally arriving in the US.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cuba has agreed to take back those turned away from the US, if the time between their departure from Cuba and the start of deportation hearings in the US is four years or less. Officials said the timeframe is required under a Cuban law enacted after Congress passed the Cuban Adjustment Act.

Administration officials called on Congress to repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act.

Officials said the changes would not affect a lottery that allows 20,000 Cubans to come to the US legally each year.

But Cubans who had left their homeland and were trying to reach US soil when the decision was announced lamented the policy change.

"It has fallen on us like a bucket of water because were never thought that at this point and with so little time before Obama leaves office that his government would make this horrible decision," said Eugenia Diaz Hernandez, a 55-year-old Cuban in Panama whose voyage with her daughter and granddaughter had taken her through Guyana, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. "We are adrift."

Relations between the United States and Cuba were stuck in a Cold War freeze for decades, but Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro established full diplomatic ties and opened embassies in their capitals in 2015. Obama visited Havana last March. Officials from both nations met Thursday in Washington to coordinate efforts to fight human trafficking.

Obama said the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, which was started by President George W Bush in 2006, is also being rescinded. The measure allowed Cuban doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to seek parole in the US while on assignments abroad. The president said those doctors can still apply for asylum at US embassies around the world.

People already in the United States and in the pipeline under both "wet foot, dry foot" and the medical parole programme will be able to continue the process toward getting legal status.

Anti-Castro Cubans in Miami were mixed in their responses, with some expressing anger at Obama for what they called another betrayal of ordinary Cubans. Others said they thought the measure would increase pressure for change in Cuba.

"People who can't leave, they could create internal problems for the regime," said Jorge Gutierrez, an 80-year-old veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion. But he added, "From the humanitarian point of view, it's taking away the possibility of a better future from the people who are struggling in Cuba."

Note EU-Digest: US finally ends discriminatory  Cuban Immigrant and Refugee program also known as "wet foot, dry foot" which favored Cubans over other immigrants and refugees from other countries.

Read more: Havana hails end to special US immigration policy for Cubans - News - JamaicaObserver.com

Cuba - USA: In speech to Cubans, Obama seeks to bury Cold War rivalry

President Obama addressed the Cuban people from an iconic theater in Old Havana on Tuesday, promising a new chapter in the history of Cuba, its relations with the United States, and the Western Hemisphere.

"I am here to bury the last remnants of the Cold War in the Americas. I am here to extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people," Obama said.

But Obama also made clear there were still serious issues that need to be resolved before he can convince Congress to lift the 54-year-old embargo, still a major sticking point in U.S.-Cuban relations.

"Now, I want to be clear: The differences between our governments over these many years are real, and they are important. I'm sure President Castro would say the same thing," he said, acknowledging Cuban President Raul Castro, who watched the speech from a box seat. " I know, because I've heard him address those differences at length."

 Read more: In speech to Cubans, Obama seeks to bury Cold War rivalry

Cuba-USA: A new chapter in Cuba-US relations: History happening again right before our eyes - by RM

Viva Cuba - Viva USA

History is  happening right before our eyes - Cuba-USA: March 21, 2016 . The first day of Spring and also signalling a new beginning in a long-rime historic and often turbulent relationship between the USA and Cuba,

For me personally it brings back many memories, going back to when I was a kid visiting Havana, Cuba in 1957, with my parents ( two years before the Castro Revolution) - on the way from La Guaira, Venezuela to Le Havre, France.

Cuba-USA  -A new Chapter -Raoul Castro and Barack Obama - SA

Cuba at that time was a US backed "Republic" ruled by Fulgenca Batista, a ruthless dictator with close links to the US Mafia. He ruled Cuba with an iron hand, while the mob controlled all the night-life, prostitution and other criminal activities. 

The "real economy" of Cuba at that time was mainly in the hands of US multi- nationals, as was over 50 % of the sugar industry, 

The US multi-national communications giant of that time, ITT,, controlled all the communication systems on the Island. 

Fast Forward to 1980 - working for a multi-national aluminum corporation based in Pittsburgh, I was assigned to organize a "strategy planning" meeting for our Caribbean External Relations Managers. We chose the beautiful Florida Island of Key-West to hold the meeting.

Again history happened right before our eyes, when we literally saw from the hotel we were staying in Key West how droves of Cuban refugees started arriving on Key West shores - this eventually became known as the Mariel Boat Lift. 

And here today we are again in Florida, April 21,2016, watching live scenes form Cuba, with Raoul Castro and Barack Obama starting a new chapter in the Cuban US relationship - we can only hope that Cuba and the US will have learned from their past mistakes, and that greed will not, once again, become the driving force of this relationship.  

Viva Cuba, Viva USA !

 
EU-Digeswt

Cuba and European Union reach “landmark” agreement»

Raoul Castro lays wreath at the tomb of the Unknown soldier

Federica Mogherini, Vice President of the European Commission and the EU's High Representative for External Affairs and Security Policy, recently brought a delegation from the European Union (EU) to Cuba.

She announced March 11 in Havana that the EU and Cuba would soon be signing a "Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement."  Officials on both sides initialed the agreement to a bilateral negotiating process, which will be finalized after both sides complete internal review processes.

Mogherini met with Cuban President Raul Castro for three hours and joined Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez at a press conference. She described the agreement as a "landmark demonstration of the improved mutual trust and understanding between us. It creates a clear framework for intensified political dialogue, and a platform for developing joint action and cooperation on global matters." There will be "new opportunities for bilateral cooperation, both technical and financial, and policy dialogues in many sectors."

Foreign Minister Rodriguez described the agreement to reporters as an "unprecedented step," adding that "differences in some areas still exist, but we can manage them in an appropriate way."

According to a joint statement, the "parties attest the conclusion of the negotiations ... which will enable [them] to consolidate relations between Cuba and the European Union in the medium and long-term, a relation based on reciprocity, respect and mutual benefit"

The EU delegation in Cuba included Neven Mimica, European Commissioner for International Development and Cooperation, who met with Cuban government ministers responsible for foreign commerce and investment, natural resources, agriculture, and economic planning. He also conferred with ambassadors of EU countries represented in Havana. Other experts on the EU team visited projects already receiving EU funding, among them "sustainable agricultural initiatives and activities relating to the social and economic integration of Cuban young people."

In her remarks, the EU foreign affairs head mentioned that, "the end of negotiations and upcoming signature of the Agreement mark the end of the EU's 1996 Common Position as the Union's instrument defining its external relations with Cuba."

The "Common Position" took shape in 1996, partly as the result of pressure from Spain. An observer describes it as having been a unilateral process requiring the EU periodically to monitor Cuba's attention to human rights and then to decide on trade and cooperation matters based on whether rights were honored, or not. NGOs, not the Cuban government, received any humanitarian aid from the EU.

Nevertheless, trade and other contacts expanded until 2003. That year the Cuban government jailed 73 so-called dissidents, many of them funded by the U. S. government, and EU countries cut back on relations. After a while, again influenced by Spain, the EU eased its sanctions, and in April 2008 announced its decision to pursue a process leading to rapprochement.

Over the next six years the EU provided Cuba with support for post - hurricane reconstruction, agricultural initiatives, education services, and more - all together worth 140 million euros. Since April 2014 seven rounds of formal talks have taken place. Later that year the EU announced a six-year program of grants totaling 50 million euros directed at modernization of Cuba's economy and programs on food security and environmental sustainability. The pace quickened in recent months as the presidents of Austria and France and the prime minister of Italy visited the island. President Raul Castro made a state visit to France in February 2016.

The U. K. Guardian attributes the EU shift and the recent agreement to "interest by European countries in maintaining their position as trading partners with Cuba." Data suggest that's a status quo well worth preserving, and for both sides.  A recent report identifies the EU as the top recipient of Cuba's exports, absorbing 27 percent of them. The EU is Cuba's biggest foreign investor and accounts for one third of tourists to Cuba.  And, "The EU is Cuba's second most important trading partner, (accounting for 22% of total Cuban trade) and the second biggest source of Cuban imports (21%)."

Ultimately, says Reuters, "Cuba wants capital, and the European Union wants influence." Another analyst, Sarah Stephens of Americas Quarterly, thinks the EU may have pursued negotiations after first concluding that "Raúl Castro's leadership has changed in some fundamental ways the circumstances in which Cuban citizens live and work." She suggests also that the EU, long having acquiesced to U. S. pressure for a hard line on Cuba, now is enjoying some autonomy, which exists because the United States itself is opening up to Cuba.

"We agree that the U.S. embargo is completely obsolete and outdated," Federica Mogherini announced at the press conference. She denounced extraterritorial effects of the U. S. blockade as illegal.

"The EU position is clear," she declared: "we don't accept that EU companies are penalized." She promised that "both Cuba and EU will work with the U.S. to push for an end of these measures, which cause undue harm to Cuban people and society."

Note EU-Digest: In December, the Paris Club of creditor countries forgave $8.5 billion of overdue Cuban interest payments in exchange for Cuba’s promise to pay off $2.6 billion in loans from developed countries over the next year and a half. France, to which Cuba owed $4 billion in overdue loans, led the creditors’ negotiations.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article57717108.html#storylink=cpy

Read more: European Union, Cuba reach “landmark” agreement » peoplesworld

US removes Cuba from list of state sponsors of terror - BBC News

The United States has removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The move eliminates a major obstacle toward restoring diplomatic ties. The change allows Cuba to conduct banking in the United States, among other activities.

President Barack Obama announced a historic thaw with Cuba in December, but the US trade embargo against the country remains, and may only be ended by Congress.

The removal has been one of Cuba's key demands, as leaders from both countries have repeatedly met to negotiate the details of restoring diplomatic relations, including the opening of embassies in Washington and Havana.

The action comes as signs of difficulty were seen in recent talks between US and Cuban diplomats.

Read more: US removes Cuba from list of state sponsors of terror - BBC News

Panama: Obama meets Raul Castro in highest-level U.S.-Cuba talks in decades

History in the making: Raoul Castro and Barack Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama met Cuban President Raul Castro on Saturday in the highest-level talks between the two countries in nearly 60 years, and the two men agreed to push ahead on improving relations after decades of hostility.

Describing their private meeting as "historic," Obama said the two countries can now end the antagonism of the Cold War era, although he said he would continue to pressure the communist-led country on democracy and human rights.

"Obviously there are still going to be deep and significant differences between our two governments," Obama told Castro as they met in Panama, where they both attended a summit of leaders from across the Americas.

The U.S. president said he believed both sides could raise their concerns about the other's policies yet still work together to boost commercial, travel and diplomatic ties.

"The Cold War is over ... Cuba is not a threat to the United States," Obama later told reporters, pointing out that at 53, he wasn't even born when Castro and his brother Fidel seized power in the 1959 Cuban revolution.

The meeting followed a landmark agreement in December, when Obama and Castro announced they would move to normalize relations, including seeking to restore diplomatic ties that were broken off by Washington in 1961.

Obama said he decided to overturn longstanding U.S. policy on Cuba because the old approach of open hostility and economic sanctions had failed to force through major changes on the Caribbean island and it was time to try something new.

Read more: Obama meets Raul Castro in highest-level U.S.-Cuba talks in decades - SWI swissinfo.ch

The American Continent: The Americas summit could be historic - by Miodrag Soric

The 7th Summit of the Americas is different from its predecessors. A delegation from Cuba is
participating for the first time – a sign of the thaw between Cuba and the United States.

"Cuba today is no longer what it was during the Cold War – the long arm of the USSR. Consequently, much that was true in the past is no longer true today," said Carl E. Meacham from the conservative Center for Strategic and International Studies in an interview with DW.

US President Barack Obama knows that today's Cuba receives hardly any aid from Moscow. Instead, Havana is dependent on oil shipments from Venezuela, a country left economically weak by bad administration and the low price of oil.

The thawing of political relations with Havana is not just down to President Obama, who sees it as part of his foreign policy legacy. "There's a consensus in the foreign policy establishment that this is a way to get rid of the Cuban government more quickly," says Mark Weisbrot of the left-wing Center for Economic and Policy Research. "Whether that will actually work in the long run is a whole other story."

More than a month before the summit, the US imposed sanctions on members of the Venezuelan government for gross human rights abuses. Since then, the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, has constantly whipped up emotions over so-called "American aggression." By doing so, he is trying to divert attention away from Venezuela's disastrous economic situation.

Other states such as Cuba, Ecuador and Bolivia have shown solidarity with Maduro. At the current summit the US will be watching closely to see which other states decide to follow their example.
Carl E. Meacham from the Center for Strategic and International Studies defends Obama's decision. "The sanctions were imposed on seven important members of the government because of human rights abuses that took place during the February 2014 uprising," he says.

"The foreign assets of these government ministers have been frozen, and they can't get a visa for the United States. Washington acts, and the countries in the region do not."

Read more: The Americas summit could be historic | Americas | DW.DE | 09.04.2015

Caribbean - Cuba: EU to start talks with Cuba on a co-operation accord

Havana, Cuba

The European Union (EU) will agree next month to deepen relations with Cuba in its most significant overture to the communist island since the bloc lifted diplomatic sanctions in 2008, people close to the matter have told Reuters.

Foreign ministers from the EU’s 28 countries will give the go-ahead on February 10 to launch talks with Havana on a special co-operation accord to increase trade, investment and dialogue on human rights. The pact could be agreed by the end of 2015.

"Cuba wants capital and the EU wants influence," said one person involved in the talks who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. "This co-operation could serve as a prelude to much more."

Two other people with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters that a consensus had been reached in Brussels to give momentum to Cuba’s market-oriented reforms under President Raul Castro and to position European companies for any transition to a more capitalist economy there in the longer term.

While the initial effect of a co-operation agreement will be limited, the symbolism is huge for the EU, whose ties with Cuba had been strained since it imposed sanctions in 2003 in response to Havana’s arrest of 75 dissidents.

he EU is Cuba’s biggest foreign investor and Cuba’s second biggest trading partner after Venezuela, and a third of the tourists to the island every year come from the EU.

Cuba recently opened a Chinese-style special economic zone and is preparing a new foreign investment law.

The country is seeking foreign investment at its port facilities in Mariel Bay to take advantage of the expansion of the Panama Canal.

Read more: EU to start talks with Cuba on a co-operation accord | Americas | BDlive

Vatican: Benedict arrives in Cuba as 'pilgrim of charity'

The Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba on Monday in the footsteps of his more famous predecessor, saying he holds great affection for Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits and has heartfelt hopes for reconciliation.

President Raul Castro warmly greeted the pope, who said he was coming as "a pilgrim of charity" as he arrived at the sweltering airport in Santiago, Cuba's second largest city.

The Catholic pontiff, who last week said Marxism "no longer responds to reality," gave a more gentle tweak to his hosts by expressing sympathy for all islanders, including prisoners.

For more: Benedict arrives in Cuba as 'pilgrim of charity'