The U.S. embargo over Cuba was a topic of discussion after President Obama, speaking in Miami last Friday, said that it was time for the country to revise its policies towards Cuba. It was against this backdrop that the Latino Institute held this morning its Cuba Business Seminar at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, NJ. Philip Peters of the distinguished Cuba Research Center in Washington, D.C., Alejandro Nuñez-Pabon (Minister-Counsellor) and Ovidio Roque Pedrera (First Secretary) to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Cuba to the United Nations, and yours truly were invited to speak before several leaders of the Hispanic business community in NJ.
Mr. Peters and the Representatives from the Cuban Mission spoke about the economic and cultural reforms taking place in Cuba, and I gave a primer on U.S. law on the prohibitions under the embargo and the exceptions that exist that allow persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction to engage in limited business transactions with and travel to Cuba. The main takeaways from this morning's seminar were: first, that increased, licensed travel to Cuba by Americans is increasing contact with the Cuban people in ways not seen since before the revolution and the imposition of the embargo; and second, that the market reforms taking place in Cuba, from small privately-owned restaurants to independently operated taxis and chauffeurs, to farmers and other business "cooperatives" (to borrow the phrase from Philip Peters) is having lasting effects on the Cuban economy and society at large.
As First Secretary Roque told audience at the Robert Treat Hotel this morning, "there is no going back" on these reforms. The question is will the United States continue to be mostly on the sidelines during these changes, as the President suggested in his speech in Miami, or will we make changes ourselves to take a more active, and influencing, role in effecting economic reforms in Cuba?
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