From here:
Upon hearing the news that the U.S. and Cuba would re-establish diplomatic ties, Bishop Michael Bird of the diocese of Niagara said in a statement that the diocese “rejoices at the transformational opportunities that this announcement holds for the Cuban people and the ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Cuba.” The diocese of Niagara and the Episcopal diocese of Cuba maintain a companion relationship.
When asked how changes in diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba might affect the position of the ECC, Archdeacon Michael Thompson, general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada, stressed that there is still much that is unknown.
Does anyone believe that the thawing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba will result in transformational opportunities? Will Cuba cease to be a totalitarian state where political dissent is brutally suppressed, or will there be relief for the grinding poverty in which most Cubans live, including those working at luxury resorts that cater to vacationing Canadians – and soon Americans?
Cuba is insisting that the U.S. “respect Cuba’s communist rule“, a demand that will not perturb Western Anglican bishops one iota:
Cuban President Raul Castro on Saturday demanded that the United States respect Cuba’s communist rule as the two countries work toward normalizing diplomatic ties.
The main transformation may be that Obama will be able to obtain Cuban cigars legally.
‘Transformational change’ is questionable – at least in the short-term. The awkward truth, however, is that the policy of diplomatic isolation and economic embargo has failed as foreign policy for the US. Its chief result has – in fact – been to help prop up the appalling Castro regime. It has allowed the Cuban government to present itself as a victim both to the wider international community and (more crucially) to its own hard-pressed citizens. With the Cuban economy in tatters and no-one but their own government to blame – it is more than likely that the ending of the economic and diplomatic isolation will prove at best a short-term triumph for the Castro brothers and their band. This is an analysis shared by the majority of American and Cuban-American leaders – a fact which largely explains the wide bipartisan support it has received. So – transformational change may be closer than we think …