JORNAL DO BRASIL, OPPORTUNITY FOR THE US AND CUBA

UNCLAS RIO DE JANEIRO 000091 SIPDIS STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD DEPT PASS USTR USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD XM XR BR SUBJECT: JORNAL DO BRASIL, OPPORTUNITY FOR THE US AND CUBA OPPORTUNITY FOR THE US AND CUBA Editorial in April 19 issue of center left Jornal do Brasil (page A8) states: "The statement was so surprising that it took international diplomacy off guard. The simple confession of errors by the Cuban President... To admit that officers of the Cuban regime are human beings who make mistakes is far from the habitual...justifications for excesses during the eternal battle against so-called capitalist imperialism. Raul Castro's statement at the Summit of the Americas, in Trinidad and Tobago, was received with a relative endorsement by the USG, which made it a condition for a window of dialogue for a series of initiatives and political openings demanded from Havana. It was not a gesture consistent with what has been said by a leader of a country conflagrated by decades of isolation, especially when globalization is advancing - an era in which China has already shown the way for [economic] opening without changing the political model. While Ral Castro said that Cuba and the U.S. could talk as equals, President Barack Obama made it clear that there are those that are more equal than others. The White House spokesperson mentioned the release of political prisoners in Cuba, more free press and freedom of speech, in addition to the end of screening of mail from people who send money to relatives as important indicators of how true Castro's intentions are. This remark, despite sounding like a sign of arrogance by the U.S., is a careful move to pave an approach without hostile acts or internal sabotage. There is an important and powerful community who could lose it all if the economic embargo to the regime was halted as a result of a negotiation initiated by a confession of weakness. The anti-Castroists who live in Miami became such a powerful domestic force...the invasion of the Bay of Pigs showed the size of this movement. They would be the sharks inspecting the foundations of this new bridge. It is necessary to dismantle such a scenario with extreme caution, and this is why the U.S. cited conditions without making them formal, despite already loosening the ties for everyday practices - measures such as reducing restrictions for traveling from the U.S. to the Caribbean island, as well as money transfers, which were prohibited by former President George W. Bush. It also allowed companies such as AT&T to offer data transmission services or telephone services to Cuba. The optimistic manifestation by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton follows the model of foreign policy in the Obama era, which considers the sum of seemingly superficial acts as a safe path to finally put an end to five decades of isolation. Bringing Cuba closer to the U.S. would be a huge event for the continent and would end a rhetoric discussion that during all these years was the justification, for both sides, for sustaining decisions which always brought seclusion. May the warm weather in the Caribbean bring this historical result for world politics. The future will be thankful." MARTINEZ