US DEFENSE PLANS DEAL WITH CUBA SEPARATELY FROM LATIN AMERICA

By EFE / Northern Light

Abril 26, 2002

The Pentagon has decided to deal with Cuba separately from the rest of Latin America in a new defense plan directed from Northern Command headquarters in Colorado, according to an article Wednesday in The Miami Herald.

Under the new Unified Command Plan, established in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, after October the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command will only be responsible for territories south of Cuba and not all of Latin America, as is in the current scenario.

The Northern Command will control all military activities from Canada to Cuba, including the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo, the newspaper reported.

A Defense Department official told The Herald that the measure may not appear to be the most appropriate, but the government wants to "have a sense of covering the approaches" to the United States by sea.

"If I were the Northcom CINC (commander in chief), the last thing I would want to be worried about right now is getting entangled in Cuban issues," the official added.

The switch took Latin American specialists by surprise.

Former Ambassador Ambler H. Moss, Jr., who is now the director of The North-South Center at the University of Miami, told The Herald that the Southern Command has experts in Latin America, some of whom speak Spanish, but putting Cuba under the Northern Command "makes as little sense as anything I can think of."

The Southern Command has jurisdiction over the Caribbean, Moss noted, adding that "If you're going to worry about a situation in the Caribbean, as far as security threats, international crime, tracking drug planes or illegal migration, Cuba is part of the Caribbean."

Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who was Southern Command commander from 1994-1996, said the idea makes sense because it will be necessary to coordinate local law enforcement and local health-care providers when Castro dies, due to "the probability of a huge exodus from Cuba."

McCaffrey suggested that the decision was based more on concerns about border issues than the idea that the Northern Command would guard waters surrounding the United States

The retired general said the plan's message was that, when it comes to migration matters, "we're all sitting in the same bathtub with Mexico, Cuba and Canada."

In 1995, McCaffrey was one of the key advocates for having the Caribbean transferred from the Atlantic Command to the Southern Command, which coincided with the transfer of Southern Command headquarters to Miami after Panama regained sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone, the previous site of Southcom headquarters.

Those who favor having one command in charge of the whole Caribbean said that regional issues such as drug trafficking and migration require it, The Herald added.

Opponents of that idea have insisted the Southern Command runs the risk of constant pressure from Cuban and Haitian politicians in Miami.

END

EFE / Northern Light

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