Failure of isolation policy leads to U.S. thawing ties with Cuba: experts

It is the failure of the long- time U.S. policy of isolating Cuba that has led to President Barack Obama's decision Wednesday to restore diplomatic ties with the neighboring island nation, U.S. experts said.

"Obama wants to reestablish ties with Cuba because the past policy of isolation has failed miserably," Brookings Institution's senior fellow Darrell West told Xinhua in an interview, commenting on Obama's announcement on Wednesday to restore diplomatic relations with the neighboring island nation.

"Having no diplomatic ties for more than 50 years has not stopped the Castro (government) or weakened it at home. The President believes the U.S. should chart a new course that has greater hope of bringing Cuba into the international community," West said.

Obama announced at the White House Wednesday that the U.S. agreed to formally reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba, and the two countries would soon reopen their embassies that were closed 54 years ago at the height of the Cold War.

"This is a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas," Obama said, adding that there remain serious differences between the two nations, such as human rights and freedom of speech.

The announcement came on the heels of December's White House announcement that the two erstwhile enemies would move to normalize relations in the most sweeping change to U.S.-Cuba policy in half a century.

The U.S. severed ties with Cuba in January of 1961 the year Obama was born after Cuban leader Fidel Castro launched a revolution that toppled the previous government. The two countries have been at loggerheads ever since, with tensions boiling over on a number of occasions, most notably the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

There remains, however, the issue of lifting the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which has been in place for decades and requires Congressional action to lift. Some experts contend that the Helms-Burton Act, which tightened the trade embargo against Cuba and ratcheted up restrictions on Americans traveling to the country, is unlikely to be repealed by the Republican-controlled Congress.

"It is not likely that Congress will lift the trade embargo. Republicans are dead set against this. In the foreseeable future, it looks like the U.S. will have diplomatic relations with Cuba but not formal trade ties. Commercial relationships will continue to have to go through other countries," West said.

Still, some experts opined that Obama may use executive authority to relax some restrictions on banking, certain trade and travel to Cuba.

In reaction to Obama's announcement, U.S. Presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants, Wednesday reiterated his opposition to the White House's decision, saying he would oppose the appointment of an ambassador to Cuba unless that country meets certain conditions.

Rubio, a key opponent of normalizing ties with Cuba, is Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American and a Republican Congresswoman from Florida, said Wednesday that opening a U.S. embassy in Cuba "will do nothing to help the Cuban people and is just another trivial attempt for President Obama to go legacy shopping."

Skeptics echoed those sentiments, saying that while thawed ties may eventually help U.S. companies do businesses in Cuba, ordinary Cubans are unlikely to see any of the economic benefits.

"Continuing normalization sets a terrible precedent for U.S. foreign policy and national security," Ana Quintana, Heritage Foundation's Latin America policy analyst told Xinhua, adding that establishing a U.S. embassy in Havana not only violates existing law, but also further isolates the Cuban people.

Indeed, emotions are running high over the issue, with many applauding the historic thaw in relations with Cuba, but many others, such as Congressional Republicans and a few Democratic lawmakers, slamming Obama's decision. Endite