Monday, April 20, 2009

New report on Cuba policy options

If the United States decides to engage with Cuba, what are the options?

That question seems to be more timely now than a week ago, and I’m pleased to say that my colleague Anya Landau French has been working on the answer for the past six months.

The result is “Options for Engagement: A Resource Guide for Reforming U.S. Policy Toward Cuba.” It’s a detailed work that examines 14 areas of U.S. policy, from trade, travel, and property claims to Radio Marti and the USAID program. In each area, it explains the policy context, the legal foundations, and options that Congress and the Administration could exercise – big steps and small – if a move toward engagement is in order.

The report is available here (pdf, 50 pages).

I hope this paper will be a resource for anyone interested in the Cuba policy debate, regardless of one’s views. U.S. policy toward Cuba is not simply about a single decision regarding “the embargo.” Adapting the policy means coming to terms with five decades of laws, executive actions, and government spending programs that constitute our unique foreign policy toward our unique neighbor.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thoughful report. I look forward to reading it carefully.

Thanks for your efforts!

Vecino de NF

Anonymous said...

thank you. Your material is an asset in a sea of old ideological battles, based on emotion rather than empirical reality.

Henry Louis Gomez said...

Phil,

2009 is going to be a banner year for you. You get to deliver billions to the castro regime and satisfy your pals at Sherritt in the process.

Congrats.

Anonymous said...

Landau...as in Saul, infamous toady and castro bootlicker?

Anonymous said...

Very thoughtful document, indeed. But, it needs two to amend this conflict. And according to Fidel Castro's most recent Reflexiones, he's not offering any sign of hope.

Anonymous said...

Based on the tone of the last two of Fidel Castro's Reflexiones they should be renamed Berrinches. By the absence of comments after Trinidad on this blog, I must conclude that either the usual suspects are exhausted or some are awaiting directions from Havana. The Comandante may have a relapse if his berrinches (tantrums) are not brought under conrol Time to give him a pill. Make that a horse pill!

Not rabid, just amused!

Vecino de NF

Anonymous said...

Phil, where are you? Have you taken to the fainting couch with all the excitement of this past weekend? Back to work!

Anonymous said...

Excellent report! The author rightly dismisses the silly complaints of those so-called "dissidents" about "human rights" violations in the First Free Territory of the Americas.

Yes, let's forget about that "human rights" trivia and focus on more important issues, such as negotiations between Cuba and The Empire regarding lighthouses, pollution control, etc.

As noted in the Comandant'es latest Relection, we must be vigilant or the media barons in the West will try to claim that Raul said he wanted to talk about "all subjects" instead of what is really important. Vigilance! Eternal vigilance, comrades!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 8:26 AM,

Please note thatn thanks to great advances in Medicine, nowadays tongue can be dislodged from cheek after firm implantation.

BTW it is with great satisfaction that I noticed that Fidel Castro in his last berrinche agrees with me that Raul Castro's intervention in Venezuela was misinterpreted. What the US officials thought as flexibility was just digging into traditional positions according to FC.

I think the next berrinche will be an attack against those national leaders who did not perform up to the Comandante's expectations.

Firm in my unrabidness!

Vecino de NF

Anonymous said...

Oye, Vecino de NF:

Yes, asere, I was worried about the tongue stuck in cheek problem, but my physician at the Calixto Garcia Hospital assured me, due to the miraculous nature of the Revolution's medical system, that a simple operation would cure me.

But when I went back for the operation, they told me I would have to learn how to swim in order to visit my doctor, who is now in Venezuela with the rest of the hospital staff. Ay, Cuba, compadre! If only the Coma Andante knew about this scandal!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 7:33PM,

Get better, asere! We need you en la lucha!

Vecino de NF