Cuba policy wins tepid Protestant support

Christian Century, Jan 27, 1999

The Clinton administration's easing of economic and travel restrictions on Cuba has won the qualified support of American Protestants who participate in ministry and policy advocacy involving the Caribbean island nation, but they have criticized the new policy for failing to lift the 37-year-old U.S. economic embargo against Cuba.

Approved on January 5, the changes will allow any U.S. resident to send payments of up to $1,200 a year to Cuban families, instead of just individuals; increase charter passenger flights to and from Cuba; permit food and agricultural supplies to be sold to Cuban nongovernmental groups; and institute direct mail service.

The National Council of Churches, while welcoming Clinton's policy change, took the president to task for not taking up the suggestion of Senator John Warner (R., Va.), which calls for the creation of a bipartisan commission that would engage in a wholesale review of U.S. Cuba policy. "We do not feel that these measures are sufficient to resolve the conflict that has divided the two nations over the last 40 years," and in rejecting Warner's recommendation for a bipartisan commission, the U.S. "has missed an historic opportunity" to review a policy "that has been demonstrated to be ineffective for the past 37 years," Joan Brown Campbell, NCC general secretary, told Clinton in a letter. "This proposal is supported not only by both parties, but by broad sectors of the civil society in the United States, of which the church is a part," she said.

Thom White Wolf Fassett, a member of the Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba Advisory Council, called the Clinton administration's actions "commendable" but unlikely to provide the necessary steps toward ending the embargo. "It's a preliminary step, timid at best, in responding to the needs of the people of Cuba," said Fassett, who is also general secretary of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.

The United Methodist Church, the nation's second largest Protestant denomination, is on record calling for an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Michael Rivas, a Cuban-American and a deputy general secretary of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, agreed that "anything that in any way contributes to easing some of the problems has to be welcome." But noting the church's opposition to the embargo, Rivas said, "By that standard, this [action] is superficial."