Carlos Gutierrez, the Cuba-born former Commerce secretary under President George W. Bush, was on hand for the official opening of the U.S. embassy in Havana Friday, fueling new speculation that he may be President Obama’s choice for ambassador to the island nation.
The presence of Gutierrez, the former CEO of the Kellogg Company who now works at the investment advisory firm headed by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, caught the attention of the Cuban-American community back in Washington D.C.
Photos of him in Havana Friday circulated back in Washington, stoking concern among critics of Obama’s Cuba policy that he is on the president’s shortlist for the ambassador appointment, knowledgeable sources told the Washington Examiner.
White House officials in recent weeks have equivocated when asked if Obama plans to name an ambassador to Cuba and his timeline for that decision. Late last month White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he expects Obama to nominate an ambassador but would not commit to a timeline.
“I don’t have a specific commitment to share with you in terms of when this person would be announced and who that person would be,” he said.
Naming an ambassador to Cuba would only prompt more anger in the GOP-controlled Congress in the middle of the critical debate over the Iran nuclear deal. Those watching the issue closely believe the president will instead wait to tap someone to fill the post until the fall or later this year once Congress holds its up-or-down vote on the agreement between Tehran, the U.S. and other world powers.
But speculation that Obama could choose Gutierrez is not far-fetched and could create an opening for at least some GOP support for the nomination, and make it more difficult for other Republicans to oppose.
The former Commerce secretary said he would consider becoming the first ambassador to Cuba in more than 50 years during a May interview with El Pais, the highest circulation daily newspaper in Spain.
Even though he was born on the island, Gutierrez is not of Cuban descent, but a mixture of Spanish and French. His father owned a pineapple plantation in Cuba and fled to the United States in 1960 after the revolution when the future Bush administration Cabinet official was just six years old.
Despite the experience, or maybe because of it, Gutierrez is now supporting the Obama administration’s decision to renew ties with Cuba, after initially expressing skepticism at the historic announcement back in December.
In the months since, Gutierrez has become a vocal supporter of normalizing relations with Cuba, and penned an op-ed in the New York Times in mid-June titled “A Republican case for Obama’s Cuba Policy.” In it, Gutierrez acknowledged his initial skepticism but said he has become “cautiously optimistic for the first time in 56 years.”
“I see a glimmer of hope that, with Cuba allowing even a small amount of entrepreneurship and many American companies excited about entering a new market, we can actually help the Cuban people,” he wrote in the op-ed.
His optimism, he said, is based in part on his 30-year career at the Kellogg Company, which taught him that “at its best, business can have a transformation and uplifting impact on communities and whole societies.”
“It is because of that belief that I have always been proud to call myself a Republican,” he wrote, going on to tout his experience as Commerce secretary under Bush when he served as a voice for “American business abroad” and saw the “power of free enterprise to raise living standards and the importance of being free to work where one chooses.”
“I believe that it is now time for Republicans and the wider American business community to stop fixating on the past and embrace a new approach to Cuba,” he continued.
In a separate interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in late May, Gutierrez predicted that Cuba could become the “Singapore of the [Western] hemisphere.”
Cuban-American critics of Obama’s new détente with the Castro regime quickly pilloried the op-ed and Gutierrez’s Singapore comparison. They said the Castro regime has already rejected Google’s offer to provide free Internet access to the island out of fear widespread Internet access would pollute the island with capitalism.
In a blog post on the website www.CapitolHillCubans.com, Mauricio Claver-Carone, the website’s editor, pointed out that Guiterrez’s op-ed omitted references to the Cuban people’s struggle for “human rights, freedom and democracy.”
“Scouring through the op-ed, there’s not a single mention of freedom for the Cuban people, human rights, democratic reform, political prisoners or a reference to the island’s courageous dissident leaders,” he wrote.
“The op-ed could have been written by Ben Rhodes at the White House,” he continued, referring to one of Obama’s top foreign policy advisers. “Who knows? Perhaps it was.”
