Joe Henderson
Fidel Castro is dead!
That was the totality of a simple tweet Saturday morning from president-elect Donald Trump as the world awoke to the news that millions have waited for so long to hear. The exclamation mark was telling about how Americans feel on either side of the issue of restoring normal relations with Cuba.
There isn’t much middle ground. You either believe that is time end the trade embargo between the U.S. and Cuba and restore full diplomatic ties, or you’re in the camp that screams “Hell No!”
About six in 10 Americans believe that we should re-establish relations with that rogue island nation, and that exclamation mark on Trump’s tweet may be a clue on how his administration will proceed. Trump has criticized President Obama’s executive actions to open commerce and reduce restrictions with Cuba, but the incoming chief executive now has the opening hard-liners have always said was the first step to pushing ahead with reform.
Those people wanted Castro gone, and by the time you read this, his body will have been cremated into ashes. It doesn’t get much more gone than that.
With Castro dead and the beginnings of a move toward reconciliation under way, Trump has political cover to push ahead with moves to bring Cuba back under the U.S. umbrella. Raul Castro, Fidel’s 85-year-old brother, remains in charge of Cuba, but he likely is contemplating his own mortality this morning.
If Trump moves swiftly to build on President Obama’s initiatives, it could lay the groundwork for lasting reform with the next Cuban leader – whomever eventually takes charge.
It will be a tricky game of global intrigue, though. The next world war will be over trade and commerce, and Cuba represents a big prize 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang visited Raul Castro in September, resulting in the signing of 30 trade agreements between the two nations. Vladimir Putin dropped by for a visit in 2014 and to tell Raul that he was forgiving Cuba’s debt to Russia. Many other nations have been doing business for years there.
Trump ran for president based largely on his business acumen, and now he will have the opportunity to show that. He can make a difference, because there are two Cubas.
Don’t be fooled the singular picture of an emerging, vibrant Havana. Once you get outside the city, a different story emerges. There, the Cuban people still struggle for basics like fresh water and adequate housing. Wages are stagnant. While Cuban heath care has made significant advances, many people need help to even obtain things like vitamins.
Human rights violations still occur. Government censorship remains the norm.
You can expect a lot of tough talk in the coming days and weeks that America should keep the sanctions in place until Cuba adopts a democratic form of government. But this also is a chance for a major move by the incoming president to rebuild ties with a nation that has been a source of irritation since Castro swept to power in 1959.
It’s a new dawn.
As Trump said, Fidel Castro is dead!
That’s what people wanted. Now they have it.
