BUFFALO, N.Y.
Electing Barack Obama president could significantly change the balance of power in Cuba and among Latinos in the United States because Cuba would be forced to deal with the first American administration in decades that is poised to strengthen ties with the country’s military government, a University at Buffalo scholar predicts.
Jose F. Buscaglia, associate professor of American studies and director of UB’s Caribbean Studies Program said.”For the first time since President Eisenhower, the Castro brothers are becoming aware that come next year they might be dealing with a chief executive in Washington whose policy will be to re-establish dialogue leading to the normalization of relations between Washington and Havana.”
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The United States broke relations with the Cuban government shortly after Fidel Castro became prime minister in 1959, following the overthrow of the Batista government. Since coming to power, the Bush administration has tried to raise tensions and impede the normalization of relations with Havana, Buscaglia said.
In a statement issued by the university, Buscaglia, who has spent the past decade traveling with students to Cuba, said the prospect of Obama as president sends a “profound sense of unease into the darkest precincts of power in Havana.” An Obama
administration will be a “perilous threat” to the reigning military government now ruling Cuba, Buscaglia added.
