from Dr. Eduardo Santana

Some public personalities, including editorialists at major newspapers in the United States, have expressed they are “puzzled and dismayed” by the unanimous “readmission” of Cuba to the OAS. Let me try to explain and comfort.

Cuba was suspended, not expelled, from the OAS, so it did not need to be “readmitted”. The OAS Charter has no clause whereby a state may be separated from the organization.  Cuba’s exclusion through Resolution VI adopted on 31 January 1962 at the 8th General OAS meeting was an imposition by the United States government through…

From My Perspective.  May 13, 2009
Ricardo Gonzalez
In his budget proposal for 2010, President Obama included support for Radio and TV Marti, allocating $32.5 million for the broadcasting network that beams news and information to Cuba from its base in Miami.
Aside from the obvious waste of taxpayers’ money, at a time when the President is supposedly cutting ineffective and useless spending, continuing these broadcasts sends the wrong signal to Cuba if indeed this Administration is interested in “a new beginning” with our island neighbor.
TV Marti has never been able…

From My Perspective,  Ricardo Gonzalez

One of the most disingenuous statements I have heard in a while was uttered on April 29 by Robert Wood, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, regarding President Obama’s efforts to reach out to Cuba.  While acknowledging that the Administration was “interested in dialogue with Cuba,” Mr. Wood added that he thought the international community “wants to see some steps from Havana to . . . gauge how serious the government there is,” and further noted that “we do have an embargo, and there is no plan…

From My Perspective, April 23, 2009

Since the Obama Administration announced on April 13 that the excessive and cruel restrictions on travel and sending of remittances imposed on Americans with relatives in Cuba were being lifted, expectations that U.S.-Cuban relations are about to improve have run very high.

As Obama traveled to Mexico to meet with President Felipe Calderon, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting the Dominican Republic, all in preparation for the Summit of the Americas held in Trinidad and Tobago on April 17-19, Cuban president Raul Castro was in Venezuela to…

Ricardo Gonzalez

From My Perspective April 13, 2009

The news today was indeed good.  President Barack Obama’s Administration announced that all restrictions on travel and sending remittances to Cuba by Cuban Americans would be eliminated.  This is precisely what candidate Obama promised during his long campaign for the presidency and he is to be thanked and congratulated.  We have waited nearly thirty years for this!

As much as enabling Cuban families to visit and restore their family ties is a most welcome first step, it does remain to be seen whether the President will continue…

Ricardo Gonzalez

From My Perspective April 12, 2009

On April 17, the Fifth Summit of the Americas will begin in Trinidad and Tobago.  This event will bring together the leaders of 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere whose chief common characteristic is that they are democratically elected.  When these summits began in 1994, the United States still held sway over its Latin neighbors; it was then to be expected that Cuba, isolated for 35 years and expelled from the Organization of American States (OAS) since 1962, would be excluded from the initial Summit held at…

Ricardo Gonzalez

From My Perspective April 7, 2009

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist bloc, all eyes turned to Cuba wondering if its Communist government would also fall.  Especially after the Nicaraguan elections in 1990, when the Sandinista government lost to Violeta Chamorro’s coalition, many people felt certain that it was only a matter of time before the Cuban Revolution would bite the dust:  any day now, they thought.

Then came the “Special Period,” the odd name given to the time immediately following the end of the relationship with the Soviet…

Ricardo Gonzalez
April 1, 2009
There has been great expectation about changes in U.S.-Cuba policy under the new administration of President Barack Obama.

Indeed, the President has encouraged congressional leaders to begin a process of liberalization of the draconian restrictions on travel to Cuba imposed by former President Bush in 2004, by signing the Appropriations Bill last month which included an amendment that permits Cuban Americans to travel once a year instead of once every three years, without time and money restrictions. Furthermore, the amendment makes easier the licensing process for Americans…

Memo to President Obama
BY JULIA SWEIG

CIGAR AFICIONADO asked a leading Cuba expert to provide a road map for
improving relations between the United States and its island neighbor

Cigar Aficionado
February 2009

In the first six months of your presidency, you should launch an initiative
to put to rest the half century of mutual enmity between the United States
and Cuba. Doing so represents an opportunity of both major foreign policy
reward and low domestic political risk. Mr. President, a bold initiative
with Cuba, early in…