The Times Argus (Vt.), Aug. 15:
As U.S. Marines raised the American flag at the newly opened U.S. Embassy in Havana on Friday, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont was looking on. Leahy had been among the important players behind the scenes taking steps along the road to renewed diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba.
A lengthy article in The New York Times traces the course of the Cuban story from the early days of the Obama administration in 2009 to the culmination Friday when Secretary of State John Kerry presided over the raising of the American flag. In the years leading up to the diplomatic breakthrough, Leahy was involved in secret communications leading to an exchange of prisoners and backchannel communications with Pope Francis, all of which were prelude to diplomatic recognition.
When he was elected, Obama was determined to do something to break free of a policy in place since 1960, when the U.S. broke off relations with Cuba. As he has done with Iran, Obama has sought to build trust and leave ancient animosities in the past. But years of mistrust on both sides had prevented either from taking positive steps.
Leahy’s involvement centered around Alan Gross, an American contractor working for the U.S. government who was arrested in Cuba in 2009 for distributing communications equipment to the Cuban people. Gross’s health was in danger – he had threatened suicide – and Leahy was convinced that if nothing was done to bring him home, he would die a prisoner in Cuba.
The U.S. had five Cuban prisoners who had been convicted as spies, and the two sides were considering the possibility of a prisoner swap. U.S. officials believed it was not right to trade five convicted spies for one man who had been arrested illegally. But Gross’s life was on the line.
An unusual trust-building measure involved one of the five Cuban prisoners. The wife of Gerardo Hernandez, Adriana Perez, was desperate to have a child with her imprisoned husband, and she tearfully pressed her case with Leahy’s wife, Marcelle, hoping she could help make it happen. As it happened, Leahy and his aides arranged the transport of Hernandez’s sperm from the U.S. to Panama where Perez became impregnated through artificial insemination.
After Obama won a second term, he was determined to press ahead on Cuba. Two White House aides, bypassing the State Department, carried out secret negotiations with Cuban officials in Ottawa. Sen. Richard Durbin suggested that Obama enlist the help of Pope Francis. To that end, Leahy sent a letter to Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Cuba to raise the issue with the pope. Ortega became a go-between in communications between the pope and Obama.
An agreement was reached to release the five Cuban prisoners when U.S. officials determined they could release them in exchange for another prisoner held in Cuba who had been arrested as a spy. That way Gross would be released on humanitarian grounds.
During the long process of trust-building, Leahy had met with Cuban President Raoul Castro. Photographs of grandchildren became a humanizing connection between the two of them.
When the Cubans released a hobbling Alan Gross, Leahy was there in Havana to take him home. And Friday he was back in Havana to watch the ceremonies at the Embassy.
The Cuban breakthrough is one of Obama’s notable diplomatic successes, and it presages another historic breakthrough – the nuclear agreement with Iran. In both cases the U.S. had remained locked in a posture of hostility with a nation it can afford to be at peace with. The background of the breakthrough with Iran is also a story involving the struggle of individuals seeking to break through decades of mistrust.
In Leahy’s long career – he was first elected to the Senate in 1974 – the recognition of Cuba and his involvement in making it happen stands out as one of the achievements of which he is most proud. Recognition does not transform Cuba into a flourishing democracy. But it casts off the shackles of history and creates the opportunity for change.
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