Word: erikson
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...itself noted afterward, there was "no political manipulation of cultural expression ... just a vote for human understanding." And while that's to the Castros' credit, the truth is that the long-term effects of that sort of nondogmatic fiesta don't always favor systems like Cuba's. Says Daniel Erikson, a senior associate at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington and author of The Cuba Wars: "These kinds of cultural exchanges bring alternative voices that diminish the government's monopoly on information and expression...
...promote democracy on the island. Though he favors keeping intact the 47-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, he eliminated restrictions on travel to Cuba for Cuban-American families, and his Administration is now in talks with Havana about improving immigration and postal service between the two countries. Erikson says the concert by Juanes, who lives in Miami, was a reminder of the "soft power tool kit" the U.S. should wield more often. "Obama needs to bring more of that kind of cultural diplomacy back into the arena," he says, "but so far it's taking a backseat...
Still, in his book, Erikson describes how increased cultural-exchange activity at the end of the 20th century led to more robust public discussion and independent journalism in Cuba by the start of the 21st century - enough so, he writes, that an alarmed Fidel Castro cracked down with sweeping arrests of dissidents and writers in 2003. Despite that setback, exchange advocates feel it's time to start again. The point, they say, is that even if Juanes meant nothing by shouting "Cuba libre!," it was enough if he got some of those 1 million Cubans wondering what he did mean...
...democratic norms like multiparty elections and free speech. OAS officials say privately that even human-rights groups that deplore the embargo have warned the organization not to betray the 2001 charter. "This time, the U.S. position is actually much closer to the default position of the OAS," says Daniel Erikson, a senior associate at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington and the author of The Cuba Wars, "while it's countries like Nicaragua and Honduras that look like they're trying to paint outside the lines." (Read TIME's brief history of U.S.-Cuba relations...
More important, getting Cuba right could resonate for Obama well beyond the Florida Straits. "Obama has made it very clear to the world that he cares about how U.S. foreign policy is perceived around the globe," says Erikson. "Given that the embargo is one of the most unpopular policies the U.S. practices in the world, with the United Nations voting 185 to 3 last year to condemn it, he risks making his Administration look a lot like the Bush Administration if he hangs on to it." That may not be the conclusion Obama comes to this week...