Unleash the Googles on Cuba

Unleash the Googles on Cuba
January 29, 2010
by Liz Harper

U.S.-Cuba dynamics continue to follow the traditional script of mixed
signals. The romance is there; the trust is not.

Shortly after U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Bisa Williams
returned from extended talks in Havana, the Cuban regime seized Alan
Gross, a U.S. subcontractor for a U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) democracy program in Cuba.

Another kicker came on Thursday when the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno
Rodríguez, told reporters that immigration talks in Havana were
scheduled for February 19.

Part of the Cuban agenda presented to the government of the United
States is a proposal for a new immigration agreement and solidifying
cooperation in the fight against people trafficking," Rodríguez is
translated as saying in English by Reuters. Let's hope that Cuba's
wishes to exchange Gross for the Cuban Five will remain a non-starter.

The imprisonment of Mr. Gross (or "Harold," as he was first named to me
in early December) serves as a good reminder of the criminals-in-office
we are dealing with in Havana. And also a reminder of our ill-conceived,
yet well-intended, Cuba policies and programs.

Why didn't we complain louder about Gross' continued detention? For one,
the man and his family did not sign a privacy waiver with the State
Department, and without that waiver the U.S. Department of State and
U.S. embassies and consulates abroad cannot release information on an
individual—even when it hurts our national interests.

In this context, the calls in and out of government for overhauling our
policies have only gotten louder.

What Cuba programs could—and should—be on the chopping block? Some
USAID-funded groups, such as the one Alan Gross worked for, are also
saying they are running out of money. Maybe that's not a bad thing.

Senator Russ Feingold (WI) this week proposed axing Radio/TV Marti,
which has been around for more than a decade.

Why fund programs, such as the one that Alan Gross worked for, when we
do not see clearly positive results? They just make us feel good that
we're trying to fix how horrible it is in Cuba, as one diplomat told me.

Are these our only tools to affect change in Cuba?

"Insanity [is] doing the same thing over and over again and expecting
different results," as Albert Einstein once said.

The timing couldn't seem better for a total rethink—a re-examination of
our paradigm on Cuba—since Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton has
initiated the State Department's very first Quadrennial Diplomacy and
Development Review. USAID will also be under the microscope.

The bottom line is that, to date, the Cubans are defining the terms of
how we talk. We can turn the policy paradigm to what works for our own
interests.

At the DC watercooler the pop talk is still "end the trade embargo" and
"allow travel for all U.S. citizens," even after the beating of blogger
Yoani Sanchez and Alan Gross' imprisonment. This is not satisfying.

Jake Colvin, Vice President of Global Trade Issues at the National
Foreign Trade Council, says "removing sanctions and travel restrictions
on Cuba could create tens of thousands of new jobs in the U.S. tourism
sector and generate anywhere from $300 million to nearly $1 billion
annually, in addition to agriculture and food sales."

Colvin is on the money with the removal of trade sanctions. But we can't
do it overnight. Further loosening on U.S. technology would be step in
the right direction.

With Google vs. China underway, I'm feeling quite bullish about the
influence that American private enterprise can have on another country.
This is not a new phenomenon. But we wouldn't know with Cuba since both
the U.S. and Cuban governments have blockades on information access and
trade. We will not affect Cuba's restrictions the way we're going about
it now.

"Google is already causing the Chinese government to liberalize their
censorship policy, allowing more access to 'controversial' information
to Chinese people," says Dan Abrams, president of MassLight Inc, which
consults for the Defense Department among others.

With the rising prominence and expansion of the Cuban blogosphere, Cuba
is an opportunity for U.S. policymakers. Unfortunately, Secretary
Clinton didn't note this in her recent Internet freedom speech.

Granted, there are many more barricades to the Internet, computers and
software in Cuba than in China. Still, the Internet/Google example in
China, as it develops, could very well be a paradigm for Cuba and the
influence of the American private sector. Unfortunately, our current
trade restrictions prevent them from exploring this opportunity.

"Ending the ban on travel by U.S. citizens—or better yet, removing all
trade and travel restrictions—would be much more effective than
tinkering with U.S. telecom sanctions. There's something to be said for
the low-tech approach," Colvin points out.

His points are solid. What has resulted from Obama's move to lift
restrictions on U.S. telecom companies? Nothing yet. Maybe we need to
move more aggressively in other trade matters?

I'm not saying that dropping trade sanctions on telecommunications and
technology firms will topple the regime, or that Cubans can order
millions of iPads. They cannot afford them.

And, even if they did, it would be equivalent to giving someone a car
with no gas. For now. The technology sector moves faster than any
government can keep up with. And this could be one way to nurture the
capitalist spirit in Cuba.

"Some entrepreneurial company will figure out a way to make some small
inroads into imports or exports, then another, and newer technologies
will be introduced. It's not an overnight prescription but it will have
a significant impact over time," says Abrams.

If our goal is to improve unadulterated access to information in Cuba as
a way to promote political freedoms, why does the U.S. government
believe it can do it by paying its own staffers—or subcontractors, like
Alan Gross—to do it? Note: Cubans do not trust the U.S. government.

We're fooling ourselves to think the U.S. government is going to
influence the Cuban government or people through our existing means.
This is a waste of time and money. Let's try public diplomacy through
private enterprise.

*Liz Harper is an americasquarterly.org contributing blogger based in
Washington DC. To reach a blogger, send an email to: aqinfo@as-coa.org
Tags:: Alan Gross, Bruno Rodríguez, Google, Radio/TV Marti, Secretary
Hillary Rodham, Senator Russ Feingold, U.S.-Cuba relations

Unleash the Googles on Cuba (29 January 2010)
http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/1188