[R-G] Cuba Cancels Kent Visit as Conservatives Stick to Guns

[Anthony Fenton]

http://embassymag.ca/page/view/cuba_cancels_kent_visit-5-13-2009x	x

Cuba Cancels Kent Visit as Conservatives Stick to Guns
by Michelle Collins
Published May 13, 2009 	

When former prime minister Jean Chrétien met with Cuban leader Fidel  
Castro in 1998, the first item he put on the table was the release of  
political prisoners, but he did so discreetly and he chose his words  
carefully.

At the time, Mr. Chrétien was criticized for not using a speech he  
delivered in Havana—publicly broadcast on Cuban television—to  
forcefully call for human rights. But 11 years later, Cuba-watchers  
revere the former prime minister's strategy; making outright demands  
of the Castro regime is said to yield little success, and treading  
upon their political powers is implicitly unwelcome.

As one of Mr. Chrétien's advisers said at the time: "You get  
absolutely nowhere if you go down and try to tell them what to do."

It is this necessity of delicate diplomacy when trying to make gains  
with the Cubans that many are concerned Minister of State for the  
Americas Peter Kent has mistakenly overlooked—not four months ago he  
called Cuba a "dictatorship, any way you package it"—leaving the  
Canadian politician slim chances of ever meeting with high-level  
officials, including President Raul Castro.

Last Thursday, Mr. Kent's historic trip to Havana for this month was  
abruptly cancelled by Cuba—just two days after he met the president of  
Cuba's National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, during a reception at the  
Cuban Embassy in Ottawa. No reason was given for the cancellation, nor  
was a date offered to reschedule.

Mr. Kent's would have been the first official visit by a Canadian  
politician in more than a decade, and it caught the attention of many  
observers whose curiosity is thriving in the wake of the political  
storm brewing around the small island. A recent Cabinet shuffle within  
the Castro regime shocked most experts—and postponed Mr. Kent's  
previously scheduled visit—and the Obama administration's easing of  
restrictions on travel and remittances from the U.S. is seen as  
opening the way to a possible overhaul of Cuba's international  
relations.

But some fear Mr. Kent's political capital may have been all used up  
in advance of his trip to Havana. In recent media interviews, the  
junior minister has been bold about his expectations of the Cuban  
government if it is to be re-welcomed into international fora such as  
the Organization for American States. He has stated flatly that he  
intends to raise the issues of human rights, political prisoners, and  
democracy, and that he hopes to have the ear of Raul Castro himself to  
do so.

"I want to certainly reinforce the message that the prime minister  
delivered to the Summit of the Americas, to encourage productive,  
constructive responses to the U.S. gesture," Mr. Kent told Canwest  
News last month. "Also to stress again our encouragement of the  
release of political prisoners and the opening of institutions to  
democratic practices."

Speaking with a community newspaper in his Toronto-area riding last  
week, the minister again set out his intentions of pushing the  
decidedly Communist government to embrace democratic reform and free  
enterprise.

"This is also a good time for Cuba to think about what changes would  
be necessary to end the embargo," Mr. Kent told the Thornhill-based  
Georgina Advocate.

But such public declarations through the media may have served to  
undermine even his best efforts, say experts.

"The Cuban officials feel that their regime is democratic as they  
define it," says Arch Ritter, professor at Carleton's Norman Paterson  
School of International Affairs. "I'm not sure how open the Cubans  
will be to discussing this with Kent, and having announced it  
beforehand, very publicly beforehand, this may generate some  
difficulties for him. I don't think he's going to be warmly received  
by the Cubans."

By "making noises" before the visit, Mr. Kent likely damaged his  
political objectives, says Robert Wright, associate history professor  
at Trent University. Rather, the minister should have waited to  
quietly strike a conversation with Cuban officials.

"If you start making these noises before you go, and you get there and  
you run into all the personal and institutionalized resistance to  
those kinds of political messages, then you set yourself up for a real  
fall," Mr. Wright says. "The Cubans will regard his demands with a  
chilly response."

The sudden cancellation may just be that chilly response. The  
importance of recognizing and adjusting to political sensitivities,  
however, is not necessarily deemed to be more valuable than speaking  
honestly with Cuba, a country with whom Canada has always maintained  
full diplomatic relations.

A full 50 years since the Cuban Revolution brought Fidel Castro to  
power and, subsequently, broke the country's relations with the United  
States, some might say it is time to talk evenly with Cuba.

As Mr. Ritter says, friendly countries need to openly express their  
views to one another.

"He could have not been so publicly vocal and confrontational  
beforehand, but I think it's quite reasonable for him to discuss these  
things with Cuba," Mr. Ritter says of Mr. Kent's expectations.

In light of America's apparent overtures towards Cuba, exactly what  
role, if any, the Canadian government might hope to play remains  
unclear.

In an interview after the Summit of the Americas in April, Mr. Kent  
told Embassy that the Canadian government would be hesitant to see  
Cuba re-join the Organization of American States before becoming a  
fully democratic state, as is set out in the Inter-American Democratic  
Charter, adopted by the OAS in 2001.

"The very important gesture by President Obama has released a lot of  
pent-up expectations and there is now a general agreement that the  
sooner Cuba is reintegrated into the organizations of the hemisphere,  
and the larger economy of the hemisphere, the better," Mr. Kent said.  
"Our concern would be that if, in their enthusiasm to welcome Cuba  
back into the OAS, it was accepted as it is today, that would be a  
negative."

The tough talk signals that Canada has limited patience for Cuba's  
resistance to pressures from the international community, and that  
even though the U.S. is backtracking on some of its tough policies,  
Prime Minster Stephen Harper's government is sticking to its  
"principled" commitment to democratic reform.

Whether or not Cuba wants to re-join the OAS, however, is a mystery.  
In response to public debate last month over Cuba's fate in the OAS— 
the organization is studying the possibility and will report to member  
states by June—Fidel Castro penned an editorial stating that Cuba has  
no interest in re-joining the organization it was expelled from in 1962.

"They've said consistently for many, many years they're not  
interested," says John Kirk, a Spanish professor at Dalhousie  
University who regularly travels to Cuba.

However, media reports have since speculated that Raul and Fidel are  
split on the issue, with the younger Castro more amendable to opening  
up to Washington and others.

"I cannot believe they don't see the political advantage of being re- 
admitted," Mr. Wright says. "The Cubans are very, very adept political  
players in the sense of knowing how the international winds are  
blowing. They know that symbolism matters a great deal."

However, Mr. Wright warns that it would be a mistake for Mr. Kent to  
set out preconditions in exchange for improved relations with Canada,  
or the OAS, because "they just don't work that way."

"The Cubans are not willing to have other countries' representatives  
judge them in that way or set out preconditions for talks in other  
areas," Mr. Wright explains. "They've spent 50 years organizing  
themselves along the completely other principal, which is 'we're a  
sovereign country, we defend the right of the revolution to exist, of  
Cuba to exist, and we don't answer to anyone else, including Canada.'"

And even as the U.S. and Cuba eye a possible reconciliation, experts  
say there is little political room left for Canada in the mix.

In an interview in January, Mr. Kent told Canwest News that he saw a  
role for Canada in "engaging and encouraging."

"Canada does speak very directly and frankly to ministers of the Cuban  
regime," Mr. Kent said.

Although Canada has previously served as a diplomatic third-party—even  
Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., suggested in a 2007  
interview that Canada could act as a "bridge" between Washington and  
Havana—all agree Cuba will want to speak directly and solely with the  
Americans.

"I don't think there's too much of a direct role for Canada, both Cuba  
and the U.S. do not want intermediaries in their discussions,  
certainly Cuba does not," Mr. Ritter says. "But, on the other hand,  
Canada could provide some friendly advice."

Friendly advice that Mr. Kent may, or may not, have the chance to  
communicate to the highest levels of the Cuban government on behalf of  
Canada.

mcollins at embassymag.ca