Congress Members Head to Cuba
HAVANA, Dec. 14, 2006 — -- The largest U.S. congressional delegation to visit Cuba since President Fidel Castro came to power in 1959 travels to Havana on Friday for a firsthand look at the Communist nation.
Reps. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and William Delahunt, D-Mass., are leading the ten-member delegation of house members -- six Democrats and four Republicans -- that has scheduled meetings with top Cuban leaders and may see acting President Raúl Castro before returning home on Sunday.
"It's time to engage in discussion about issues that separate Cuba and the U.S.," said Delahunt, a member of the House International Relations Committee and co-chairman of the Cuba Working Group with Flake.
"We feel it is timely to make an effort to determine whether there is the political will -- on the part of the Cubans -- to initiate a real dialogue," Delahunt told the press in his district.
The 20-member Cuba Working Group believes engagement, not sanctions, will work better in dealing with Cuba, especially in the post-Castro era, and that the Democrats' victory in the midterm congressional elections provides an opportunity to overcome the Bush administration's opposition to engaging Havana.
The bipartisan coalition plans to introduce legislation in 2007 that would loosen restrictions on Cuban-Americans traveling to Cuba and helping their families, and perhaps addressing other issues.
The group will also meet with U.S. and European diplomats, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the president of the Central Bank, and officials in charge of importing U.S. agricultural products under an amendment to the U.S. trade embargo as well as oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.
The visit comes at a unique moment. Fidel Castro's health is deteriorating while Havana has expressed interest in drawing 48 years of hostile, cold-war era, relations to a close.
In a speech earlier this month, Raul Castro said Cuba is willing "to settle the long U.S.-Cuba disagreement at the negotiating table," repeating an offer he made in August, provided Washington accepts Cuba's sovereignty and such principles as non-intervention.
"We are willing to wait patiently until common sense prevails in Washington," Raúl Castro said.
After undergoing surgery for intestinal bleeding in July, Fidel Castro, 80, provisionally handed power over to Raúl Castro, his younger brother by five years.
Castro's whereabouts and condition are a state secret. The last new pictures of the ailing icon, appearing very frail, were released by the government almost two months ago.
"This congressional delegation will feel out the Cuban regime's seriousness about engaging or normalizing relations. ... There is a strong possibility that this will be the first step in a confidence-building process," said Frank Mora, a Cuba expert at the National War College.
"With Fidel out of the picture there might be more of an appetite in Washington, particularly from Congress, to engage and compromise with Raúl," he added.
While Raúl Castro has made clear he is interested in talking with the United States, the Bush administration has refused to listen until political prisoners are freed and the process of establishing a multi-party democracy is begun.
"With Fidel Castro still alive, the regime has become more orthodox," said Thomas Shannon, head of the state department's Western Hemisphere affairs bureau, calling Raúl Castro a "dictator in waiting" and dismissing his offer to talk.
But Julia Sweig, director of the Latin America program at the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington, said the delegation provided another track for contact.
"The bipartisan and geographically diverse nature of this congressional group indicates just how significant a turning point the United States may face with respect to its policy toward Cuba," she said. "The American response to Raúl Castro's invitation to the United States to discuss a range of issues on the bilateral agenda may well begin with this visit."