Not just Washington: Madrid finds relations with Havana sticky

Journalists and analysts covering U.S.-Cuba developments are finding reason over the past few weeks to turn to the catchphrase, “The honeymoon is over.” AFP, CNN and Trinidad and Tobago Express (to name a few) have all published these words since January 6. Below, CNN analyzes the shift over the last year in Fidel and Raul’s language regarding Obama and the current administration.

But another story over the past two weeks has gotten less press in the United States and can help solve the question: “Is the honeymoon really over?”

Last Monday, Luis Yanez, a Spanish politician and member of EU Parliament, was not allowed to enter Cuba. He and his wife landed in Havana, traveling as private citizens, but were immediately detained, then sent back on the first flight to Spain. Yanez is known to be critical of the Cuban government, has written about the regime’s jailing of dissidents, and was planning during this visit to meet with several members of opposition groups. But Spain has been pushing the EU to normalize relations with Havana and to ditch the “common position”—something Havana has requested for years. Cuban officials must have thought about the backlash that this expulsion could possibly create, and the deeper effect it might have on that particular thawing relationship.

But still, Yanez was sent home.

This indicates:

(1) Havana continues to repel all foreign powers it sees as meddling, not just the United States. The recent problems between Havana and Washington should be seen in that light, not as a sign that Havana is no longer interested in better relations with the United States.

(2) There is a way to calmly and diplomatically respond to this sort of setback while continuing to move forward. As Madrid patiently responded to its minister’s expulsion: “a relationship with Cuba is not a thing of just a day or two. It is a relationship that needs strategic depth and time to advance.” Spain’s foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, condemned the act, but said such snags would be natural as Madrid and the rest of Europe nudged Havana toward reform.

Washington should consider recent events as what they most certainly are—“snags”—instead of believing the many naysayers concerned about honeymoons: the marriage has yet to come, folks.