Latest update February 11th, 2025 4:18 AM
Cuba to host regional summit on Ebola tomorrow – GCSM President
Cuba will host a Regional Summit on Ebola tomorrow as Heads of state and governmental representatives of
President of the Guyana Cuba Solidarity Movement, Haleem Khan
various countries that make up the regional integration bloc will gather in Havana to address a joint contribution to the prevention and fight against Ebola, the deadly epidemic currently affecting West Africa, according to President of the Guyana Cuba Solidarity Movement (GCSM) Haleem Khan.
This meeting comes on the heels of the U.N. Secretary General making an international appeal for additional support and help in preventing and coping with the epidemic.
Meanwhile, Khan noted that Cuba is positioning itself for a post-embargo era and the Cuban government will welcome renewed diplomatic relations with the United States and would not set preconditions.
As a first step, Khan explained that the Obama administration should remove Cuba from the State Department’s list of nations that sponsor terrorist organizations, which include Iran, Sudan and Syria. Cuba, he said, was put on the list in 1982 for backing terrorist groups in Latin America, which it no longer does.
Most notably, Khan disclosed that Cuba has answered America’s calls for help with Ebola. Cuba sent 165 health workers to hard-hit Sierra Leone, a disproportionately large number for a tiny island nation. They join cadres of medical workers in West Africa from several nations who are under the auspices of aid groups.
For the moment, Khan said that American officials recognize that Havana is playing a constructive role in the conflict in Colombia by hosting peace talks between the government and guerrilla leaders.
The GCSM president further noted that fully ending the embargo will require Congress’s approval. But there is much more the White House could do on its own. For instance, it could lift caps on remittances, allow Americans to finance private Cuban businesses and expand opportunities for travel to the island.
Khan said restoring diplomatic ties, which the White House can do without congressional approval, would allow the United States to expand and deepen cooperation in areas where the two nations already manage to work collaboratively, like managing migration flows, maritime patrolling and oil rig safety.
“Engaging with Cuba and starting to unlock the potential of its citizens could end up being among the Obama administration’s most consequential foreign-policy legacies.” Khan stressed.
In recent years, Khan said the devastated economy has forced Cuba to make reforms, a process that has gained urgency with the economic crisis in Venezuela, which gives Cuba heavily subsidized oil. Officials in Havana, fearing that Venezuela could cut its aid, have taken significant steps to liberalize and diversify the island’s economy. The pace of reforms has been slow and there has been backsliding. Still, these changes show Cuba is positioning itself for a post-embargo era.
Starting in 1961, Washington has imposed sanctions in an effort to oust the Castro regime. Over the decades, it became clear to many American policy makers that the embargo was an utter failure.
Khan further asserted that the Obama administration in 2009 took important steps to ease the embargo, a patchwork of laws and policies, making it easier for Cubans in the United States to send remittances to relatives in Cuba and authorizing more Cuban-Americans to travel there. And it has paved the way for initiatives to expand Internet access and cell phone coverage on the island.
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