US and Cuba resume direct postal service after over half a century gap

After over a half century with no direct postal service between the U.S. and Cuba the two postal services will resume direct post. A pilot project will launch shortly but no date has been set for resumption of full service.

The move is part of a series of measures after US President Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced a renewal in relations back on December 17th of last year. Already, diplomatic ties have been established and embassies opened. The two countries began to re-establish postal relations back in 2013. Previously all mail to and from Cuba and the U.S. had to be routed through a third country, usually Mexico or Canada.

In March of this year, direct phone links were established between the two countries after a gap of 15 years. Calls previously were also routed through a third company making them quite expensive. The Cuban company Etecsa said: "The re-establishment of direct communications between the United States and Cuba contributes to providing better infrastructure and better communications quality between the people and our two countries." IDT Domestic Telecom in New Jersey will be Eteca's U.S. counterpart and said that the agreement would make it easier and more affordable for their American customers to call their friends and family still in Cuba.

The US broke off relations with Cuba back in 1959 after Fidel Castro with his brother Raul led a revolution and established a communist regime. While relations with the US have improved an embargo still exists but travel restrictions have been relaxed. Cuba insists that relations will not be fully normal until the US gives back Guantanamo Bay which is leased by the US in perpetuity:In 1934 a new Cuban-American Treaty of Relations reaffirming the lease granted Cuba and its trading partners free access through the bay, modified the lease payment from $2,000 in U.S. gold coins per year to the 1934 equivalent value of $4,085 in U.S. dollars, and made the lease permanent unless both governments agreed to break it or until the U.S. abandoned the base property.The US has indicated it will stay in the naval base even if the prison there is closed as Obama promised when he was first elected president.

Estimates put the yearly loss to the U.S. economy from the embargo at $1.2 billion but over the years Cuba has suffered a loss of more than a trillion dollars. While Obama wants the embargo lifted this would need to be approved by the US Congress that is controlled by Republicans. However, relations between the two countries still seem to be slowly but steadily improving.

UN condemns US embargo of Cuba for 24th time

The UN General Assembly for the 24th year condemned a U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. Only two countries voted against the resolution this time around, Israel and the United States.

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In spite of easing of tensions with Cuba, and renewed diplomatic ties, the United States voted against the resolution. There were 191 votes in favour of the resolution in the 193 member General Assembly with no abstentions. General Assembly resolutions are not binding but many claim they have some political influence. However, since the resolution has been passed every year for decades without the U.S. withdrawing sanctions, the influence on U.S. policy must be slight.

This July, the US and Cuba restored diplomatic relations after a break of over half a century. While Obama has eased trade and travel restrictions, only the U.S. Congress can lift the full embargo and that has yet to happen. In spite of the U.S. vote against the condemnation of the embargo Obama told the Assembly that he was "confident our Congress will inevitably lift an embargo that should not be in place anymore." Given that is his position, one would think that the U.S. would have voted to condemn the embargo to put pressure on the Congress. The U.S. earlier had suggested that it might abstain if the language differed significantly from earlier resolutions. The General Assembly has voted for the resolution ever since 1992. Last year there were three abstentions along with the Israel and US vote against the resolution but this year there were none. The US usually puts pressure on small countries to oppose or abstain when the resolution comes up. Last year it was Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau who abstained. This year they voted for the resolution.

The resolution was changed this year to welcome the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and also noted Obama's expressed will to do away with the embargo. For some reason these changes did not convince the US that it should abstain. Ronald Godard US senior adviser for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said:"The text falls short of reflecting the significant steps that have been taken and the spirit of engagement President Obama has championed.If Cuba thinks this exercise will help move things forward in the direction both governments have indicated they wish, it is mistaken."

In other words, almost universal condemnation of the embargo will not help remove the embargo.

The Cuban government has made it clear that while they also want to improve ties with the U.S., full normalization would require not only a complete lifting of the embargo but the return of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. has made it clear that the latter demand is not likely to be met in the near future. Even if the prison facility should be closed, the U.S. intends to keep the base.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said he was disappointed that the U.S. voted against the resolution. He said given that Obama has reversed the course on Cuba followed by 10 previous presidents, "one would have expected" he would vote in favour of the resolution. Reuters reports that Cuba estimates the economic damage to Cuba to be at $121 billion over the life of the embargo. The Times of Israel cites a much higher amount of $830 billion.