Canada's cordial ties with Fidel Castro have long been a source of
serious friction with the United States, and Chretien's visit - he plans
to fly to Havana on April 27, according to Canadian officials - is likely
to intensify calls by conservatives in Congress for increased sanctions
against Canadian firms doing business with the Castro regime.
In a bizarre twist, news of the visit was leaked by US officials at the
trade summit in Chile - apparently in an attempt to embarrass Canada. Both
President Clinton and Chretien were present at the Summit of the Americas
in Santiago, the Chilean capital, a conference that drew the leaders of 34
nations in South and North America.
Chretien confirmed the trip in remarks yesterday to Canadian reporters
in Santiago, and was plainly incensed that US officials had tipped
journalists at the summit before his office could make its own
announcement.
''It's a working visit that I've planned for some time,'' he said. ''We
believe in constructive dialogue with Cuba.''
Chretien said that he does not plan to lecture Castro on human rights,
and that his chief purpose will be to brief the Cuban leader on details of
the Summit of Americas, from which Cuba was excluded.
But the real purpose of the visit, Canadian officials say privately, is
to make a highly visible symbolic challenge of Washington's attempts to
exclude Cuba from international debate in the Western Hemisphere.
The Chretien trip is believed to have the quiet blessings of many
leaders of Central and South American nations fearful of openly defying
Washington but desiring to see Cuba included in international
organizations, especially those dealing with issues in the Americas.
Canada has been quietly consulting the Vatican about the planned trip.
Chretien will be the first foreign head of state to call upon Castro since
Pope John Paul II made his historic visit to Cuba last January.
Canada and the Vatican are among the most outspoken critics of
Washington's policy of attempting to isolate Cuba - and oust Castro - with
a 36-year-old economic embargo that, Canada says, has caused suffering for
ordinary Cubans while strengthening the hand of the dictatorship.
''It's about time for this visit,'' Chretien said. ''We have normal
relations wiith Cuba, and have been invited by Mr. Castro. We have a lot
of interest there.''
Canada sends more tourists to Cuba than any other country, and Canadian
firms represent the heaviest investors in Cuba. Two-way trade between the
countries is roughly $700 million a year.
How to deal with Cuba represents one of the few areas of foreign policy
where Ottawa sharply and bitterly differs from Washington.
Canadians are especially resentful of a US law that authorizes severe
penalties to US subsidiaries of foreign companies doing business in Cuba.
Although the Clinton administration has postponed implementing the
harshest sanctions approved by the so-called Helms-Burton Act, the law has
been used to bar Canadian corporate officials and their families from
entering the United States and has successfully intimidated some large
Canadian firms - especially those with business interests in the United
States - from investing in Cuba.
The Chretien visit is likely to give fresh ammunition to congressional
conservative leaders, most notably Senator Jesse Helms, the Republican
from North Carolina who heads the powerful Senate Foreign Affairs
Committee, who have loudly accused Ottawa of keeping the Castro regime in
power by providing foreign aid and moral support and encouraging
investment by Canadian companies.
Canadian officials confirmed that the United States had been advised in
advance of the Chretien visit. ''Only as a matter of courtesy,'' a
Canadian official said. ''We didn't ask their permission. We're an
independent country.''
Other friends and allies of the United States maintain diplomatic and
economic ties with Havana, including Italy, Mexico, and Spain.
But Canada seems to go out of its way to show its friendliness with
Castro. For instance, it is extremely unusual for high-level Western
officials to vist Cuba, but Chretien will be the second top-ranking
Canadian politician to call on Castro in less than two years. In January
1997, Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy angered congressional conservatives
and Cuban exiles in the United States with a high-profile trip to Havana
and very public celebration of Ottawa's ties with Cuba.
The White House in recent months has shown some willingness to relax
the US hard line with Cuba. Last month, for example, Clinton announced the
end of a ban on direct flights between the United States and Cuba, and
also eased restrictions on the transfer of money between Cuban exiles in
the United States and their relatives at home.
Clinton administration officials expressed hope that Chretien will use
the trip to voice Western displeasure with Cuba's sorry record on human
rights.
''We certainly hope that when Prime Minister Chretien goes to Cuba ...
this will be the centerpiece of his trip,'' said Sandy Berger, national
security adviser to the president. ''The goal that I think we share is
promoting democracy in Cuba.''
The last Canadian prime minister to pay a state call on Castro was
Pierre Trudeau, in 1976.
Since then, Berger said, ''we have not seen much evidence that
constructive engagement with Cuba has produced any material results with
respect to human rights or democracy.''
This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 04/20/98.
© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.