The highest-ranking U.S. diplomatic official to visit Cuba in more almost 40 years met with seven leading dissidents there on Friday, to the seeming annoyance of the communist nation’s leadership.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson had breakfast with dissidents on Friday after a day of talks with the regime focused on the practicalities of restoring long-dormant diplomatic relations.
But leaders in Havana saw the decision to speak with a wider range of Cuban civil society as meddlesome interference in the country’s internal affairs.
“This is exactly one of the differences we have with the U.S. government because for us, this is not just genuine, legitimate Cuban civil society,” said Josefina Vidal, the leader of the official Cuban delegation, of the meeting. “This small group of people don’t represent Cuban society, don’t represent the interests of the Cuban people. So that’s a big difference with the United States government,” Vidal continued.
Jacobson, the U.S. delegation leader, said she had received no direct messages from either Raul or Fidel Castro, and cited a “profound disagreement” with the Castro regime over democracy and human rights.
“There is no doubt that human rights remains the center of our policy and it is crucial that we continue to both speak out about human rights publicly and directly with the Cuban government,” she said.
“It was incredibly important for me to hear from them about their struggles, about whether they agreed or disagreed with the U.S. policy,” Jacobson told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell. “Most important was the discussion of what comes next, what they are going to do, how they want our support, what we can do to help them.”
In some ways, the embargo has already cost Cuba nearly a trillion dollars — and shifted the country’s policies. Raul Castro has adopted several economic and political reforms, such as allowing Cuban citizens to work in private-sector jobs and own property, engage in some degree of criticism against the government, and prominent dissidents can travel abroad.
One tactic the Obama administration has used to engage countries with democracy and human rights issues is to meet not only with country officials, but also meet openly with dissidents that oppose the current regime. For instance, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with dissident and opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi when she traveled to Myanmar following newly-opened relations with the Asian nation following a military junta.
The U.S. breakfast meeting in Cuba may not have had the prominence of the Secretary of State in talks with Aung San Suu Kyi, but it could be a start to an honest dialogue with the Cuban people. One dissident leader, Elizardo Sanchez, of the Cuban National Human Rights Commission One told the BBC that it was “very cordial, a very human coming-together.”
“I cannot speak for all of civil society but the Cuban National Human Rights Commission is satisfied with the diplomatic position of the United States,” he said.
Jose Daniel Ferrer, founder of the Union Patriotica de Cuba (UNPACU), has been detained on numerous occasions and attended the meeting after the U.S. negotiated the release of many UNPACU members as a part of a broader prisoner release agreement with the Castro regime.
Other invited dissidents chose not to attend due to what they said was a lack of “balance in terms of the diversity of opinion of the participants.”
In December, U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced the re-establishment of diplomatic ties, with both countries re-opening their embassies, the U.S. easing travel restrictions and the economic embargo. Cuba had agreed to release 53 political prisoners, which it completed on January 12 of this year.
“Prisoner releases will be no more than a smokescreen if they are not accompanied by expanded space for the free and peaceful expression of all opinions and other freedoms in Cuba,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International. She cited statistics that showed a recent spike in short-term detentions — 8,899 in 2014 up from 6,424 in 2013.
“The good will expressed by the Cuban authorities with this series of releases must absolutely translate into the implementation of a new human rights agenda. Respect for freedom of expression, assembly and association must be the next step if the Cuban authorities want to keep their credibility in the face of a world which is watching them,” Rosas said.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has attacked the Pope for his involvement in the deal that allowed Jacobson to be in Havana in the first place, saying that he would “ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy.” Rubio, who is Catholic, joined a chorus of Republican (and at least some Democratic) criticism of the new approach to engage Cuba instead of the nearly half-century-long tradition of ignoring the island nation. He said the new policy sets a “dangerous precedent,” for dealing with other tyrants around the world, a stance echoed by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ).