Timmermans in Cuba: Dutch Media is Missing the Point
"What is being ignored completely in Dutch mainstream coverage of the official visit is the country’s own need for maintaining friendly relations with Cuba."
Everyone agrees that Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans’ visit to Cuba this week can only be positive. Following a bilateral agreement signed by Dutch and Cuban officials in May 2013, the two countries will now commence a period of cooperation in the fields of trade, agriculture, biotechnology, education, water works, culture and sport. The Dutch dignitary even participated in the inauguration of Rotterdam Feyenoord’s football academy for youth in Havana on Monday.
However, reports of the visit found in the Dutch media did not cover these aspects in-depth. Instead, much emphasis was placed on the question of human rights, highlighting the paternalistic hopes of some that the Netherlands can influence Cuba’s internal political dynamics.
It seems as if Dutch mainstream media and reporting is suffering from a Cold War hangover. Constant reference is made to the Caribbean island’s “communist regime” and the word “dictatorship” is still used by some of the press’ most favoured interviewees. What is not conveyed is the positive effect that bilateral relations between Cuba and the Netherlands can produce for both countries. In fact, what is being ignored completely in Dutch coverage is the country’s need for maintaining friendly relations with Cuba.
Timmerman’s is the first official Dutch visit since 1999, when Ybema Gerrit, State Secretary of Economic Affairs, led a trade mission to Cuba. It is also the first time ever that a Netherlands foreign minister visit the country.
The host of Cuba’s bilateral relations with 14 other European countries since 2008 can now replace the defunct EU Common Position towards Cuba (1996), which limited cooperation according to advances made in the areas of human rights. “We have to see if Europe can work on a new relation with Cuba. We can’t only look at the political issues; rather, we have to strengthen the human contact also”, says Timmermans.
Talks between the two countries began in January last year, when Timmermans accompanied other European delegates to observe the presidential summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). The foreign minister must have heard the resounding noise made by other Latin American states against continued adverse US policies towards Cuba. In fact, during the CELAC summit, Cuba held the pro-tempore presidency of the new block. In this sense, you can’t get around Cuba.
What was an isolated socialist country during the last decade of the twentieth century is now a leader in many aspects. The island is no giant of economic interest to the Netherlands, but it would be difficult for any European country to maintain healthy relations with a country like Brazil without having good relations with Cuba.
Cuba, for instance, continues to lead the entire region in producing medical professionals. In response to last year’s riots in Brazil, sparked by failing public services, president Dilma Roussef invited thousands of Cuba-trained health practitioners to work at community clinics and hospitals. With all its shortcomings, largely due to the US economic blockade, Cuba’s public health system still serves as a model for many neighbouring countries. The same goes for education, women’s rights and public policy on sexual diversity.
Cuba is also a producer of vaccines and has a fairly developed biotechnology sector. More importantly, Cuba is recognised throughout Latin America as a country that has incarnated the struggle for independence, regional unity and peaceful relations based on mutual respect. It is no wonder that peace talks between Colombian government officials and FARC rebels are taking place in Havana.
Of course, there are other reasons to keep relations friendly with Cuba. The Netherlands is large buyer of nickel, Cuba’s number one natural resource export. Nirint, a Dutch shipping company and main economic sponsor of Feyenoord’s Football academy for youth in Cuba, will also benefit from warmer relations between the two countries. In 2012, trade between the countries amounted to 792 million US Dollars.
As far as human rights go, perhaps after trade and diplomatic agreements have been solidified, both countries and their civil societies can collaborate on improving human and civil rights conjointly.
This week, the Dutch press -over-quoting Amnesty International, highlighted the violation of political rights for minorities, often referring to the plight of groups and individuals in Cuba funded directly by the US government. What Dutch journalists forget is that last year Amnesty International reported on police racial profiling, discrimination against people of colour on the job market and racial violence…in the Netherlands! Would it make sense at this point if foreign minister Timmermans were to raise the question of human and civil rights in Cuba, when his country also seems to suffer at least equally concerning issues?
Vibrant, friendly, bilateral relations between the Netherlands and Cuba means cooperation based on mutual respect. That mutual respect was required not only by Cuba but by all of Latin America and the Caribbean. Timmerman’s visit also represents an opportunity for the Netherlands, and eventually the European Union, to construct a favourable foreign policy towards the island independently from the US. “Cuba and the Netherlands have much in common, and our relations have a broad potential which we hope to continue developing after this visit”, says Zelmys María Domínguez Cortina, Cuban Ambassador to the Netherlands.