Brazil’s economy is the ninth largest in the world—31 times the size of Cuba’s. Its territory makes up nearly half of the South American landmass—80 times larger than the small Caribbean island. And the value of Brazilian trade with the rest of the world is 25 times that of Cuba. So why does Cuba garner such high levels of attention from Latin American countries and from the United States, as well as from extrahemispheric actors like the EU? Why has the island recently attracted more attention from think tanks and at high level summits than Brazil, a continental giant and impressive global player?
Moisés Naím broaches this question in his Newsweek piece, “The Havana Obsession: Why all eyes are on a bankrupt island,” here.
The immediate answer might be that the revolution has been an inspiration—a symbol of David vs. Goliath—that is attractive to many countries, and so Cuba’s global ties, the imposed trade embargo and its more general relationship with the United States remain of interest and concern globally. But this ideological hat-tip would upset many who oppose the political system on the island, and anyway the response is different from Naím’s conclusion: he points out that while Brazil has flourished economically and in trade and diplomatic relationships, narrowing inequality and practically achieving universal education in the country, Cuba remains “a country where people are willing to risk their lives and take to the sea in rickety rafts to escape from material deprivation, brutal repression and political suffocation. It is a country whose economy cannot survive without the handouts from its allies and where food shortages and hunger are common. It is also the country where, for more than half a century, power has been in the hands of the same family.”
Unfortunately, these are indisputable facts about the island nation. Still, Naím’s piece answers “why should the island receive attention,” but the ideological answer is still the likely response to “why does the island receive much of the attention it does?” Cuba receives attention because the United States opposes its political system and treatment of human rights, and because much of Latin America and the rest of the world support the revolution’s symbolism.
Suddenly, the suggestion behind this Newsweek piece becomes intriguing. By sidestepping politics and focusing on the economic and social issues faced on the island, perhaps diverse countries of the world—even the United States—might come to agree on Cuba’s importance.
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Thanks for drawing attention to this Newsweek article by Moises Naim. I’ll share it with others. His idea that Cuba’s military involvement in the struggle against South African apartheid served the interests of the Kremlin was also the same excuse Washington gave to cut off diplomatic talks with the island at that time. The argument is false. Read the book CONFLICTING MISSIONS by Piero Glejeses.
So, in an inverted way, Naim shares the same obsession as Washington’s policy makers does with Cuba. Funny thing, though Washington is today the odd-country-out with relation to Cuba. Brazil, which Naim cites so approvingly in contrast to Cuba, has completely normal relations with the revolutionary island, and favors its full reintegration into the structures of the continent. Only Washington refuses to have fully normal relations with Cuba as does all of the rest of Latin America today, including Brazil.
And when Lula goes to Cuba, he meets with Fidel and Raul, not with the opponents of the Cuban government. There is a rather obvious message in that choice, which Moises Naim chooses not to mention.
The road to Latin America today leads through Havana, not around nor against it. This is what Washington and Newsweek’s Moises Naim fail to and refuse to understand.
It’s time that THEY got over THEIR anti-Cuba obsession.
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