Hemisphere Volume 25 Article 1 Issue 1 The United States and Cuba after D17 2016 The nitU ed States and Cuba after D17 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/lacc_hemisphere Part of the Latin American Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation (2016) "The nitU ed States and Cuba after D17," Hemisphere: Vol. 25 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. Available at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/lacc_hemisphere/vol25/iss1/1 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Kimberly Green Latin American and Carribbean Center (LACC) Publications Network at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hemisphere by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The nitU ed States and Cuba after D17 Abstract With the D17 announcement, US-Cuba policies were suddenly and dramatically transformed after decades of stale and repetitive relations. Guest editor Jorge Duany, director of FIU’s famed Cuban Research Institute, invited a group of leading experts to examine the repercussions of the restoration of diplomatic ties and discuss the intractable obstacles to the full restoration of relations between the two countries. Although normalization of diplomatic relations and the prospect of change have produced an exciting time for scholarship and policy analysis, the conclusion fifteen months later is that rapproachement has been slower and more modest than expected. This issue is available in Hemisphere: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/lacc_hemisphere/vol25/iss1/1 A MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAS VOLUME 25 • SUMMER 2016 • HTTP://LACC.FIU.EDU The United States and Cuba after D17 DIALOGUE ACADEMIA DISSEMINATE LINKAGES BUSINESS MEDIA TOPICS Hemisphere LEARN INDUSTRYDEBATEETHICS VOLUME 25 • SUMMER 2016 • HTTP://LACC.FIU.EDU INFORMATION CONTENT DEPTH CULTURE INVESTIGATION STATISTICS UNRAVEL LOCATION IN THIS ISSUE CULTIVATE TRAINING EXCHANGE POLICY REVEAL SPARK NEWS ANALYSIS LETTER FROM THE EDITOR INSIGHT INTERPRET INTERNATIONAL Frank O. Mora .............................................................................................................................................3 REALITY EDUCATION FREEDOM FINANCE NETWORKS ILLUMINATE TEACH DECIPHER BEATS LETTER FROM THE GUEST EDITOR INTERPRETATION GOVERNMENT Jorge Duany .................................................................................................................................................4 EXPLAIN ILLUMINATE EXAMINATION PUBLISHING RELIABLE FORUM FEATURE LEADERSHIP INTERACTIVE US-Cuba Economic Relations: Opportunities and Challenges SOURCES RESEARCH Carmelo Mesa-Lago .....................................................................................................................................7 REPORTS TRUTH New Policies, Old Politics: Change and Changelessness in US-Cuba Relations Louis A. Pérez, Jr. ......................................................................................................................................16 EXPOSE Diplomatic Normality and Its Enemies LACC: Rafael Rojas ...............................................................................................................................................18 US-Cuba Relations: Waiting for Real Change Celebrating Thirty-Seven Years of Excellence Nora Gámez Torres ....................................................................................................................................20 Working hard to ensure that people following Latin America and the Caribbean The uban-AmericanC Community after D17 have access to dependable, accurate and current information about the issues Jorge Duany ..............................................................................................................................................22 that matter most. Cuba’s Communist State Is Now a Client of Its Capitalist Entrepreneurs Tim Padgett ..............................................................................................................................................26 LACC supports enhanced understanding of hemispheric politics, business, society and culture through: COMMENTARIES n Academic research and teaching by more than 200 LACC faculty experts Gelato and a Balmy Evening Ride in an American Convertible: To Be or Not to Be in the New Cuba Ruth Behar ................................................................................................................................................30 n High-quality analysis available as events unfold n Interdisciplinary projects that reach audiences across the globe Cuban Nationalism and the Future of US-Cuba Relations Michael Parmly .........................................................................................................................................32 n Critical training programs to educate a new generation of leaders Cuba and the 2016 Presidential Elections Dario Moreno and Maria Ilcheva ...............................................................................................................34 Canada’s Island in the Sun? The Impact of D17 Catherine Krull .........................................................................................................................................36 PHOTO ESSAY Cuba after D17 Forging linkages across the Americas through education, research, outreach, and dialogue. Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo ...........................................................................................................................38 lacc.fiu.edu @FIULACC /FIULACC FROM THE EDITOR Dear Hemisphere readers: As my colleague Jorge Duany indicates in the Letter from the Guest Editor in this issue of Hemisphere, prior to December 17, 2014 (D17) discussion about Cuba and US-Cuba relations seemed, for the most part, stale Hemisphere and repetitive. Not much new was worthy of reporting or analytical discussion. Cuba was not moving as quickly as many hoped toward economic and social reform, and in the political realm, Raúl Castro’s Cuba was frozen EDITORIAL STAFF in time. US-Cuba relations suffered from similar paralysis, despite President Obama’s policy changes in the area of purposeful travel and some people-to-people programs. The incarceration of Alan Gross, the US government Founding Editor Anthony P. Maingot contractor sentenced in 2011 to 15 years in prison for bringing satellite and communications equipment to Editor Frank O. Mora members of Cuba’s Jewish community, and the continued imprisonment in the US of three of the Cuban Guest Editor Jorge Duany intelligence agents known as the “Cuban Five,” posed formidable obstacles to any kind of rapprochement. Associate Editor Liesl Picard With the D17 announcement, US-Cuba relations were suddenly and dramatically transformed, shifting faster Copy Editor Alisa Newman than our ability to make sense of the overall impact on Cuba’s political economy. Normalization of diplomatic Graphic Designer Genesis Sikaffy relations and the prospect of change have produced an exciting time for scholarship and policy analysis. Florida Production Manager Yessenia Abolila International University (FIU) is at the forefront of analyzing and engaging the process and impacts of this historic development, across multiple disciplines. EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD As the flagship publication of the Kimberly Green Latin America and Caribbean Center (LACC), Hemisphere Uva de Aragón Ana María Bidegain David Bray José Miguel Cruz dedicates this special issue to tracking and analyzing the impact of diplomatic normalization on US-Cuba economic Carol Damian Eduardo A. Gamarra relations, the Cuban-American community, Cuban nationalism and other important areas. I am grateful to Jorge A. Douglas Kincaid Sarah J. Mahler Duany, director of FIU’s Cuban Research Institute (CRI), one of the preeminent centers for the study of Cuba and Andrea Mantell Seidel Félix E. Martín Juan Martínez Ana Roca Cuban Americans in the United States, for putting together a superb lineup of scholars to examine the complex Allan Rosenbaum Mark B. Rosenberg aftermath of D17. Richard Tardanico Victor M. Uribe-Uran President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba in March 2016 was not the culmination, but an important milestone in Hemisphere (ISSN 08983038) is published once a year by the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, what is to be a long but irreversible process that began on D17. It marked just one more step toward engaging and Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, Florida International University. Copyright © 2016 by the empowering the Cuban people, helping change current dynamics and creating space for Cubans, as the president Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, Florida International University. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. stated during his extraordinary speech in Havana, to determine their own future. During the coming months and years, LACC and CRI will continue to engage not only the scholarly and policy communities through their various Hemisphere is dedicated to provoking debate on the problems, initiatives, and achievements of the Americas. Responsibility for the views expressed lies solely with the authors. Editorial, Circulation and Advertising Offices: Kimberly Green Latin research and outreach activities, but also, through the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, American and Caribbean Center, Florida International University, Modesto A. Maidique Campus, DM 353, Miami, will partner