Secretary of State John Kerry issued a challenge to Cuba to "tear down the digital wall," evoking former President Ronald Reagan's challenge to the Soviet Union at the Berlin Wall in 1987.
In an
opinion piece in the Miami Herald, Kerry, along with Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, said in the wake of normalization of relations with Cuba that the Cuban people were being harmed by low access to the internet.
"The president's decision will support new efforts to tear down the digital wall that isolates Cubans. The country has an internet penetration rate of 5 percent, among the lowest in the world. Prices are high, and services are limited. Under the new policy, we will permit the sale of technology that will begin to unleash the transformative effects of the internet on the island," they wrote.
They said that the president's decision to normalize relations will benefit the Cuban people who have been held back from advancing toward democracy and building closer ties with the rest of the world.
They added that during bilateral discussions with the country, the United States intends to advance cooperation on areas such counter-narcotics, migration, combating trafficking-in-persons, the Ebola crisis, and environmental challenges. And, they said, the administration will be pressing for improved human-rights conditions and democratic reforms.
The Cabinet members also insisted the policy of isolation served a purpose but no longer suits today's state of affairs.
"As Albert Einstein said long ago, it's just not rational to continue doing the same thing in the expectation of obtaining a different result. Since U.S.-Cuban relations were frozen, the world has been transformed; the Cold War ended a quarter century ago. Over time the U.S. effort to isolate Cuba began to have the reverse effect of isolating the United States especially in the Western Hemisphere.
"Meanwhile, Cuban leaders used our stance as a source of propaganda, to justify policies that have no place in the 21st century. It has been an open secret that the relationship has been in a rut that benefits no one on either side. The time has come to cease looking backward and to begin to move forward in the interests of both freedom-loving Cubans and the United States," they said.
They concluded with a summary of benefits they believed would result from the decision to normalize relations, saying there will be significant advantages for both the United States and Cuba.
"President Obama's announcement last week is forward-looking and emphasizes the value of people-to-people relations, increased commerce, more communications and respectful dialogue.
"It will enhance our ability to have a positive impact on events inside Cuba and to help improve the lives of the Cuban people. It will put American businesses on a more equal footing. And it will enhance the standing of our own country in the hemisphere and around the world."
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