ABSTRACT

We were not wrong in thinking that the moment was propitious for substantial change in U.S.–Cuban relations. But we were wrong in our barely-concealed optimism that such change might happen in the 1990s. A colleague, Dr. Abraham Lowenthal, often urges others to distinguish “wishful thinking,” which is rarely helpful, from “thoughtful wishing,” which often can be. Then, as today, we believe that we are engaged in the latter. Today, as then, our goals are grounded in a reality that would benefit from change even as we proceed fully conscious that change remains difficult. Then we wrote, and today we reaffirm: “Our purpose in this book

is to sketch where and why the United States and Cuba differ; to identify the issues where differences are likely to endure because they stem from the central values and interests of such different political and economic regimes; and to point to those other issues where skillful diplomacy might find joint interests to settle disputes in accord with these countries’ respective national goals.”