“With him, for the first time, the possibility of dialogue rather than confrontation as a framework for political relations opened up,” Jesus Arboleya, a former Cuban diplomat, told AFP.
But in 1980, a mass exodus of 125,000 Cubans to the United States, with Fidel Castro’s blessing, created an unexpected crisis.
It “hurt Carter politically with the swarm of unexpected immigrants,” said Jennifer McCoy, a professor of political science at Georgia State University.
Castro continued to support Soviet-backed African governments and even deployed troops against Washington’s wishes, finally putting an end to the normalization process.
However, more than 20 years later, Carter made a historic visit to Havana as ex-president, at the time becoming the highest-profile American politician to set foot on Cuban soil since 1959.
During the 2002 visit, “he made a bold call for the US to lift its embargo, but he also called on Castro to embrace democratic opening,” said McCoy, who was part of the US delegation for the trip, during which Castro encouraged Carter to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Cuban All-Star baseball game.
“Castro was sitting in the front row and we were afraid he would rise to give a long rebuttal to Carter’s speech. But he didn’t. He just said, ‘Let’s go to the ball game.'”
Cubans “will remember with gratitude his efforts to improve relations,” the island’s current leader Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Sunday.
In the years following Carter’s presidency, Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) would go on to resume a full-frontal confrontation with Cuba. Decades later, Barack Obama (2009-2017) opened a new phase of measured normalization, which Donald Trump (2017-2021) brought to an end.
US President Joe Biden promised to review US policy toward Cuba, but hardened his stance after Havana cracked down on anti-government protests in 2021.
“Carter showed that engagement and diplomacy are more fruitful than isolation,” McCoy said.
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© 2024 AFP
