“The goal of U.S.-Cuban policy is to seek a rapid and peaceful transition to a free market Cuba with respect to human rights,” Jim Carragher, coordinator for the U.S. State Department Office of Cuban Affairs said as the keynote speaker in the Cuba Conference Program in Copley Formal Lounge.

The program was organized to bring together scholars and other officials from various agencies to discuss U.S.-Cuba security issues in the wake of Sept. 11. Topics discussed included immigration, drugs, the environment and the possible consequences of oil spills and terrorism.

Carragher discussed America’s humani-tarian assistance to Cuba after Hurricane Michelle struck the country’s major economic bases, tourism, remittances, sugar and citrus production centers. In the days following the hurricane, the U.S. government responded to Cuban requests for aid by purchasing food, raw materials and medicine. Cuba and its president, Fidel Castro, may now be in a weakened political state and could have no other option but to cooperate with the U.S., according to Carragher.

Despite a U.S. ban on tourism, a significant number of Americans legally travel to Cuba each year, Carragher added.

Another environmental concern is the possibility of a major oil spill in the Straits of Florida, according to Mike Smith of Conservation International and Vickie Huyck of the U.S. Coast Guard. They discussed the importance of preventing an oil spill and what to do in case of one. They concluded that while many entities are involved when looking at the possible effects of a spill, preventive steps must be taken to mitigate such a disaster, including establishing a jointly prepared emergency response plan.

Bob Bach of the Rockefeller Foundation and Max Castro from the University of Miami led the panel discussion on what they termed a “paradox” in U.S. policy regarding Cuban immigration. igrants are a powerful base in the Cuban economy, providing an estimated $800 million in annual remittances, Bach said. The last recorded number of Cuban immigrants admitted to the U.S. was 15,415 in 1998, according to the Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This number was significantly down from about 26,000 in 1996. For now, Cuban immigrants continue to migrate to the U.S. and are beginning to become a major political and economic voice, especially in southern Florida, he said.

Although U.S. policy has been hostile toward Cuba in the last four decades, they said, the U.S. still negotiated with Cuba in 1994 to allow the issuance of about 20,000 visas each year. This was conferred in order to guarantee safe, legal and orderly migration. A continuing problem, however, has been irregular migration by sea, according to Bach.

Visiting scholar Randy Beardsworth, from Georgetown’s Center for Latin American Studies and Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University, Eduardo Gamarra, followed by leading a discussion on drug trafficking. The 1996 drug bust of the Limerick freighter in northern Cuba convinced law enforcement officials in both countries of the need and potential for official bilateral collaboration in the war on drugs, they said.

While the U.S. has international anti-drug maritime agreement with numerous nations in the Caribbean, none exist with Cuba. This is troubling because Cuba is the region’s largest and geographically most important island, according to Gamarra. As a result, drug smugglers have found that, in the words of Senior Analyst Peter Kornbluh, “the best way to evade U.S. interdiction is to run as close to Cuba as possible.” The U.S. administration must step in and enforce counter drug agreements with Cuba in its attack on the war on drugs, Kornbluh said.

While the U.S.’s main goal is to achieve a free market Cuba, the Cuban government “must first address human and civil rights by freeing political prisoners and holding democratic elections with international observers,” Carragher said.

Sponsored by the Georgetown Caribbean Project, the event took place Tuesday Dec. 4 and Wednesday Dec. 5.