Wayne S. Smith Former U.S. Diplomat Lashes Out Against Washingtonís Cuba Policy by Larry Luxner Between former President Jimmy Carterís mid-May visit to Cuba and President George W. Bushís speech to hard-line Cuban exiles in Miami barely a week later, this Caribbean island 90 miles from Floridaís shores seems to be generating more than its usual share of headlines. And thatís not going to let up now that opponents of Washingtonís anti-Cuba policy in Congressóboth Democrats and Republicansóare becoming increasingly vocal about ending the 40-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Fidel Castroís communist regime. One of the best-known, most outspoken critics of that embargo is Wayne S. Smith, who was chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana from 1979 to 1982. In a lengthy interview a few weeks ago, he praised Carter, saying the former presidentís visit to Cuba was nothing short of extraordinary. ìHe achieved more than I would have imagined possible,î Smith told The Washington Diplomat. ìThe fact that Castro allowed him to address the Cuban people was unprecedented. So was the fact that Granma [the Communist Party newspaper] published the entire text of his speech. By entering into a mutually res pectful dialogue, Carter did more to encourage openness in Cuba than anything the U.S. government has done in all the years since his presidency.î Smith, 70, is considered a leading expert on U.S.-Cuban relations, though he is disliked by hard-liners in the Bush administration and despised by many in Miamiís Cuban exile community for advocating closer relations between the two countries. It was in Cuba, in fact, where the straight-talking Democrat from Texas began his long, distinguished career in the U.S. Foreign Service. In 1958, the year before Castro came to power, Smith was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Havana. He spent three years there as third secretary until 1961, when President Kennedy broke diplomatic relations with Castro, who by that time was a self-declared communist. Smith was transferred to Brazil and later was posted to the Soviet Union and Argentina. He eventually returned to Washington, where he became director of Cuban affairs at the State Department. In 1979, Carterówho two years earlier had lifted travel controls as an initial step toward improving relations with Cubaóappointed Smith to head the new U.S. Interests Section in Havana. Smith kept that job until 1982, when he quit in disgust over the Reagan administrationís hostile Cuba policy. ìThe thing that brought it to a head,î recalled the former diplomat, ìwas in December 1981, when the Cubans announced that they had halted all arms shipments to Central America. They hoped this would improve the atmosphere for negotiations not only in Central America, but also between our two countries,î Smith said. ìIt took me six weeks to get a response from the State Department. The answer was ënoí to negotiations, that even though there was no evidence [that Cuba was still sending weapons to Central America], they werenít interested in negotiations with the Cubans. Shortly thereafter, the Reagan administration reimposed travel controls, they said, because of Cubaís increasing arms shipments to Central America and because Cuba refused to address our agenda of foreign concerns. Both things were untrue. With that,î he said, ìI gave it some thought and then sent in my cable asking to be removed from the post.î Today, Smith is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, a Washington think tank. He said he has no doubt that the U.S. embargo against Cuba will eventually be liftedóbut not as long as Bush occupies the White House. ìU.S. policy is dictated by the hard-line exiles in Florida. It has almost nothing to do with what happens in Cuba,î he said. ìWe used to tell Castro during the í80s that if he would get his troops out of Africa, stop giving arms to guerrillas in Central America, and reduce his military relationship with the Soviets, then we could move ahead and improve relations in a significant way. By 1992, all those conditions had been met, so suddenly we made new conditions. ìNow they say Cuba hasnít moved as far ahead as China. Thatís total bullshit,î he charges. ìCubaís human-rights record is better than Chinaís. The real reason is, if Cuba had a population of 100 million people, there wouldnít have been an embargo.î Perhaps Smithís views on U.S. policy toward Cuba can best be summed up by a crudely painted wooden sign in Russian that says ìHands Off Cuba.î It was given to him by a student during a 1967 demonstration in Moscow marking the death of Cuban revolutionary Ernesto ìChÈî Guevara and now occupies a prominent place on the wall of Smithís Washington, D.C., office. ìThe embargo gives Castro the perfect excuse to rally his people,î he said. ìSo why are we doing him a favor by keeping it in place?î The answer may lie in a May 20 speech in Miami where President Bush told a wildly cheering crowd of Cuban exiles that despite Carterís visit, the United States wonít consider improving relations with Cuba until Castro allows free elections and the right to free speech. ìShow the world you respect Cuban citizens enough to listen to their voices and to count their votes,î Bush said. ìStart to release your chokehold on the working people and on enterprise.î The president, appearing at a $25,000-a-plate fundraising event for his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said he would push for direct-mail service between the United States and Cuba, establish scholarships in the United States for Cuban students and professionals trying to assemble independent institutions and for relatives of political prisoners, and seek to cut U.S. bureaucratic hurdles that hamper American aid groups from working in Cuba. But he made clear that he would not allow any significant improvements as long as Castro remains in power and opposition parties are forbidden from participating in free elections. Smith said that policyówhich he calls ìpandering to the exilesîóis politically shortsighted. ìThe Bush administration is focused entirely on the elections in Florida. Their calculation is that they must do nothing that could even be interpreted as a move to improve relations with Cuba, which I think is a miscalculation. Weíre talking about a tiny little group of people. Polls indicate the Cuban-American community is tending to move toward the other direction.î Some members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, have started to question the wisdom of the trade embargo. ìThis is now a domestic political issue. The majority of Americans think the policy has outlived its usefulness,î said Smith. ìThe Elian Gonz·lez affair began to turn American public opinion against the exiles, and that opened up the possibility of selling foodstuffs to Cuba.î Another factor: strong opposition to the embargo from Republican lawmakers in Midwest farm states, whose constituents are ìhurting for marketsî and would love to be able to sell their corn, wheat, potatoes and other produce to Cuba without restrictions. Under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, U.S. farmers can sell their agricultural products directly to Cuba, as long as the Cubans pay cash. Since November 2001, Cuba has spent $101 million on grains, frozen chicken and other U.S. products, according to the Cuban food import agency Alimport. And that represents only 10 percent of potential volume. If Cuba had access to commercial credit, said Smith, ìweíd be able to sell anywhere from $800 million to $1.5 billion worth of food very quickly, and if weíd lift travel controls, tourism would increase, and theyíd have more money to buy American products. ìTravel is the key,î Smith continued. ìYouíve got all those Americans traveling down there. Hotels want to get in, telecom companies want to get in. That brings all kinds of other interests. Thatís not simply a breach in the wallóitís a chasm.î But none of this is likely to happen given Bushís solemn vow to make it even harder than it already is for ordinary Americans to travel to Cuba. Smith said he knows of several people who have received letters from the U.S. Treasuryís Office of Foreign Assets Control, ordering them to pay $7,500 for having traveled to Cuba illegallyóvia third countries. ìMy advice is not to pay,î he advocated for Americans who may have received similar letters after returning home from a Cuban trip. ìAsk for a hearing. They donít have enough judges, so there hasnít been any hearings.î On the other hand, Smith says Bush cannot increase the fines against unauthorized travel to Cuba. ìItís not up to him. Itís up to Congress, and Congress isnít going to,î said Smith. ìThere arenít enough votes in Congress to do it. Theyíre moving in the opposite direction.î Smith, who visits Cuba at least once a month, sai d the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 in effect codifies trade sanctions against the island, taking away from the president the power to enforce or lift it unilaterally. Under Helms-Burton, lifting the embargo now would take a vote of Congressóa fact that Smith said could, for the first time, actually work in favor of those who oppose it. ìCubans understand that the world is changing, that the Cold War is over,î he said. ìThey have the possibility now of traveling back there and selling foods and medicines to Cuba. Those things will make it easier for their families. After 43 years, itís perfectly apparent that this stupid American policy is not going to bring Castro down. So why not try something else?î At the same time, Smith dismissed charges by some in the Bush administration that Castro is secretly developing biological warfare and transferring technology to terrorist-supporting states, such as Iran and Libya. ìThe hard-line exiles have been complaining for some time now that the administration is not taking seriously enough their accusations about Cuba being involved in biological weapons. Of course they werenít, because there wasnít any evidence. But elections are getting closer, so the administration will pander to them.î In the meantime, Smith angrily opposes plans by the Bush administration to channel millions of dollars to dissident organizations opposed to the Castro regime. He pointed out that leading Cuban dissidents, such as Elizardo S·nchez and Oswaldo Pay·, are ìvery principledî men who understand that accepting any material support from the United States could taint their reputations. ìThe Castro government keeps saying theyíre all paid agents of the U.S. Castro knows itís not true, but itís a convenient thing to say. Then here comes the Bush administration, saying weíre going to increase our support to the dissidents. Thatís just confirming what Castro is claiming. Itís utterly stupid. Theyíre doing the work of the Castro government and making it far more difficult for the dissidents to carry on as they are.î Along those same lines, he said the Bush administrationís decision to hand out short-wave radios to Cubans on the streets of Havana so they can listen to Radio MartÌóthe U.S. government-funded stationóis ìjust bad PR.î Smith said, ìTheir mandate called for Radio MartÌ to be based in Washington and tightly controlled by the U.S. Information Agency to assure the objectivity and accuracy of whatís broadcast. Then Ileana [Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.)] and Lincoln [Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.)], without any hearings or votes, had it moved it down to Miami, where it has become nothing more than a ravening exile station, paid for by the American taxpayer.î Smith said Radio MartÌís listenership has plummeted from 60 percent of the Cuban population when it began broadcasting in 1985 to around 5 percent today. And TV MartÌ, which went on the air in 1991, is rarely seen or heard by anybody in Cuba. Thatís because the Castro government jams its signal. According to Smith, broadcasting experts told the Reagan administration from the very beginning that any TV signal that must be transmitted more than 100 miles can easily be jammed. ìTV MartÌ is a total waste of taxpayersí money and always will be,î he said, noting that it costs $20 million annually to keep TV MartÌ on the air. Despite the bitterness and frustration on both sides of the issue, Smith predicted that the poor state of relations between the United States and Cuba wonít last forever. ìThe embargo is going to be lifted,î noted the veteran Cuba-watcher. ìItíll take time, but it will come. Thereís a bond between Cubans and Americans that overcomes everything.î Larry Luxner is a regular contributor to The Washington Diplomat.