Center for International Policy

April 25, 2008

Former U.S. Interest Section head stresses international relations

By Ashley Deem
The Parthenon

Former head of the U.S. Interest Section in Cuba Wayne Smith stressed the United States must improve the nation's relationship with Cuba and Latin America in the Charles Moffat Lecture.

Smith spoke at 3 p.m. on Thursday about the United States' declining influence in Latin America and spoke again at 6:30 p.m. Thursday about the United States and Cuba's relationship.

The nation's relationship with Cuba is at an all-time low, Smith said.

"I would suggest maybe one of the things we should do is go back to the Good Neighbor Policy and go back to respect for the UN Charter and respect for other governments and indicate that we will not intervene in the internal affairs of other governments," Smith said.

The Good Neighbor Policy developed in 1933 during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. The policy stated that no state had the right to intervene in the affairs of other nations.

After Sept. 11, Smith said the United States gained support from many nations, including Cuba, and gave the United States the opportunity to build relationships with these nations. Rather than building strong relationships with the supporting nations, the United States alienated them because of the U.S. administration's unilateral attitude, he said.

"We were supposed to adhere to the UN charter," Smith said. "We even went to the height of saying that henceforth the United States reserved the right without any reference to anyone or any document, certainly not the UN (charter), to attack any country that we felt posed a solemn threat."

Smith said a nation should defend itself, but a nation should not attack another nation without just cause.

Because of the United States' unilateral attitude, the only ally the nation has in Latin America is Colombia, Smith said. Other nations in Latin America are skeptical of or completely oppose U.S. policy.

Now as a professor at Johns Hopkins University, Smith said it is imperative that students put their knowledge into practice.

"It's absolutely vital that we reach out to the new generation in such a way as to energize and galvanize them," Smith said. "We must address these problems that face us. We must address the mistakes, the errors in our policies, the errors that our own government has made."

Smith wrapped up his lecture by saying the people of the United States must insist on change.

Smith served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1949 to 1953 and fought in the Korean War.

Later, Smith joined the Department of State, working in Soviet Union, Argentina and Cuba. He was a foreign service officer from 1957 to 1961.

From 1979 to 1982, Smith was Chief of Missions at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba. He resigned from the position because of the Reagan Administration's lack of interest in opening a dialogue between the United States and Cuba.

He teaches Latin American studies at Johns Hopkins University and is a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., where he is head of the Cuba project.

History professor Christopher White said Smith is the "prominent expert on U.S.-Cuban affairs."