US Embassy in Cuba should not be a foreign relations pawn

By Jan. 3, 1961, the New York Yankees had won the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds and the U.S. State Department had lost its prize jewel of the Caribbean — Cuba.

On that day, a crisp Sunday morning, a cool breeze blew in from the Atlantic, bouncing off Havana’s Malecon seawall and onto the U.S. Embassy’s green lawn. There, U.S. Charge’ d Affaires Daniel M. Braddock, dressed in his customary white linen suit and accompanied by three U.S. Marines, walked over to “Old Glory” waving in all her splendor in the Caribbean trade winds. Acting on orders of President Eisenhower, they retrieved the U.S. flag, which could not be raised again at the site.

Some 56 years later, on Dec. 17, 2014, President Obama announced a change in U. S. policy toward Cuba, including greater engagement and the resumption of U.S.Cuba diplomatic relations, and the opening of respective embassies in Washington D.C. and Havana. The president’s action carried the support of the majority of the U.S. Cuban diaspora and the American people.

On July 20, 2015, another sunny and crisp Sunday morning, three Marines stood by as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry raised the American flag to its full regalia outside the U.S. Embassy in Havana. The act symbolized a positive shift in the future relations of both countries. The optimism was as palpable as the ocean breeze that caressed an excited crowd, including thousands of Cubans watching from nearby apartment balconies and rooftops.

For many of Cuba’s 11 million residents, the hoisting of the U.S. flag meant the United States was “back” and their quality of life would soon change. President Obama’s brief but much-celebrated visit to Cuba that March underscored a sense of empowerment and hope for the beleaguered island residents.

Yet few in Cuba anticipated the change that would soon come. The 2016 U.S. presidential elections ushered in a new administration whose focus has been to dismantle “all Obama” legacies, including those involving Cuba. If someone wanted to shut the U.S. Embassy in Cuba in a post-Obama era, the easiest way would be to present to the public a scenario of danger to American lives and welfare. This past year, according to State Department and White House sources, the Cuban government was either conspiring to injure Embassy employees with sound waves or were allowing third parties to do so. The allegations have never been proven despite exhaustive probes by Canadian investigators, the FBI and scientists.

What advantage would the U.S. government have in claiming physical injury to American citizens working in Cuba? The simple answer is that it allows the State Department to issue travel warnings to Americans visiting Cuba, discouraging U.S. travel to the island. It also allows the State Department to evacuate all non-essential personnel from the embassy in Cuba, leaving behind a skeleton crew. The net effect: No more U.S. visas for Cuba residents. They now have to obtain U.S. travel documents from third countries, a prohibitive financial burden for the average Cuban. The U.S. Embassy quickly became the lifeline for 11 million Cubans seeking to travel back and forth to the U.S. Giving ordinary Cubans access to our embassy was designed to create further engagement, which could ultimately foster change within Cuban society. Instead, the White House is rolling it all back — but at what price?

President Trump’s dismantling of diplomatic ties with Cuba will substantially hurt U.S. national security. It will allow Russia and Vladimir Putin to regain a foothold in the Caribbean, becoming Cuba’s financier in exchange for reinstalling submarine bases on the Island. It will undermine U.S.-Cuba joint security task forces that are fighting narco and human trafficking trades. It will also give terrorists another avenue into the U.S. Most importantly, it will strip 11 million people of the hope that President Obama had given them just a couple of years earlier.

Our embassy in Cuba should not be treated as a pawn in U.S.-Cuba foreign relations, but instead should be used as a cornerstone to promote democratic values and enhance U.S. national security interests.

So please President Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, think about all the benefits of having a fully operational U.S. Embassy in Havana, rather than what has now been relegated to an outdated Cold War outpost.

Ralph Patino is a trial lawyer based in Coral Gables, and a founder of the U.S. Cuba Business Council, which assisted the Obama administration in restoring diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba.