President Obama predicted during a CNN en Español interview Monday that Congress will lift the 5-decade-old Cuba embargo sometime during the administration of the next president.
“My strong prediction is that sometime in the next president's administration, whether they are a Democrat or a Republican, that the embargo in fact will be removed,” he said.
Obama made that statement as he prepares to visit the communist island nation starting Sunday -- a controversial trip he hopes will cement his new policy of openness toward Cuba.
"Our flag flies over our Embassy in Havana once again," he said. "More Americans are traveling to Cuba than at any time in the last 50 years."
Over the past year, the relationship between the United States and Cuba has advanced significantly toward normalization. Not only have embassies been exchanged, agreements on direct mail service and environmental conservancy been signed, cooperation in law enforcement has deepened, and very soon commercial flights and credit cards may be available.
But right now the president is using his executive powers to establish new trade links with Cuba. Once he leaves office, it will take an act of Congress to fully lift the embargo and allow large-scale U.S. businesses and American tourists to descend on the island.
Obama announced his detente with Cuban President Raúl Castro in 2014. Since then, he said, he's seen support for lifting the embargo grow in Congress.
Until recently, the idea Congress could vote to kill the embargo seemed unlikely. But the tides are changing. Momentum among members is on the side of reformers. Increasingly, the American public is expressing its desire to end trade and travel restrictions. The most dramatic shift is evident among Republicans and Cuban-Americans, two groups that conventional wisdom understands to be opposed to normalizing relations. In fact, not all of them are. Major Cuban-American Republican donors are contributing to the campaign to end the embargo.
Some Cuban American members from South Florida, however, remain vehemently opposed, arguing an embargo lift would be just too great a reward to a government that continues to repress its citizens. In fact, Sen. Marco Rubio leads the charge.
"I don’t know of a single contemporary, reluctant tyranny that has become a democracy because of more trade and tourists,” Rubio told U.S. News & World Report. “China is now the world’s richest tyranny, Vietnam continues to be a communist tyranny. And [Myanmar] Burma, even though they actually agreed to some democratic openings when the U.S. recognized them diplomatically, they have actually begun to take back a lot of those democratic openings.”
Rubio and others, for example Congresswoman Illena Ros-Lehtinen, have said they find it disconcerting that Obama "lets the Castros kick him around."
But the president’s comments Monday echo those made by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who said last month it’s “possible” the embargo could come down under Obama’s successor if Cuba improves its poor human-rights practices.
Said Obama, “It makes sense for us to be able to sell into Cuba, to do business with Cubans, to show our business practices and how we treat workers and how we approach issues of human rights, that that will help bring about the kinds of changes that are needed,” he said.
“During my visit I intend to meet with dissidents, critics of the Cuban government, just as I did when I was in Panama, and I had the opportunity to meet with activists from Cuba,” he said. “That was part of the deal for me to attend and have Raúl Castro there as well.”
The administration is expected to eliminate a number of trade and travel restrictions to the island ahead of the president's visit.
Major corporations such as AT&T, Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Marriott are seeking to complete deals to operate in Cuba.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
