Cuba’s Ambassador to US Presents Credentials to Obama
HAVANA TIMES — As of Thursday, Cuba officially has an ambassador to the United States, two months after Washington and Havana resumed bilateral relations after a long history of confrontation, reported dpa news.
Diplomat Jose Ramon Cabañas Rodriguez handed President Barack Obama his credentials as Cuba’s ambassador to the United States at an official ceremony that took place in the Oval Office. Besides Cuba, Obama received a total of 16 new ambassadors to Washington, including the Mexican Miguel Basanez Ebergeny.
The new head of Cuban diplomacy in the US had been appointed Charge d’Affaires of the newly reopened Cuban Embassy in Washington on July 20. Before that date he served as the head of the Cuban Interests Section in the United States.
The Cuban diplomat, with nearly 30 years in the foreign service; in 2012 he relieved Jorge Bolaños, who led the Interests Section for five years.
After the brief encounter between President Obama and the Cuban Ambassador, the Cuban embassy noted that “the accreditation of the Ambassador of Cuba to the United States is another step in the process towards normalization of relations between the two countries.”
Although Obama has not yet appointed an ambassador to Cuba, the Republican opposition in Congress has threatened to block his appointment.
Among those who oppose the appointment of a US ambassador in Havana is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a candidate for the Republican presidential primary. Rubio is of Cuban origin and opposes any rapprochement with Havana until the government of Raul Castro makes a series of reforms with concrete results.
The Senate, dominated by Republicans, must confirm the appointment and that could take months.
The Confirmation of ambassadors is usually a mere administrative formality, but in the last year it has become a headache for the Obama administration, which has seen Republicans block many of the nominations, causing a long waiting list.
Senate confirmation of Roberta Jacobson, currently Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Department of State, as the new ambassador of Mexico is still pending.
The appointment of an ambassador in Cuba would be a symbolic change, but would not change much on a practical level in the day-to-day operation of the embassy. A full normalization of relations will not occur until the United States lifts the embargo, which is also in the hands of Congress, dominated by Republicans.
Diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the charge d’affaires, is currently the top official at the US embassy in Havana.
Let’s know when Terry and we can join those statues in the Plaza de Carmen, have a couple of Buchaneros and a good argument! Or we could go to the zoo!
Actually I would prefer a beer at La Muralla in Havana as it is nearer to home, Camaguey sadly is a long way by Viazul. I say that because when we were there, the Viazul had broken down prior to reaching Camaguey and was all of two hours late.
So the driver obviously with pride in the Viazul claim to run on time, hammered the poor Yutong all the way to Havana and arrived on time! From there we went as usual to La Lisa to get a taxi particular for the journey to our home city.
But the consequences of that very fast and horrendous trip on Cuban roads, was that my back ached for a week.
You give us much info Carlyle vs. the Havana scene so thank you. Like Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, just by appearance and non-thousand mile communist/marxist stare, Jose Cananas might be decent. Does anyone remember Anatoly Dobrynin, Russian ambassador during the early sixties? In the darkest days I liked that guy and he may have saved the world!
It certainly is. My home away from home…and soon to be my permanent residency.
Well why would anybody who has sympathy with the Castro family regime believe the report when it is by Associated Press?
Remember it was AP who were accused by the Raul Castro Ruz himself of spreading distortion and defamation.
That followed AP reporting correctly it had been announced at the annual congress of Labiofam that two new mens scents were to be marketed with the names of Hugo and Ernesto,
Raul and the Executive Council of the Communist Party of Cuba said within three days that those responsible for the concept would be punished for using the “sacred names” of Hugo Chavez and Ernesto for a commercial product. It turned out that the Director of Labiofam was non other than a nephew of Raul.
Following the big stink, the nephew in order to endeavor to redeem himself wrote grovelling letters of apology to the families of Hugo Chavez and of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara on Labiofam headed paper, explaining that he as Director knew nothing about the idea and placing the blame on an underling. The form of punishment was never revealed.
So I repeat Gordon, why should we believe AP about US- Cuba regime relations when apparently we should not believe them about the two scents?
Incidentally I am having my two scents worth and have copy of both grovelling letters downloaded from the Labiofam web site at the time of the incident.
For the Castro family regime, the place for young blacks is in the sports arena. They have done the clever manipulation of colour by question number 6 in the 2012 census which was:
What is the colour of your skin?
White?
Metiza/Mulatto?
Black?
As Cubans have been aware throughout their history that white is regarded as superior and thatnot only the rungs of governance but also those of managerial positions in relatively humble positions such as shop managers, those who have sallow skins claim to be white. Those with any white forebears – a great-grandfather for instance, claim to be Metiza/Mulatto and only those who have no such relationship and are black or have pride, put down Black. Hence the percentage of blacks in Cuba reduced from 10.2% in the 2002 census to 9.9% in that of 2012.
Any reasonably observant person visiting Cuba will vouch that visually there are many more than 10% black people in Cuba.
In sport, the percentage of successful black athletes exceeds that of the whites and they have brought much honour to their country. Throughout Cuba’s history there has been a concern that the number of blacks might exceed the number of whites and policies were introduced by governments to increase the number of whites including providing financial incentives. Many of the Spanish immigrants attracted came from Galicia – as indeed did the Castros grandfather. Racial democracy – like political democracy will only arrive in Cuba when the repressive Castro family regime and the Communist Party of Cuba have gone from the shores of the beautiful island.
But a wonderful trova near the statue of Agramonte – where a few years ago I heard a superb trumpet player – and the cast bronze statues in the Plaza de Carmen with the group of chatting ladies and the man reading the newspaper, which is larger than Granma. It is a lovely city.
All progressive and rational thinking people welcome the path of normalization in US-Cuba relations and an end – at least in principle – to the US economic and political war against Cuba.
Cuba could have made a bold statement in its selection of an ambassador to the US by choosing an Afro-Cuban. Instead, the geriatric “Gallego” leadership headed by Raul Castro could not help itself – as it always does in all critical appointments – and chose – you guessed it – a nice Gallego boy to preserve the gene pool of the “historic leadership”.
Prof. Esteban Morales, the leading Cuban scholar on North America could just as well have served as the new Cuban ambassador to the US. I am sure there are enough other Afro-Cubans of distinction who could have been given a chance, if Cuba’s pretension to racial equality was not merely symbolic. When will there be racial democracy in Cuba? Who can young Afro-Cubans look to as role-models of their color in multi-racial Cuba when all the rungs of governance are unquestionably the privilege of non-black Cubans?
and especially water… there is no water in my adopted home of Camaguey, unless of course you have money
This surface gloss being developed between the US and the Castro administration makes absolutely no difference to the lives of the Cuban people.
This week in our city in Cuba, yet again, none of the shops have frozen chicken, pork is available from private vendors. The power cuts continue and leaking water runs down the streets. Readers should understand that Cuba is ruled by the communist Castro family regime.
Raul Castro Ruz the current dictator having been a communist since the early fifties, is not suddenly going to ease his control to become a nice affable guy concerned for the citizenry. That is why they have to survive on an average of 33 cents per day.
More on US – Cuba relations here :;:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/gamehunters/2015/09/18/regular-airline-flights-to-cuba-to-begin-as-soon-as-next-year/72387734/