President Obama wants Congress to fully lift the U.S. embargo on Cuba, but his top diplomat negotiating with the Castro regime could not cite the conditions current law requires to ease the restrictions.
Roberta Jacobson, the assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, repeatedly told the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday that while the administration is working to re-establish diplomatic ties and open embassies in each other’s countries, full normalized relations between the two countries could be years in the making.
She stressed that the Obama administration would insist on human rights protections and democratic reforms during the long process.
“There’s nothing in what we decided on [Dec.] 17th that we believe is a concession to the Cuban government,” she said, referring to the date that Obama announced the change in Cuba policy last year.
She later added that the new diplomatic channel is not tantamount to the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” and she hopes that having an embassy in Havana would enable U.S. diplomats to work more closely with the Cuban people to help empower them.
Late in the hearing, Jacobson had trouble answering a basic question about the conditions current law requires Cuba to meet for the trade embargo to be lifted.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., a Cuban-American who has long fought for human rights changes in Cuba, pressed Jacobson on the topic. She said Obama had requested that Congress lift the embargo and wanted to know which conditions under the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 the Cuban government had met to make that possible.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have that in front of me,” Jacobson said.
Clearly annoyed, Ros-Lehtinen quickly responded: “I hope that when you’re negotiating with the Castro government you know the current laws.”
“Please go and check that out,” she added, “because that is U.S. law, and we are hoping you will abide by that.”
Under the Helms-Burton Act, the president has the authority to lift the embargo, with congressional approval, as long as certain conditions are met. Top conditions include: the Cuban government legalizing all democratic political activity; releasing all political prisoners and allowing international human rights organizations to inspect the prisons; dissolving the security apparatus aimed at suppressing political activity and arresting dissidents; and committing to holding “free and fair” elections.
Ros-Lehtinen also asked Jacobson whether the Obama administration had a plan to force the Cuban government to repay 6,000 claims amounting to $8 billion to Americans who had their property and businesses taken by the Castro regime. Specifically, she wanted to know whether the Obama administration would work to try to help Cuba become a member of international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund before the Castro government paid the claims.
“I’ve been very cognizant of the importance of the resolution of the claims … from the beginning of this process,” Jacobson said. “We believe very strongly that this has to be part of the conversations over years — however long normalization takes.”
While the U.S. is not advocating for Cuba’s membership in international financial institution, Jacobson said “at some point it might be useful to have organizations like the IMF not give them help, but help them open their economy.”
