Latin America’s push to bring Cuba back into the fold Engaging Cuba: Policy Options for the United States, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere November 16, 2009 5 th Floor Conference Room Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars 9:15 AM – 12:30 PM Professor Jorge Heine The Centre for International Governance Innovation www.cigionline.org
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Latin America’s push to bring Cuba back into the fold
Latin America’s push to bring Cuba back into the fold. Professor Jorge Heine The Centre for International Governance Innovation www.cigionline.org. Engaging Cuba: Policy Options for the United States, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere November 16, 2009 5 th Floor Conference Room - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Latin America’s push to bring Cuba back into the fold
Engaging Cuba: Policy Options for the United States, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere
November 16, 20095th Floor Conference Room
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars9:15 AM – 12:30 PM
Professor Jorge HeineThe Centre for International Governance Innovation
Cuba as an emblematic issue for Latin America and the
Caribbean
• Always been so, but especially so in the course of this decade• A post-Cold War environment• A more assertive region, with political stability and economic prosperity• Diversified diplomatic links and international markets• Cuban situation as a relic of an era of regional subordination
Latin American and Caribbean Embassies in
CubaLatin American and Caribbean Embassies in Cuba
Total -- 30 GuyanaAntigua and Barbuda HaitiArgentina HondurasBahamas JamaicaBarbados MexicoBelize NicaraguaBolivia PanamaBrazil ParaguayChile PeruColombia Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesCosta Rica Saint Kitts and NevisDominican Republic Saint LuciaDominica Trinidad and TobagoEcuador UruguayGranada VenezuelaGuatemala
Compiled using: Cuban Ministry of Foreign RelationsAvailable at: http://www.cubaminrex.cu/English/Embassies/Inicio.html
Cuban Embassies in Latin American and Caribbean
countriesCuban Embassies in Latin American and Caribbean Countries
Total -- 31 GuyanaAntigua and Barbuda HaitiArgentina HondurasBahamas JamaicaBarbados MexicoBelize NicaraguaBolivia PanamaBrazil ParaguayChile PeruColombia Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesDominican Republic Saint Kitts and NevisDominica Saint LuciaEcuador SalvadorGranada SurinameGuatemala Trinidad and Tobago
Uruguay
Venezuela
Compiled using: Cuban Ministry of Foreign RelationsAvailable at: http://www.cubaminrex.cu/English/Embassies/Inicio.html
An issue which generates unanimous support
• The Latin American and Caribbean Summit in Costa de Saipe on 16-17 Dec. 08• The invitation to Cuba to join the Rio Group• The letter signed by all heads of state and government asking the US to end the embargo on Cuba• The follow-up with many state visits to Havana
Visits to Cuba in 2009So far this year Cuba has received the visits from:- President Evo Morales, Bolivia- President Fernando Lugo, Paraguay- President Martin Torrijos, Panama- President Rafael Correa, Ecuador- President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina- President Michelle Bachelet, Chile- President Álvaro Colom, Guatemala- President Leonel Fernández, Dominican Republic- President Manuel Zelaya, Honduras- President Hugo Chávez, Venezuela- President Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua- Prime Minister David Thompson, Barbados- and several other Caribbean leaders.
** President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, Brazil, visited in 2008
Source: “Paraguayan president, tenth Latin leader to visit Cuba this year”, MercoPress, 2 June 2009Available at, http://en.mercopress.com/2009/06/02/paraguayan-president-tenth-latam-leader-to-visit-cuba-this-year
Latin American Engagement with Cuba
The OAS resolution in the San Pedro Sula meeting in
June 2009
• A major breakthrough in lifting the 1962 resolution that had suspended Cuba
Cuban Imports: Latin America and Caribbean
(in US$million)
Source: IMF Direction of Trade Statistics Database. Available at, http://www.imfstatistics.org/dot/
Mexico’s historical position on the Cuban question
• Basic principles of Mexican foreign policy• Not an issue of Left or Right, but on how to conduct foreign relations• Stance of Government of President Felipe Calderón falls squarely in that position
Brazil’s and Chile’s strong commitment to “bringing
Cuba back in”
• President Lula visited Cuba twice in 2008, and hosted Costa de Saipe Summit• President Bachelet was the first Chilean president to visit Cuba in 37 years (Feb 09)
Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s position on
Cuba
• Cubans’ sense of ownership of the Revolution• Need to respect that and not bet on stirring up further conflicts• Start talks between Washington and Havana, but without artificial deadlines or conditions
President Obama’s Latin American policy and the
Cuban question
• Despite a crowded agenda, some early signals of interest in the region• Lack of movement on trade• Mixed signals on Honduras• Policy toward Cuba as a litmus test