More on US-Cuba Relations

Apparently I’m not the only American conservative who thinks US policy toward Cuba is wrong.  This was published last week by the the Havana Note website:

While Congress is on recess this month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is working to get Cuba legislation on its agenda when members return in September. Last week, following a New York Times report on changes the Obama administration is expected to make to U.S. Cuba travel rules, the Chamber's Maria Medrano teed up the Chamber's expectations for such a move:

"President Obama’s moves to broaden the scope of travel--as much can be done by executive action—should send a clear signal to Congress that the administration is open to, and has done all it can, to expand engagement with Cuba. These actions by the administration and legislation currently in Congress indicate we are on the brink of changing our strategy toward Cuba. After 50 years of a failing policy it shouldn’t be so hard to make this final leap and lift the travel ban for the good of the Cuban people."

But just to make sure Congress got the message, the Chamber's top lobbyist, Bruce Josten, sent a letter yesterday to the Foreign Affairs Committee, in whose court the bill now sits.

"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region, urges you to schedule a mark-up of H.R. 4645, the “Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act.

It is time to end the unproductive preoccupation with an aging and moribund communist regime, and begin to lay the groundwork for a U.S. role in the future of Cuba. Recent moves in both Havana and Washington indicate that the time is right to adjust U.S. policy toward Cuba in favor of a strategy that will encourage positive change on the island.

Because of the need to reform U.S. policy toward Cuba, the Chamber urges the Committee to report this legislation to the full House swiftly and without amendment so that the House can consider and approve this measure in the very near term."

What's most interesting about what's in the letter (and let's be honest that the most important part of a letter from the US Chamber is the letterhead) is what's not. The letter makes only the most fleeting reference to potential gains to U.S. businesses of the legislation it's pushing, and focuses instead on the political question of how to reform Cuba, and how to make life better for the Cuban people.

"Getting U.S.-Cuba policy right matters, because the U.S. response will send a signal to the wider world about American values, including helping neighbors who have suffered oppression and poverty under a callous dictator. U.S. policy should consider strategies that are more likely to advance democracy, the rule of law, and a brighter future for the people of Cuba and bring commercial benefits to the United States, rather than focus on how increased tourism and sales to the island will impact the Cuban regime."