Attention COHA Readers

Due to the electrifying news coming from Cuba, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs’ 10-researcher Cuban unit, under COHA director, Larry Birns, will shortly be issuing a series of memoranda on U.S. – Cuban – Iranian – and Venezuelan inter-relations.

Themes to be addressed:

•Castro’s faulting of Iranian anti-Semitism
•Would-be U.S. Ambassador designate Palmer fails at behaving diplomatically
•Repercussions on Venezuelan-Cuban relations
•Castro’s actions will put pressure on White House to come forth with a more robust conciliatory policy toward Cuba, leading up to a possible détente in Washington-Havana ties. A warming up with EU-Cuban ties, championed by Spanish diplomacy, is also likely
•Much is at stake, as U.S.-Cuban ties could be entering into their most important phase since the advent of the Castro regime in 1959
•It is by no means certain that U.S. policymakers will have the necessary imagination and political backbone to take advantage of the important developments now occurring in the Caribbean and take some meaningful moves to advance bilateral ties
•The net result of recent developments in the Caribbean could mean the marginalization of President Chávez as a pivotal player in regional affairs