The Cuba-US Bilateral Relationship: New Pathways and Policy Choices Kelly, Moreno, and Witmer (2019)
Abstract
By December 2014, America’s last two battle lines of the Cold War that remained intact were along the 38th parallel with North Korea and across the Florida Straits with Cuba. The Korean stalemate remains intractable so long as Kim Jong-Un holds power in Pyongyang. However, with respect to the regime of Raul Castro in Havana, successor to the dictatorship of Fidel Castro, an opening emerged that presented Washington an opportunity to begin resolving the stalemate with Cuba.
President Obama, working with Pope Francis and Vatican envoys, negotiated a break-through and then used his executive foreign relations power to re-establish diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States in 2015. While Congress has been slow to follow with legislative adjustments that still must be made in order to fully normalize relations, the path toward normalization has nevertheless been set.
This book examines a number of issues that will be encountered along that path. Drawing insight from the political, economic, and legal spheres, we suggest that much work remains to be done for the new Cuban-U.S. relationship to flourish. This includes the resolution of outstanding property claims that date back to the 1959 revolution, establishing US/Cuban economic relationships in multiple sectors of the economy, and working through contentious political issues in both Cuba and the United States. The contributors and editors for this volume are all experts in their respective fields and will address these issues by raising challenging policy questions, providing thought-provoking observations, offering insightful commentary, and positing viable policy choices across a range of political, legal and economic issues.