Promoting Democracy in Cuba - Research Paper Example

Running head: Promoting Democracy in Cuba Exploring the Main Characteristics of the Topic and Sub-Region of Cuba That Deals With International Relations Introduction Promoting democracy in countries that violate human rights is one of the goals of the U.S. government. Lack of democracy in Cuba has been a cause of concern over the years. In their quest to gain freedom, a number of Cuban citizens have fled to the U.S. where they have been granted refugee status. However, the people who remain in Cuba have to continuously deal with the trampling of their rights by the Cuban government. Collins (3) indicates that since the early 1990’s the United States has funded a number of programs that are geared towards the promotion of democracy in Cuba. These programs are all managed by the USAID. However, the programs have been affected by the arrest of USAID employee Alan Cross in December 2009 on spy charges (Collins 1). This arrest may have far-reaching consequences for future relations between the U.S. and Cuba as forty members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed another letter warning Cuba that improvements in the relationship between the two countries were contingent on the release of Alan Cross. Collins (2) however points to a lack of transparency in terms of the organizations that are funded under the program. This has resulted in monies going to waste with the dissidents getting a tiny portion. This is accompanied by corruption and fraud in a number of instances. Historically, the relationship between Cuba and the U.S. has been strained because of its communist tendencies and an economic blockade has been in place since the early 1960’s. The Cuban people were restricted in terms of what they could own and in their communication with people outside of their country. However, since Raul Castro has succeeded his brother Fidel as President he introduced some changes in terms of relaxing the restrictions on ownership of mobile phones and computers (BBC News 6). Raul Castro’s action will definitely go a far way as it represents a small step in the right direction. Historical Data and Information The US -Cuba international relations sharply fell when Fidel Castro began creating a communist regime with close support and ties with the Soviet Union and it still remains a hard-line communist state to date (Sullivan 14). The two countries developed bad blood that has spanned several decades with very unfortunate diplomatic incidents that only helped to galvanize the tense and hostile relations of the two countries. The United States broke all diplomatic ties when it orchestrated a secret covert campaign to topple Fidel Castro in April 1962 in an operation famously known as the Bay of Pigs invasion that failed miserably. This was closely followed by another diplomatic failure in which the Soviet Union, a close ally of Cuba, wanted to place missile weapons in Cuba that resulted in the United States developing a confrontational stance (Sullivan 14). The communist and dictatorial tendencies of Fidel Castro saw his country support guerrilla movements and several revolutionary governments around the world which did not auger well with the American capitalist regime and it felt its security interests compromised (Sullivan 14). Since 1959, when Fidel Castro gained the countries leadership through a popular uprising which routed the corrupt government of Fulgencio Batista from power, Fidel Castro consolidated his power and he became dictatorial violently crushing any opposition from within the country. To retain his hold in power, his communist government has traditionally curtailed the Cuban people basic human, civic, and political rights. The freedoms of expression, association, and movement among many other fundamental basic rights are severely restricted and those who expose, speak against, or push for a more freer country are harshly silenced without any humane or legal considerations. The dictatorial government changed the constitution and has historically arrested and jailed human right activists, journalists, and citizens who dare to oppose the Castro Regime. Through a well established surveillance system, political activists and opponents of the Fidel Castro regime have been rendered impotent as the government is always on their tails (Sullivan 9). Using undercover agents, paid informers, neighborhood security committees, and rapid response brigades the government has successfully succeeded in oppressing the people with no chance of free choice. With the security and prison forces having the mandate to suppress any opposition, they regularly use violence against the political detainees and coupled with the inhuman conditions in the prison system the Cuban people suffer silently. Many Cubans have escaped from Cuba and sought refuge in other countries notably the United States, which has offered political asylum to hundreds of thousands of refugees since Fidel Castro rose to power. Many exiled Cubans with the support of the United States have assisted willing and targeted Cubans escape their mother land successfully. In 1980, over a hundred thousand Cubans escaped to the United States in an operation called the Mariel boatlift followed by the interdiction of another thirty thousand Cubans in 1996 that were sheltered by the United States in panama and Guantanamo bay (Sullivan 16). The Cuban regime uses all means to prevent people relocating to other countries as evidenced by the shooting down of United States civilian airplanes operated by Cuban American group, which ran a mission to rescue other Cubans entrapped in Cuba (Sullivan 17). The United States has been at the fore front pushing for a change in the Cuban regime and it has used economic sanctions as one means of making Cuba use democratically accepted governing principles. It has passed numerous legislations aimed at forcing Cuba to adopt democratic tendencies. The Cuban democracy act (CDA) of 1992 (P.L.102-484, Title XVII and the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 (P.L.104-114) referred to as the Helms-Burton Legislation were harsh acts formulated to severely restrict the economic viability of the dictatorial Cuban regime. Though the helms-Burton law had been rejected by the United States law makers, it was reintroduced and passed when Cuban fighter jets shot down two American planes killing four United States citizens during a rescue mission to help Cubans targeted by the Fidel Castro regime (Sullivan 17). The hems- Burton act continues to reinforce the United States embargo against Cuba as the penalties it imposes on foreign companies dealing in confiscated property owned by United States citizens and Cuban who have become United States citizens are deterrent to prospective investors. The law indirectly discourages any economic activities with the Cuban government to foreign companies who enjoy trade relations with the United States. The penalties and the restrictions on the United States market made foreign, local and international companies give Cuba a wide berth as the United States had a larger market and enjoyed a powerful position in the world trade which could substantially reduce any company’s profits. The act successfully denied Cuba new investments, it minimized formal integration of the Cuban country in international and regional markets, conventions, and trade bodies; and accordingly the law would accelerate Cuba’s transition towards democracy. The United States was the largest source of economic support to Cuba through aid and other remittances (Font 3) and its withdrawal had significant effects on the country’s economy. The hard economic effects the law affected on Cuba were mitigated by support from its communist neighbor the Soviet Union and the remittances from the Cubans living in America who defied the travel embargoes imposed by their host country (Font 3). The anti-market principles and socialist principles instituted by Castro regime scared potential foreign investors ironically supplementing the United States sanctions (Font 4). The stipulation of the laws far exceeded the United States mandate in international relations and law and the laws was hotly opposed by the council of Europe, the European Union, Britain, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and other United States allies that had cordial trade relations with the United States (Sullivan 22). Most of these states enacted laws that neutralized the helms button law as it had jurisdiction over business people outside America investing in Cuba. This opposition led to amendments of the law and title III of the law was suspended indefinitely (Font 4). The helms -Burton laws brought to the fore front the United nations dominance in the trade blocks and this increased opposition towards the Cuban embargo and though the act led to considerable change in the Cuban development progress other alternative avenues for compelling Cuba to stop its human rights abuses and embrace democracy were fronted by other nations and Cuban neighbors. The law mostly affected the defenseless and poor Cubans making the act unfavorable to human right groups’ media, some nations (Font 4) and large businesses organizations. Though the helms -Burton laws was opposed by a majority of United States allies. They all called on the Cuban government to embrace full democratization and economic liberalization during the Ibero- American summit which had the participation of Mexico, Canada and Latin American leaders who advocated the incorporation of Cuba in the regions multilateral bodies as a means of democratizing Cuba. They strengthened their resolutions with the Chilean president Eduardo Frei stating that the Cuban political system was not democratic (Font 7). He said that legitimate democracy built on respect for human rights can only be achieved through honest elections (Font 7). Though opposed to the hard-line United States stance, Latin -America developed a more assertive cooperated and diplomatic position to pressure the Cuban government to give her people democracy. Faced by crippling embargoes from the United States, Cuba had to form strong international relations with her neighbors for the socialist system to survive. They had to bend to external influences so that they could be fully reintegrated into the regions multilateral bodies. This could be of significance to Cuba as its alliance with Latin America would make it able to access larger economic units and help it have some form of leverage in the international relations. If the Cuban policy makers opted to adopt and embrace the recommendations made by the Latin American block, Mexico and Canada, a path towards democratization would have begun and it would have led to the country rushing its democratic process. With progress in human rights and democracy, the United States would have lifted up the stiff embargoes and Cuba would have received unprecedented support towards democracy and development. But the success of the Ibero American summits would also have failed because the Cuban government and its policy makers knew that most of the world’s leadership, and trade blocs would perpetually oppose any laws or acts that hindered trade and business development and in this Cuba had an upper hand. With Fidel Castro knack for portraying America as inherently wanting to gain undue advantages and exploit Cuba, most of the citizens who were forever isolated and insulated from the rest of the world would blindly support their government making any moves towards liberalization and democracy very difficult. The United States has a powerful position in the world which helps to promote and advance globalization and regional cooperation. Cuba is not a security threat today and the United States should change its tactics towards moving Cuba to democracy. This could thrust the island into the international arena which advocates for change and it would place Cuba in no position to resist calls for democracy. This would lead to a long term economic recovery process and the Cuban people would gladly capitalize on the new opportunities before them. The Fidel Castro regime has been forced to change over time by the persistent and active calls for peaceful transitions to democracy; various events have accelerated the process and led to significant progress in the democratization process. The United States government has ran various programs since the 1990s to promote democracy and they are uniquely ran and managed by USAID (Sullivan 44). The costly United States government initiatives to promote a peaceful democratic process have failed miserably mainly due bad policies, lack of accountability and transparency and prevalent corruption in the USAID programs (Collins 4). USAID has increasingly been criticized for its lack of integrity in fulfilling its mandate and their unstructured operation in Cuba. The groups Cuban operations have faced increased scrutiny following Alan Gross arrest and imprisonment in Cuba that resulted in a diplomatic hitch between the two countries with the United States legislators warning Cuba that their good relations were based on the unconditional release of Mr. Alan Gross; who Cuban authorities refereed as a United States spy (Collins 2). The programs legality and scope of operations in Cuba has raised new concerns in the American public and government agencies and Cuban activists who push for democratization in Cuba after several nongovernmental organizations, that the group claimed Alan Gross worked with, denied any knowledge of him. Democracy must be promoted in Cuba because it caters for every group or person in the world. A democratic and accountable Cuban government would institute principles which would protect the rule of law, freedom of association, freedom of the press and private property rights (Sherrill 112). Democracy promotion has become an accepted foreign policy in the international community because countries that are not democratic have the potential to destabilize and cause security concerns to entire regions and stability has to been maintained to prevent terrorist activities against neighbor countries. Cuban economic problems increased with the collapse of state socials in Eastern Europe leading to the economy declining to dangerous levels (Centeno and Font 174). The government needed to develop a state centered development plan or seek external support from the international community. The country opted to economically advance itself through expansion of the tourism sector in collaboration with foreign investors and the legalization of the use of the United States dollars. The country has liberalized its foods and craft production (Font 1) empowering the people who now could participate though at lower levels to the country’s development. These strategies helped stabilize the local currency due to the dollars circulating in the economy and hence the country was able to effectively trade without creating a financial crisis with external partners. Though the external sectors of the economy have grown significantly the internal economy has continued to be depressed with the critical sugar sector remaining stagnant (Font 1). This is a result of the socialist tendencies of collectivism and non -market external support (Font 2). With Cuba receiving socialist support from the Soviet Union in the early 1970s, it was rather secure from the international market forces that crippled much of Latin Americas development but with declining support from the Soviet Union in the early 90s its socialist model began to suffer and it had to create new international relationships that could allow fill the gap voided by loss of markets, aid and resources. To integrate with the regional international community, Cuba embarked in strategic policy making and market oriented changes that were aimed at incorporation and admission into the major trading blocs in the western hemisphere (Font 2). Analysis In promoting democracy in Cuba, the United States and the European countries have adopted two different approaches with the United States advocating political means to achieve democracy while the European Union advocates and promotes democracy building efforts through development. According to the United States policies, a democratic political system is the most probable and sure way of ensuring basic human rights, political and civil rights are upheld in any society. Thus, they advocate democracy through use of political mechanism. The United States refused to recognize Fidel Castro government because Fidel Castro was not elected in a competitive election. He rose to power through a popular uprising and has never held any elections in his country, hence his penchant for abusing human, civil, and political rights of his countrymen. Fidel Castro regime was dictatorial and he ruthlessly crushed any political opposition, through imprisonment and long jail terms. The United States supports groups and Non Governmental organizations and activists that fight the Fidel Castro regime and supports initiatives that educate or link Cubans to the rest of the world. The European Union strategy is based on supporting democracy through advocating for democratic structures that enhance transparency, accountability, and systems that contribute to the social and economic well being of the whole Cuban society. They promote democratization through social, economic, civil, and political gains in a gradual process without necessarily advocating for regime change. The United States advocates direct intervention to bring change in Cuba which can only be done by complete regime change and hence most of its sanctions and policies are aimed at making the Fidel Castro regime fail. However, the Latin American regional block and the European Union probably held that the Cuban society was not ready for democratization and hence their passive approach advocating a mechanism to bring about social and economic growth that would effectively and gradually lead to democratization. Conclusion The concerted effort of the United States, the European Union and the Latin American regional block has succeeded in making some significant gains towards democratization in Cuba. Cuba is now opening up to the world and gradually incorporating policies aimed at liberating its people from the iron-grip hold Fidel Castro regime had on the country. All the current and existing policies have failed in promoting democracy in Cuba and the United States embargoes have contributed to the suffering of innocent Cuban citizens. The nutrition, health, and education standards are particularly affected by the embargoes and Cuba continues to lag behind in development making life unbearable for the weakest members of the society. The recent 2003 persecution of journalist, activists, and economists served as a wakeup call for the European nations who witnessed the extent of human right abuses taking place in Cuba. With changing times, new policies need to be formulated to be able to address the Cuban problem once and for all. The United States and the European Union should work hand in hand to develop a unified front that can aggressively push Cuba to a democracy using well formulated policies and well run joint programs. It should remove all travel bans, lift all existing sanctions, and travel regulations that would open up Cuba to foreign investors and tourists. This would lead to radical changes in the Cuban landscape as socializing with the foreigner would have a beneficial effect to the Cuban populace. Removing investment sanctions would benefit all countries concerned and would empower the people of Cuba who have long been economically impoverished making them vulnerable and powerless. Tourism and entrepreneurism would lead to more technological development information flow, and this would expose the lies Castro regime has been peddling for years. Information is power and Cubans would wake up and demand change that would pressure the regime to accelerate democracy. Works Cited BBC News. “Profile: Raul Castro.” BBC News, 2011. Web. 18 Apr 2012. Centeno Miguel Ángel and Font Mauricio. Toward a New Cuba? Boulder: Lynn Rienner. 1996. Print Collins, Michael. “Cuba: Democracy Promotion Programs under Fire as Fallout from Spy Arrest Continues.” Upside down World, 2010. Web. 18 Apr 2012. . Font, Mauricio. “Advancing Democracy in Cuba: The International Context.” Presented at Symposium: Economic Integration and Democracy: Latin America and Cuba Instituto de Estudios Internacionales, Santiago de Chile, May 26-27, 1997. Sherrill, Clifton. “Promoting Democracy: Results of Democratization Efforts in the Philippines”, Asian Affairs. 2006 p.212 Sullivan, Mark. Cuba: Issues for the 109th Congress: CRS Report for Congress. 2005. Order Code RL32730 Read More