54 Chapter 2
date on which they left the country, will eliminate cumbersome entry
and exit permits for Cuban citizens and authorize migration for the
children and other family members of professionals (mainly in the
health sector) who have up to now been considered “deserters;” (10)
establishment of specific time limits for state and party mandates and
development of practices that allow revocability of positions through
flexible and broadly democratic mechanisms; (11) improvement of
policy toward the Cuban community abroad, differentiating the differ-
ent currents of opinion and pursuing dialogue not only with those
who sympathize with the revolution but also with all those who are
not are active in seeking its overthrow; and (12) declaration of an
amnesty that includes all prisoners for offenses against the security of
the state, with the exception of those who have committed crimes
seriously damaging other human beings or property.
Cuban Foreign Policy Today
The government of Cuba has proposed to the U.S. government an
agenda of topics that need to be considered in the course of dialogue
and negotiation directed toward improving relations between them:
the lifting of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade,
removal of Cuba from the list of terrorist countries, abrogation of the
Cuban Adjustment Act and the “dry feet/wet feet” policy, compensa-
tion for economic and human damages, the return to Cuba of the ter-
ritory occupied by the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo, an end to radio
and television assaults against Cuba, and the cessation of the funding
of internal subversion. A key issue on this agenda is the liberation of
five antiterrorist Cuban fighters who for 11 years have suffered unjust
- The cultural domain will be influenced decisively by what happens in other spheres
of Cuban society. The victory of the “culture of resistance” that has characterized inde-
pendent nationalism—in opposition to the view that Cuba cannot be fully independent
because of its proximity to the United States—will be fostered by economic develop-
ment, political tolerance, and the possibility of preserving social achievements, social jus-
tice, independence, and sovereignty. In January 2007 there was a great debate among
Cuban intellectuals concerning a possible return of the dogmatism in the cultural sphere
of the “gray five-year period” (1970-1975), since some of the old hardliners were appea-
ring on television (see Fornet, 2009: 379; Amuchastegui, 2007).