It figures that just as I get ready to take an extended leave for the next two months (during which I'll be unable to blog here as much as I'd like), U.S.-Cuban affairs would get to their most interesting - and critical - point in some time. 

In recent days we've learned that April's Communist Party Congress in Cuba may not just clarify and embrace the ongoing economic overhaul, but now it will include election of new leadership - which offers the prospect that Fidel Castro will step down as party head, Raul Castro will presumably take his place, and someone else will step into the number 2 spot.  Any readers want to take a gander at that one in the comments section?

And then there's what fate awaits Alan Gross, the American contractor the Wall Street Journal editorial board today suggests went on trial in Cuba for "bringing computer equipment to the island to help Cuban Jews communicate with the disapora"?  It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is, even, and especially perhaps, for the media to ignore the parts of reality it cares to.  Gross was allegedly delivering highly advanced and unregulated satellite communications equipment (added emphasis is mine) on behalf of a foreign, and let's face it, hostile, power.  That's a big difference, particularly when we know that droves of American Jews visit the island every year to connect and make generous donations, resulting in community amenities like a computer lab.

The WSJ may in fact be absolutely right that the Cuban government is "terrified of the internet," but questioning the motives behind the application of a law in another country doesn't give you the right to expect that law to be disregarded because you believe your motives to be on a higher order.  There is the world in which we wish we lived and then there is the world in which we actually live.  In the latter, Mr. Gross went on trial for his participation in a U.S. government-funded regime change program in Cuba for which, according to a Cuban government statement, he testified that his employers failed to prepare him. 

Interestingly, the WSJ proposes the U.S. hold the 20,000 immigrant visas given to Cubans, and relied upon by the Cuban government as a pressure relief valve, as leverage to win Gross's freedom.  While holding up these visas would certainly disturb a major underpinning of the U.S.-Cuban migration accords (creating a new problem instead of solving the first one), it would never come to pass.  Why?  For the same reason we don't fully implement our obligation under those accords to prevent irregular (illegal) means of arrival, and we instead still accept undocumented Cubans who make it to dry land: it's just not considered politically safe to turn away Cuban immigrants.

In the meantime, new Cuba regulations announced in January are slowing taking shape.  I say slowly because the Treasury Department has yet to issue guidance that could further define and shape large parts of the new regulations, including what kinds of "people to people" travel will be permitted.   I'm in no hurry, frankly, but that's because I worry that Treasury might paint itself into a corner here.  Regulatory initiatives on Cuba are not an everyday occurance, and leaving the people to people licenses open to interpretation gives the administration more room to open up or pull back without the burden of the lengthy sort of interagency (and politically-influenced) process that finally led to the re-establishment of this category of travel.  Groups should just test the waters, building itineraries they feel confident serve some greater purpose (greater than, i.e., individual self-determination, I suppose) in connecting and educating people on both sides of the straits.

But, this week, we did learn that Customs and Border Protection has certified 8 new airports to service licensed fights to Cuba, including Tampa, Atlanta, Chicago, San Juan, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.  Tampa will surely be the first up and running, with several travel service providers already ready to provide the charter service to the 100,000+ Cuban American community in the greater Tampa area.  It's a black eye for Florida's new senator, Marco Rubio, who not two weeks ago, was threatening to block this very outcome (his amendment did not receive a vote, but he vowed to keep up the fight), putting himself at odds with the Tampa business community - and its Cuban American community.  Kudos go instead to Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa, the first Florida legislator to stick her neck out for incremental policy reform vis a vis Cuba, and who now surely comes out a winner for having delivered for her community.

Here's hoping that this spring continues to offer more steps forward than back.

UPDATE: H/t to El Yuma for sleuthing out the eight airport that was missing from earlier reports of the new U.S. airports allowed to service Cuba (I too wondered why I kept reading about eight airports and only counted seven named ones).  The eighth?  As Henken puts it, of course it's the city that care forgot: New Orleans.