Learning the Hard Way

March 24, 2011

Hasn't the ball been on Castro's court since April 2009, when President Obama unilaterally eased sanctions the first time?

So when will enough be enough?

By columnist Andres Oppenheimer:

Obama unlikely to make new gestures to Cuba without action from Havana

For a man who prides himself on having taken "unprecedented steps" to try to ease five-decade-old U.S. tensions with Cuba, President Barack Obama did not look eager to make new gestures toward the Cuban military regime when I interviewed him Tuesday.

The ball is in your court, he seemed to be telling Cuba.

Obama, who talked extensively about issues ranging from tensions with Venezuela and Argentina to the pending U.S. free trade deals with Panama and Colombia, said he has made some of the most significant changes in U.S. policy to Cuba in decades but the Cuban leadership has not responded in kind.

"We have expanded remittances, we expanded travel, we have sent a strong signal to the Cuban people," Obama said. "The Cuban government made some gestures about releasing political prisoners and starting some market-based economies with small business opportunities. (But) we haven't seen as much follow-through as we would like."

Obama said that Cuban authorities must take some "meaningful actions," but was not specific when I asked what would be the minimum measures Cuba should take to improve bilateral ties.

Obama did not mention the case of Alan Gross, the U.S. contractor who was sentenced to 15 years in prison this month for taking telephone equipment to Cuba, but other U.S. officials have asked for his immediate release in recent days.