MinRex officials counsel Obama on talks with Cuba

An article in Granma on Wednesday (Feb. 11) outlines, as its headline says, “What Obama Can Do To Substantially Modify the Application of the Blockade Against Cuba.”

The article is unusual, in that it is signed by two persons — Ariadna Cornelio Hitchman and Gretter Alfonso Guzmán — who are identified as “functionaries of the MinRex,” the common reference to the Ministry of Foreign Relations.

No indication is made of their position and rank in the Ministry, where official statements are usually made by diplomats at the Deputy Foreign Minister level and above. Normally, protocol prevails.

Still, the article has been published in the Communist Party’s daily newspaper and reproduced in national websites such as Cubadebate, AhoraCuba, and Cubainformación. At least two radio stations have published it in their websites.

Given the sensitivity of the negotiations leading to a restoration of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba, it is unusual for two “functionaries of the MinRex” to be given a platform for opinions on bilateral policy, let alone recommendations to the U.S. President.

Those recommendations appear below, translated by Progreso Weekly. The translator’s clarifications appear [in brackets.]

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On Dec. 17, 2014, “the President of the United States announced several measures to modify the application of specific blockade regulations. Later, on Jan. 15, 2015, the Departments of the Treasury and Commerce published administrative regulations to implement the measures announced by the President, which took effect the following day.

“This could be the procedure to follow henceforth to eliminate a good many of the economic, financial and commercial restrictions that the government of the United States maintains against our country.

“The modifications made by Obama are far from being ‘everything that the President can do,’ as several sectors and experts in the United States acknowledge. Although they certainly signify a step forward in issues like travel to Cuba, telecommunications and remittances, many other prohibitions can be eliminated with the President’s intervention.

“A substantive modification of the blockade’s scaffolding is possible if Obama continues to utilize his broad executive powers to eliminate many of the existing restrictions.

“In relation to the travel, the President could allow ferry service between the United States and Cuba, and eliminate the limits to the value of the products that may be imported from Cuba by U.S. travelers who visit our country, for personal use or as gifts. He could also authorize Cuban planes to fly to the United States and carry travelers between the two countries.

“On the issue of trade, Obama could allow Cuba to import, from third countries, products that contain more than 10 percent of U.S. components. Likewise, he could authorize the exportation to Cuba of other U.S. products and permit the importation to the U.S. of Cuban services or products, including those manufactured in third countries that contain Cuban raw materials, such as nickel and sugar.

“Health is another sector where measures with broad impact on the well-being of both peoples can be adopted. The list of actions that the President could undertake includes, among others:

authorizing U.S. citizens to receive medical treatment in Cuba;

permitting the exportation of medicine and medical equipment that can be used in the production of Cuban biological products;

permitting the sale of raw materials that Cuba needs to produce medicine for the Cuban population and other developing countries, and

authorizing the commercialization in the United States of products of Cuban biotechnology, such as Heberprot-P and Nimotuzumab, a monoclonal antibody to treat advanced cancer of the head and neck.

“In the banking and financial sector, where the Obama administration has applied actions of financial harassment, several regulations can also be modified. For example, he can authorize the use of the U.S. dollar in Cuba’s international transactions; [he can give] consent for the handling of these transactions to be done through the U.S. banking system when they originate from our operations with third countries; [he can] reverse the policy of financial hounding against the island, which increases the fear of third-country banks to deal with Cuba or perform banking transfers in favor of Cuban enterprises or organizations.

“Other actions would include enabling Cuban entities (banks, enterprises, etc.) to open accounts in U.S. banks and instructing U.S. representatives in international financial institutions not to block the granting of credit or other financial facilities to Cuba.

“Therefore, Obama has unlimited possibilities to significantly modify the existing restrictions and dump the blockade’s fundamental contents through the determined exercise of his prerogatives.”