President Obamas historic announcement that the United States will normalize relations with Cuba sent shockwaves across Florida on Wednesday.
Many in the so-called Cuban exile community -- a reference to those who fled Fidel Castros brutal communist regime for the shores of Florida -- expressed pained betrayal.
Theres a lot of people here who knew someone who died or spent time in prison. A lot of us feel like our blood and tears are for nothing, Carlos Rey, an attorney from Miami, told Watchdog. We gain nothing from this.
State Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, tweeted, Today the leader of the free world has betrayed those who have fought for freedom in Cuba for over 50 years. I feel like I lost our nation.
Numerous elected officials expressed similar sentiments, including U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Independently, they rebuked the administration for rewarding the Cuban government.
(Wednesdays) policy announcement is misguided and fails to understand the nature of the regime in Cuba that has exerted its authoritarian control over the Cuban people for 55 years, Menendez, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Others, however, see opportunities -- particularly, economic opportunities that may eventually lead to a freer Cuban society.
It is clear that decades of U.S. isolation of Cuba have failed to accomplish our enduring objective of promoting the emergence of a democratic, prosperous and stable Cuba, said Obama. We cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result.
Allowing American investment and easing travel restrictions to a level not seen for half a century also puts the Sunshine State in the economic driver's seat. Just 90 miles from Key West -- closer than the state capital is to Jacksonville -- Florida businesses are well-positioned to deliver badly needed development resources to Cubas infamously decrepit infrastructure.
When you talk about rebuilding a country, the possibilities are endless, and Tampa is in the catbird seat geographically ... with a great port that can handle anything they need, Arthur Savage, president of the shipping company A.R. Savage, told Tampa Bay Times.
I view this as the single biggest trading opportunity for Tampa for the rest of my working life, he said.
Key elements to the presidents executive action include:
- Expanded American travel
- Allowing new commercial sales and exports from the United States
- Authorizing American citizens to import goods from Cuba
- Facilitating financial transactions
- Updating sanctions
- Allowing Cubas participation in the 2015 Summit of the Americas.
According to the Associated Press, the administration has been directly negotiating with the Castro government for more than a year.
Wednesdays announcement came after the regime agreed to release Alan Gross, an American aid worker who was imprisoned for five years for attempting to set up uncensored Internet access for Cubas small Jewish community.
Grosss release was prompted by the administrations exchange of three Cuban spies.
Lets be clear, this was not a humanitarian act by the Castro regime. It was a swap of convicted spies for an innocent American, said Menendez, the outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The policy shift appears to be the culmination of incremental changes. Since 2011, Obama has twice eased travel restrictions, allowing Americans to fly directly to Cuba from both Tampa International Airport and Miami International on nearly a dozen weekly flights.
The executive action is indeed a game-changer, but it still doesnt lift the longstanding Cuban embargo, an act of Congress.
Earlier this year, Pedro A. Freyre, a Cuba relations analyst and legal expert at Columbia University in New York, told Watchdogs Marianela Toledo that lifting the embargo is extremely complicated from a legal point of view.
Thats in part because the Cuban government continues to perpetrate human rights abuses against its own people.
The Cuban government doesnt appear to have made any progress there, Freyre said.
Critics of the embargo blast it as a failed Cold War relic meant to punitively punish the Castro regime -- who at one time helped aim Soviet nuclear weapons at the United States -- while having the effect of impoverishing the Cuban people.
Still, according to the U.S. Census, more then $2.3 billion in American exports have reached the island nation since Obama took office. Under President George W. Bush, nearly $2.7 billion worth of American goods were traded. Those figures stand to dramatically increase.
Thats putting the cart before the horse, critics say.
A freer market can exist in Cuba, but American investment dollars cannot and will not change the fact that the Castro regime maintains power by controlling every single aspect of Cuban life, Steven Cruz, spokesman for the conservative LIBRE Initiative, told Watchdog.
I dont believe this will have a direct impact on the level of control the regime has on its people, said Cruz, who was born in the Dominican Republic but grew up in Miami.
The concern is that allowing increased American economic activity only ensures the longevity of the regime.
Get rid of the Castro regime first, then lift the embargo and pour American investment into Cuba, said Rey. Blue jeans on tourist wont do it.
William Patrick is a reporter for Watchdog.org. Contact him at wpatrick@watchdog.org and follow him on Twitter @WillPatrick77
