Frank Denton: Local insights into the new approach to Cuba
Jacksonville.com
January 2, 2015

John Caulfield is a career American diplomat who managed some of the most difficult relations in Latin America, most recently as Chief of the US Interests Section in Havana, Cuba. There he negotiated pragmatic agreements on immigration, environmental protection, civil aviation and cultural affairs. He also championed the aspirations of ordinary Cubans for political rights and economic opportunities in a difficult environment. Assigned in 2008 as Deputy Chief of Mission in Caracas, Venezuela, he assumed charge of the Embassy on an indefinite basis after President Chavez expelled the Ambassador. Mr. Caulfield guided the Embassy through a tense period, maintaining communication with the government, opposition and the business community in Venezuela where the US has important commercial and energy interests.

John Caulfield is a career American diplomat who managed some of the most difficult relations in Latin America, most recently as Chief of the US Interests Section in Havana, Cuba. There he negotiated pragmatic agreements on immigration, environmental protection, civil aviation and cultural affairs. He also championed the aspirations of ordinary Cubans for political rights and economic opportunities in a difficult environment. Assigned in 2008 as Deputy Chief of Mission in Caracas, Venezuela, he assumed charge of the Embassy on an indefinite basis after President Chavez expelled the Ambassador. Mr. Caulfield guided the Embassy through a tense period, maintaining communication with the government, opposition and the business community in Venezuela where the US has important commercial and energy interests.
 
One of the less obvious but very valuable threads in the fabric of the new Jacksonville is our internationalism, enriched by cultural and intellectual capital imported from all over the world.

I’ve written here before about the hyphenated Americans in my daily life, people who came to Jacksonville from Cyprus, Lebanon, Brazil, Iraq, Turkey, Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran for safety and the American dream. About 9 percent of the city’s population is foreign-born, and 13 percent — more than 100,000 people — speak a language other than English at home.

On top of that, Jacksonville is a magnet for retirees from U.S. public service with international experience. We have a number of retired ambassadors, several high-ranking CIA officials (still low profile), a bevy of retired “flag officers” and many more Navy captains. About 30 of the retired admirals and generals meet with the Navy Region Southeast commander quarterly for briefings.

So, if you want true, fresh and informed insights into our suddenly changing relationship with Cuba, ask your new neighbor, John Caulfield, now of Avondale.

OK, I’ll do it for you.

Caulfield retired in July from a 40-plus-year career as a foreign-service officer, much of it overseas and some of it dealing diplomatically with some of our toughest relationships — notably Venezuela and Peru.

For his last three years, Caulfield was chief of mission of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. If we had diplomatic relations with Cuba, that would have been the embassy, and the chief would have been our ambassador. He led the 51 American diplomats in Cuba already working with the Cubans on the “practicalities of relations” that have evolved over the years even without recognition.

His retirement came just five months before President Obama’s surprise announcement of an agreement to negotiate renewed diplomatic relations with communist Cuba, after 50 years of a general economic embargo and isolation. Soon, the two governments will begin talks about reopening their embassies, expanding their economic relationships and easing travel restrictions.

Caulfield’s on-the-ground perspective may surprise you.

“Things are not what they seem when it comes to Cuba,” he told me. “We don’t have diplomatic relations, we have a trade embargo, and yet, we’re one of Cuba’s major trading partners — telecommunications, medical equipment and food.

“Cuba imports 80-85 percent of its food. We sell them $350-500 million in agricultural commodities every year — chicken, grains, animal food. But it hasn’t been in the political interests of either side to make those connections too explicit.

“They can’t produce their own food,” Caulfield said. “Their system is a disaster, the agricultural system a total disaster. The Soviet collectivization model just doesn’t work. The whole world knows that. Cuba knows it, but it’s very painful for it to change.

“We are the most efficient, closest and highest-quality provider of food. We literally put food on the table for millions of Cuban families, of their population of 11 million.”

Much of Cuba’s money also comes from the U.S. in the form of “remittances,” money sent back to Cuba from Cubans who immigrated, in one way or another, to the U.S. “Our remittances are in the range of $3 billion a year, directly from people here to families there. After Venezuela (Cuba’s best friend), U.S. remittances are their biggest source of foreign capital.”

If you think about that, you see a significant irony: American money is being sent via remittances to Cubans who then use that money to buy … American goods.

“Cubans know that,” Caulfield said. “Five hundred thousand Cuban-Americans will visit Cuba this year, and they arrive carrying so many goods of all kinds, things that simply are not available in Cuba. You can see them in the Miami airport carrying all that baggage. Sometimes, the airline has to add another plane just for cargo.”

Jacksonville has a little-known link to current and future trade to Cuba. Crowley Maritime, the international company headquartered here, is the only shipping company authorized to take goods to Cuba. “If it’s going to Cuba on ships, it’s going on Crowley,” Caulfield said. “It’s the only game in town. So we already have a foot in the door through Crowley.”

After Obama’s announcement, I had thought a benefit of normalization would be letting Cubans see the good life in a democracy, specifically ours, but Caulfield said they already are quite aware of our freedom and prosperity.

“Cubans are crazy about the U.S.,” he said. “I’ve never been to a place where the U.S. is so incredibly popular. I was stunned. I’ve been all over Latin America, and of all the countries, culturally Cuba is closer to us. There was a strong cultural context before the revolution, a lot of movement back and forth, and I think it will pick up very quickly in the future.”

Caulfield did not say normalization will come quickly or easily. The big barrier is the obvious one: their communist dictatorship versus our democracy.

“The fundamental difference we have with Cuba is how Cuba treats its own people, their human rights, and it’s not clear how that will emerge over time.

“Nobody in Cuba, including senior party officials, are under the illusion that their system is not broken. Inequities build up, until change is inevitable. But they think that, if you upset the apple cart, God knows what could happen.”

Caulfield thinks real change will come only when Raul Castro, 83, who succeeded his brother as president in 2008, goes, and maybe not even then. No one knows who his successor might be. “They have a designated vice president, who is in his 50s, but will the security services honor that? No one can really tell you.

“Cuba will evolve in ways that none of us can predict for sure,” he said. “Since the system doesn’t work, how will the new leaders try to change it? They’ll be faced with the need to make changes, but would those changes allow the current government to simply prolong its life?”

His bet is no. “I don’t see this government prolonged beyond the founding generation. Cubans have totally lost their faith in the revolution. As an economic system, they know it doesn’t work.”

One great benefit of normalization, Caulfield said, is that we’ll have “more of a ringside seat” to watch what hopefully will be the liberation of Cuba.

So now you and I have much better insights into our Cuba relationship, thanks to John and Nancy Caulfield doing an objective lifestyle survey of the East Coast and deciding that, considering everything, Jacksonville was the place to retire. “I’m surprised it’s not better known,” he said.

An intellectual jewel of this city is one of the most active and successful World Affairs Councils in the country, offering speaker series and education and travel programs for people interested in international affairs. For more information, go to worldaffairscounciljax.org.

Attend the next program, and maybe you’ll run into John Caulfield. You can ask your own questions about Cuba.

___________________