Cuba

Engaging Cuba on Human Rights

Erin Drankoski — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:19:00 -0500

Normalization of U.S. relations with Cuba was widely seen as exactly the kind of high-value, low-hanging fruit that would be ideal for a president elected under the banner of "change." But a scathing new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, "New Castro, Same Cuba," will make lifting sanctions against the Castro regime -- on travel, remittances, trade -- more difficult for President Obama.

Science at the Leading Edge Versus Embargo | Cuba Headlines

Cecille Isidro — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:06:00 -0500

Steve Clemons, director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation and one of the delegation members, says in a Washington Note blog ...

Cuba | Foreign Policy

Cecille Isidro — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:45:00 -0400

Steve Clemons, New America's foreign-policy chief and the editor of The Washington Note, organized the event and has been building a left-right coalition of ...

Divide and Conquer

Erin Drankoski — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:21:00 -0400

There is little question that in the field of foreign policy, Latin America is far from being a priority for the Obama administration. Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are more pressing. The problem is that the situation in Latin America is getting complicated, and it is intersecting with crises in other parts of the world that are far more important right now for the United States. Two key issues, which by themselves could be minor, are demanding Washington's attention because they are part of a broader picture that includes Latin America but is not restricted to the region.

'Era of Engagement' Includes Cuba

Erin Drankoski — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:11:00 -0400

Last week, President Barack Obama delivered his first address before the United Nations General Assembly. "Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," he insisted. "We have sought in word and deed a new era of engagement with the world."

Yet, there remains one obvious exception to this new era of engagement with the world: our continuing embargo of Cuba.

Anya Landau-French

Operations — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:03:00 -0400

Research Director, U.S. – Cuba Policy Initiative

Anya Landau French joins the New America Foundation as Research Director for the U.S. - Cuba Policy Initiative. Previously, Landau French was a Senior Fellow with the Lexington Institute, where she recently published Options for Engagement: A Resource Guide for Reforming U.S. Policy toward Cuba. She

Cuba Notwithstanding

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:51:00 -0400

For half a century, the United States has pursued a policy of isolating Cuba in the vain hope that doing so would lead to the downfall of the island's Communist regime. Today that policy is one of the last great historical anachronisms of the Cold War, outliving the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union, despite the fact that it has never accomplished what it was supposed to do. Political realists such as Henry Kissinger have argued for years that the policy undercuts U.S. diplomatic efforts on a host of fronts because it is so widely disliked by other

Honduras and the Cuba Exception

Cecille Isidro — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:20:00 -0400

The images were decidedly retro and jarring in their distant familiarity, as if a grainy old family film long left in the attic had been brought out for a screening. In defense of la patriala patria, army troops overpowered el palacio at dawn and placed el presidente on an airplane to be flown into exile, still wearing his pajamas. Sunday's coup in Honduras followed a script once so familiar it acquired cliche status, material even for a Woody Allen sendup.

Where Cuba Doesn't Belong

Cecille Isidro — Sat, 30 May 2009 07:55:00 -0400

In 1962, at a special meeting of the Organization of American States, the Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este became famous for something more than just luxury condos, restaurants and hotels, and catering to the Argentine aristocracy during the holiday season. At that meeting, Cuba was suspended from the regional body, with the Cold War pretext that its espousal of "Marxism-Leninism" and an alliance with the Soviet Union were incompatible with membership in the hemispheric club and its organizations.

Engaging Cuba: A New Way Forward

Cecille Isidro — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:23:00 -0400