This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Kerry Strikes Delicate Balance in Havana Trip for Embassy Flag-Raising
Kerry Strikes Delicate Balance in Havana Trip for Embassy Flag-Raising
(about 5 hours later)
HAVANA, Cuba — John Kerry, the first American secretary of state to visit Cuba in 70 years, called on Friday for the Cuban government to do more to improve relations during a speech here celebrating the opening of the American Embassy.
HAVANA — John Kerry, the first secretary of state to visit Cuba in 70 years, said on Friday that the Cuban government could not expect the United States to lift its trade embargo unless it moved to improve its record on human rights.
“The president has taken steps to ease restrictions on remittances, on exports and imports to help Cuban private entrepreneurs, on telecommunications, on family travel, but we want to go further,” Mr. Kerry said under a baking sun.
“There is no way Congress is going to vote to lift the embargo if they’re not moving with respect to issues of conscience,” Mr. Kerry told reporters near the end of his 12-hour visit here.
“Just as we are doing our part, we urge the Cuban government to make it less difficult for their citizens to start businesses, to engage in trade, access information online,” Mr. Kerry added. “The embargo has always been something of a two-way street. Both sides need to remove restrictions that have been holding Cubans back.”
“It is a two-way street,” he added.
Mr. Kerry’s remarks highlighted an issue that has often been overlooked in the debate over the Obama administration’s decision to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba: Many of the steps that the United States is taking to encourage political and economic change here will fall short unless the Cuban government makes reciprocal moves.
To try to make headway on human rights and other thorny issues, the two sides decided Friday to form a new steering committee of Cuban and American officials. Its first meeting will take place in Cuba on Sept. 10 and 11, Mr. Kerry said, with another session in the United States.
But there was no sign of flexibility on human rights on the part of the Cuban authorities. At a joint news conference with Mr. Kerry, Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, said his government was interested in pursuing new areas of cooperation, but he sought to deflect attention from his country’s record by criticizing Washington’s record on human rights.
“We, too, have concerns about human rights in the United States,” Mr. Rodríguez said through a translator. “Cuba is not a place where there are acts of racial discrimination or police brutality that result in deaths; nor is it under Cuban jurisdiction or on Cuba territory that people are tortured or held in a legal limbo.”
Mr. Kerry did not respond to those charges at the news conference, but he later said Mr. Rodríguez’s comments were “somewhat defensive and purposively pre-emptive.”
Mr. Kerry’s visit was the first by a secretary of state since Edward R. Stettinius Jr. made a short trip to Havana in 1945. Though President Obama has restored formal diplomatic relations after more than half a century of hostility, the two countries have a long way to go to normalize relations.
The morning’s highlight was a carefully choreographed ceremony at the American Embassy. Richard Blanco, a Cuban-American poet who read a poem at Mr. Obama’s second inauguration, becoming the first openly gay person to deliver such a reading, recited one of his works before Mr. Kerry spoke.
Three retired Marines who had lowered the American flag when the embassy was closed in 1961 presented another to be raised by the Marines now assigned to the diplomatic post.
The lectern for the ceremony was set up next to the flagpole near the north side of the waterfront embassy compound, making the waters of the Straits of Florida a backdrop for the speakers and musicians — what Mr. Blanco called “the lucid blues of our shared horizon.”
Placing the scene unmistakably in Havana were three vintage Chevrolets parked strategically on the boulevard outside the compound fence, including a black 1959 Impala sedan, a cherry red 1957 Bel Air convertible, and a 1955 Bel Air hardtop coupe in baby blue and white.
During his speech at the embassy under a baking sun, Mr. Kerry pressed his point that the Cuban government needed to do more to improve economic and political ties.
“The president has taken steps to ease restrictions on remittances, on exports and imports to help Cuban private entrepreneurs, on telecommunications, on family travel, but we want to go further,” Mr. Kerry said.
“Just as we are doing our part, we urge the Cuban government to make it less difficult for their citizens to start businesses, to engage in trade, access information online,” Mr. Kerry added. “Both sides need to remove restrictions that have been holding Cubans back.”
Those remarks highlighted an issue that has sometimes been overlooked in the debate over the Obama administration’s decision to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba: Many of the steps that the United States is taking to encourage political and economic change here will fall short unless the Cuban government makes reciprocal moves.
The White House’s new Cuba policy encourages telecommunications companies, for example, to provide services in Cuba and to export equipment that would link the island with the United States. But most Cubans need a license to access the Internet from their homes or businesses, which is not easy for ordinary citizens to obtain.
The White House’s new Cuba policy encourages telecommunications companies, for example, to provide services in Cuba and to export equipment that would link the island with the United States. But most Cubans need a license to access the Internet from their homes or businesses, which is not easy for ordinary citizens to obtain.
The White House policy also seeks to encourage entrepreneurship. But the tax rates for small entrepreneurs in Cuba can be very high, and only a limited number of jobs are open to self-employment.
The White House policy also seeks to encourage entrepreneurship. But the tax rates for small entrepreneurs in Cuba can be very high, and only a limited number of jobs are open to self-employment.
The administration seeks to encourage financial transactions between the United States and Cuba. But the Cuban government charges a substantial commission for converting American dollars to pesos, Western officials point out.
The administration seeks to encourage financial transactions between the United States and Cuba. But the Cuban government charges a substantial commission for converting American dollars to pesos, Western officials point out.
At a joint news conference later in the day, Mr. Kerry and his Cuban counterpart, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, sought to accentuate the positive. The diplomats said the two sides would set up a committee to discuss ways to expand cooperation in areas like civil aviation, health care, law enforcement and financial claims.
Human rights, however, remains among the most sensitive issues, and Mr. Kerry sought to balance his efforts to work with Cuba’s authoritarian government with his vocal defense of beleaguered Cuban dissidents.
But Mr. Kerry described this as more of a gradual process to “build confidence” between the two sides instead of a mechanism to immediately confront the hardest issues that still separate them.
The embassy ceremony, streamed live on the State Department website, was attended by ranking Cuban and American officials, United States lawmakers, Swiss diplomats and some private citizens, but no Cuban dissidents
And while Mr. Rodríguez said he agreed on the need to open up “new areas of dialogue,” he gave no ground on human rights. He fended off criticism of Cuba’s human rights record by going on the offensive and mentioning racism, police brutality, torture, “judicial limbo” and “civilian casualties,” which he implied had been carried out by the United States.
In the afternoon, however, Mr. Kerry talked with Cuban human rights proponents and political activists at a reception at the official residence of Jeffrey DeLaurentis, who is serving as the top American diplomat in Cuba until an ambassador is nominated and confirmed. No Cuban officials were observed in attendance.
Though the American Embassy in Havana officially reopened last month as part of the diplomatic thaw with Cuba, Mr. Kerry’s arrival here was intended to give a lift to the effort to rebuild ties after more than half a century of hostilities.
The new committee that Mr. Kerry and Mr. Rodríguez agreed to establish will deal with three areas. One is what Mr. Kerry called “the easy package” — issues like maritime security and climate change where the prospects for cooperation are the greatest.
But Mr. Kerry’s visit — the first by a secretary of state since Edward R. Stettinius Jr. made a short trip to Havana in 1945 — also reflects the balance that the Obama administration is trying to strike between working with an authoritarian government and supporting Cuba’s beleaguered dissidents.
Another somewhat more difficult area of discussion involves civil aviation and Internet access. The last area concerns vexing issues like human trafficking, financial claims the two side have lodged against each other and human rights.
Mr. Kerry said at the embassy that “Cuba’s future is for Cubans to decide,” and that the choice of how they would be governed was solely their responsibility.
“Those are toughies,” Mr. Kerry said. “We are going to have some tough conversations.”
But he added that the United States remained convinced that “the people of Cuba would be best served by a genuine democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders, express their ideas and practice their faith; where the commitment to economic and social justice is realized more fully; where institutions are answerable to those they serve; and where civil society is independent and allowed to flourish.”
Mr. Kerry also planned to meet with Cardinal Jaime Ortega of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Havana, who played a role in the back-channel talks on restoring relations. Mr. Kerry did not meet with President Raúl Castro or former President Fidel Castro, his brother.
The embassy ceremony, streamed live on the State Department website, was attended by ranking Cuban and American officials, United States lawmakers, Swiss diplomats and some private citizens, but no Cuban dissidents.
“It is principally a government-to-government event,” a senior State Department official said.
In the afternoon, however, Mr. Kerry will have an opportunity to talk with Cuban human rights proponents and political activists at a reception at the official residence of Jeffrey DeLaurentis, who is serving as the top American diplomat in Cuba until an ambassador is nominated and confirmed.
The morning’s highlight was the carefully choreographed ceremony at the embassy. Richard Blanco, a Cuban-American poet who read a poem at President Obama’s swearing-in after the 2012 election, becoming the first openly gay person to deliver such a reading, recited one of his works before Mr. Kerry spoke.
Three retired Marines who had lowered the American flag when the embassy was closed in 1961 presented another to be raised by the Marines now assigned to the diplomatic post. (Unlike the Cubans, who opened their embassy in Washington last month by displaying the very flag they took down more than half a century ago, the Americans used a new one.) The United States Army Brass Quintet played the Cuban and American national anthems.
The lectern for the ceremony was set up next to the flagpole near the north side of the waterfront embassy compound, making the waters of the Straits of Florida a backdrop for the speakers and musicians — what Mr. Blanco called “the lucid blues of our shared horizon.”
Placing the scene unmistakably in Havana were three vintage Chevrolets parked strategically on the boulevard outside the compound fence, including a black 1959 Impala sedan, a cherry red 1957 Bel Air convertible, and a 1955 Bel Air hardtop coupe in baby blue and white. Mr. Kerry jokingly thanked his hosts for having “my future transportation” on hand for the occasion.
Early in his remarks, Mr. Kerry delivered a passage in Spanish, saying that while the road to fully normal relations would be long, there was nothing to fear, and that the benefits of improved relations would be great for the citizens of both countries. Returning to English, he noted other examples of countries with which the United States had fruitfully reconciled after decades of enmity, including Vietnam, and he referred to Cuba and the United States “as two peoples who are no longer enemies or rivals, but neighbors.”
During his nearly 12 hours in Havana, Mr. Kerry will also meet with Cardinal Jaime Ortega of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Havana, who played a role in the back-channel talks on restoring relations. Mr. Kerry, who was busy lobbying on behalf of the Iran nuclear deal when the embassy opened last month, does not plan to meet with President Raúl Castro or former President Fidel Castro, his brother.
In an interview on the Spanish-language television network Telemundo on Wednesday, Mr. Kerry said that he planned to squeeze in an “open, free walk in Old Havana” before returning to Washington on Friday evening.
“After 54 years of seeing zero progress,” he said in the interview, “one of the things we negotiated was the ability of our diplomats to be able to meet with people in Cuba and not to be restrained. And I believe the people of Cuba benefit by virtue of that presence and that ability.”
Just how much access American diplomats will have to the Cuban population, however, remains unclear. The State Department official said that American diplomats would be required to notify the Cuban authorities when they wanted to travel, and that the embassy would function much like other diplomatic posts “in restrictive environments around the world.”
In China, a prominent “restrictive environment,” the authorities have sought to prevent American diplomats from speaking at public events and have put some areas of the country off limits.
In June, Tom Malinowski, the senior State Department official for human rights, strongly defended the policy to normalize relations with Cuba, saying that it would remove the Cuban authorities’ argument that the United States was at fault for Cuba’s problems, and would “put the focus where it belongs — on their actions and on their policies.”
At the same time, Mr. Malinowski acknowledged, American officials “have not yet seen a letup in the kind of day-to-day harassment that civil society activists face in Cuba,” including short-term arrests.
Mr. Kerry is leading a delegation that includes eight American lawmakers who strongly back the White House policy to restore diplomatic and economic ties; more than a half-dozen Cuban-Americans; and senior officials from the Treasury Department, the Commerce Department and the White House. An extra plane was arranged to accommodate the lawmakers and journalists who wanted to go.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat on the trip who has sponsored legislation to lift the trade embargo, said in a phone interview that the policy to restore relations had broad support among her constituents, including those at a butter-producing company she recently visited.
“They thought it is a bit of an opportunity for agriculture,” she said, “but the overriding theme is they just think that the time has come.”
