Hare Publishes Commentary on Díaz-Canel’s U.S. Trip
Amb. Paul Webster Hare, Senior Lecturer at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent commentary on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s first trip to the United States.
Hare was interviewed for an October 12, 2018 article in Latin America Advisor entitled “What Did Díaz-Canel Accomplish on His U.S. Trip?”
From the text of the commentary:
Like many international leaders, I think Díaz-Canel is biding his time in the expectation that the Trump administration has only two years to run. Cuba’s government has long been astute followers of American politics. It is building bridges with state and city entities and showing a willingness to open talks with major American businesses. So, though the Trump administration is turning its back on engagement with Cuba, Cuban leaders are still finding American interlocutors. Increasingly, the Cubans hope that the business lobby will argue that if the United States is renouncing business opportunities in Cuba for political reasons, other countries will step in and seize them. Equally, the United States is now again largely isolated on Cuba issues, as the support for the Cuban anti-embargo resolution in the U.N. General Assembly later this month will show. That is a major obstacle to the Trump administration’s ability to rally international opinion to promote a peaceful resolution of the Venezuela crisis. Díaz-Canel is proving a cautious and conservative leader who is reluctant to show any significant policy departure from the tenure of the Castros. He may soon have a powerful and influential new ally in López Obrador, the Mexican president-elect, who could become a rival for leadership of the Latin American left. Cuba’s weight in international affairs continues to be boosted by U.S. hostility, and that is something Díaz-Canel knows as well as the Castros.
Amb. Hare teaches classes at Boston University on Diplomatic Practice, Arms Control, Intercultural Communication and on Cuba in Transition. His novel, “Moncada – A Cuban Story”, set in modern Cuba, was published in May 2010. His book “Making Diplomacy Work; Intelligent Innovation for the Modern World.’ was published in early 2015.