U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative

'A Family Business' (Finanical Times Analysis Online)

To the generation of Cuban exiles that has spent almost half a century dreaming of the day Fidel Castro left power, last week came as a cruel disappointment.

While the legendary revolutionary leader finally stepped down as head of state, the communist government he set up maintains its grip on a calm and stable Cuba. With no sign of a fundamental policy shift in Havana, Washington is also continuing the economic embargo introduced… more

Joshua Kurlantzick: It's Time to End the Cuban Embargo (Dallas Morning News opinion piece)

...John McCain has indicated he would continue the current policy. And as Washington policy analyst Steve Clemons notes, Mike Huckabee, who backed greater engagement with Cuba when he was governor of Arkansas, now says he wants to put still more pressure on Havana.

So, even as Cuba and the world changes, the candidates seem stuck in the past, keeping a shrinking number of Cuban-American voters… more

Castro, primaries - food, fuel for blogosphere (San Francisco Chronicle)

It came as a shock that, after 50 years in power, Castro has conceded he is no longer physically up to the job of running Cuba and is transferring the reins of power (well almost) to his brother, Raul. What this all means was taken up at links.sfgate.com/ZCNE by Steven C. Clemons. He says that what is lost amid all the reporting of the moment is that… more

U.S.-Cuba Foreign Policy (American AM Talk Radio/WWPR)

"Our embargo does withhold certain amounts of economic activity, but its very clear that Cuba has aligned itself globally that it can circumvent us and that means we are simply in an ineffective situation where we are no longer relevant," said Steve Clemons in an interview with Henry Raines. Clemons directs the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation.

Listen to the audio from Clemon's interview here and please visit http://americanam.podomatic.com.… more

A broker's role for Canada (Toronto Star)

...Patrick Doherty, the director of the Washington-based U.S.-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative [New America Foundation], said any such effort by Ottawa and like-minded allies could be "catalytic'' for any change coming with a new president.

The Bush administration made it clear it would be making no changes in its policy. For five decades, the U.S. has restricted trade, travel and commerce with Cuba. Family visits and cash remittances from Americans to the island's residents are… more

Fidel Castro's Resignation Gives American Inventors New Hope For Havana (Nightly Business Report/PBS)

Patrick Doherty, New America Foundation: "Fidel Castro has the ability to blame the United States for anything that goes wrong in Cuba but because of our embargo and because of that, we've been able to preserve one of the few remaining communist states by creating ourselves as a scapegoat." more

U.S. Cuba policy could get new look (USA Today)

...Retired colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, co-chair of the U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative [New America Foundation] and chief of staff to former secretary of State Colin Powell, said it was clear to most Americans that "our Cuba policy is a failure." more

For Cuba Experts, Castro Presents Opportunity for Change (New York Times blog/The Lede)

...While some experts saw change already afoot, others on a conference call convened today by the New America Foundation were fiercely critical of Washington’s refusal to end its economic embargo of Cuba, including strict travel restrictions.

“Our policy from Cuba is a relic from the Cold War,” Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, who was on the call, told reporters. “And quite frankly, it’s an embarrassment.” Others… more

U.S./Cuba: Justice Not So Blind in Politically Charged Cases (Inter Press Service News)

...At an event last week, Leonard Weinglass, an attorney for the agents -- who are better known as the "Cuban Five" -- argued that the tough treatment given his clients exposed hypocrisy in the so-called "war on terror". Speaking at the New America Foundation, a centrist Washington think tank, he sought to contrast the treatment of his clients with that of Luis Posada Carriles and… more

Join the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program for a presentation by Leonard Weinglass, defense attorney for Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González, also known as the Cuban Five.

These five individuals were sent by the Cuban government to gather intelligence on extremist Cuban exile organizations such as the Cuban American National Foundation, Brothers to the Rescue, Commandos F4 and Alpha 66 -- some of which have been allegedly complicit in numerous terrorist acts on the… more