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There are indications that in the Intelligence Directorate (DI) of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT), -its directorates of active measures and the United States-, is working together with collaborators of the “organic intelligentsia” to articulate a false opening that could be sold to the current Administration in Washington. Their expectation is that, if this plan were to be successful, the supposed reform elaborated by them would become a deal for Cuba that the President could make his own and claim another victory as successful negotiator. Something that Trump could do.

What they forget, stresses Juan Antonio Blanco, author of this Cuba Siglo 21 Dossier, is that there is already a deal for Cuba, it has existed since March 1996, it has been approved by Congress and it is called the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act or Freedom Act (Helms-Burton Act). What has been pending until now is for a president in the White House to use it firmly, creatively and persistently.

The recent case of Expedia, sentenced to pay nearly $30 million for using confiscated property, demonstrates that Title III of Helms-Burton is more in effect than ever. However, the Act is not simply a sanctions mechanism; it is a comprehensive legal framework that offers a democratic, non-violent exit for Cuba – implemented by the Cubans themselves – with a U.S. commitment to support the country’s reconstruction.

According to the plan codified in its Title II, if a transitional government is formed in Cuba, releases political prisoners, respects civil liberties and calls to free elections, the United States will offer, among other things:

  • Immediate humanitarian relief, including food, medicine and energy assistance.
  • Technical assistance for institutional, economic and judicial reforms.
  • Support the Armed Forces for their integration in a new democratic stage.

But once free elections are held and the first democratically elected government is installed, it is further contemplated, among other things:

  • The total lifting of the embargo.
  • Washington’s support to access international funds from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.
  • U.S. direct investments guaranteed by federal agencies.
  • Full trade relations, which could evolve into the granting of “favored nation” status and eventual participation in a free trade zone with the United States.

Contrary to official propaganda, the Helms-Burton Act does not prevent trade in food or medicine, nor does it prohibit humanitarian donations. In fact, U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba have grown year after year. The law even allows for transactions with a real Cuban private sector, should one exist, a possibility that the regime has systematically blocked by keeping free market mechanisms and all key economic sectors under state control.

Since its enactment, the regime has tried to sell the idea that the law seeks to dispossess Cubans of their homes and public services. However, it only recognizes legitimate claims to arbitrarily confiscated property, in violation of international norms and Cuba’s own 1940 Constitution.

With access to the Internet, genuine public opinion has been forming on the island. Their ideas, appreciation and current expectations differ in many aspects from those that prevailed when the population was enclosed in an information cage. Today, the demands established by Helms-Burton for the bilateral normalization of relations coincide with those of a citizenry that no longer responds to old dogmas. Freedom of expression, the release of political prisoners, the establishment of a free-market economy and calling for free elections are today nationally anchored demands widely shared by a society tired of unfulfilled promises.

The law is also a tool against so-called “fraudulent change,” which the regime continues to try to promote as an economic reform without political transformation. The Helms-Burton Act makes it clear that only genuine and comprehensive change, with free elections and full political and economic freedoms, will allow the end of the embargo and the beginning of an unprecedented era of international cooperation.

In contrast to the attempts to promote a “change fraud” – the one that the murdered Cuban opposition leader Osvaldo Payá warned about – the United States offers with the Helms Burton Act an agreement, already approved and in force, not to benefit elites nor to perpetuate the ruling mafia, but to open the doors to the reconstruction of the country, with the participation of all Cubans, including the diaspora, and with U.S. commercial and financial support.

Cuba has before it the opportunity to break out of its oppression and stagnation. There is no need for another “deal” fabricated by the power elite to maintain its control over the country and Cuban society. The road map the Act outlines in its Title II contains basic demands for freedoms and democracy that are popular in Cuba today. All that remains to be done is to follow it.

The Cuba Siglo 21 Dossier on the Helms Burton Act closes with the following conclusions.

  • The Expedia case has shown that Title III of Helms-Burton Act has effective legal penalties. The fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has also shown willing to receive appeals of cases that were dismissed in lower courts, seems to indicate that a new and promising stage is opening for those who, being U.S. citizens, were affected by the arbitrary and uncompensated confiscations of their properties during the process of transformations initiated in Cuba since 1959.
  • It is pertinent to remember that the United States has established since 1996 a legal deal for non-violent change on the island, in the Title II of this Act. A change towards full freedom, not a fraud of autocratic reformism, essentially elaborated by the Cuban power elite to between them and some sector of the US establishment behind the backs of Cuban democrats.
  • The center and essence of the conflict in Cuba is endogenous (between the totalitarian power and the people) not bilateral (between Havana and Washington). The Helms-Burton Act recognizes that reality. It does not demand from Havana a bilateral negotiation with the U.S. government that bypasses the Cuban people, but urges an endogenous process, driven by the Cuban people themselves, in favor of the changes towards freedoms and rights demanded by the law and which today are also welcomed by most of the population.
  • The Helms-Burton Act does not call for unleashing national violence, does not even demand a transitional justice formula against the repressors of these six and a half decades, nor does it advocate a military invasion or foreign annexation. It even stipulates the initiation of negotiations for the eventual transfer of the Guantanamo naval base to a democratically elected government. It only demands what the people have been dreaming of for decades: that society is able to freely choose, among multiple options, its own government and path to happiness.
  • Cubans would not have to emigrate to another country to seek happiness. They would have recovered their own to do so. There would be no need to flee on a raft or depend on remittances. It would be enough to impose on a handful of mafioso autocrats an electoral exercise free of any totalitarian blackmail. Cuba could enter an era of growth with freedom and opportunities for all, especially for its youth. The Cuban diaspora would be the first investment force to participate -with three forms of capital (financial, human and social)- in the reconstruction of the country.

The thesis of the Dossier is clear: the only proposal for an agreement or deal from the United States to the Cuban people was already approved by Congress in 1996 and is still in force.  Thus, it is not feasible to negotiate a new pact or deal with the Cuban power elite that in any way may run the risk of opening the possibility to prolonging its control over the country and society on the island.

The current deal for Cuba was passed in March 1996 and is called the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act or Freedom Act (Helms-Burton Act). What has been lacking so far is an administration in Washington willing to promote it with firmness, creativity and persistence. Something that President Trump could now do.