U.S, Cuba cooperate in many issues.

U.S, CUBA COOPERATE ON MANY ISSUES. Despite high-decibel rhetoric between them, the U.S. and Cuban governments cooperate over many issues to serve the public interest of both countries and the political interests of their presidents, according to Harvard University Professor Jorge Dominguez,

Some cooperation began in the 1960s, including the migration agreement signed in 1965. Cooperative relations widened and deepened during the Clinton administration and even more under President Bush. This cooperation is most evident in migration and border-security concerns. The two governments cooperate to ensure safety at the border between Cuba and the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo. That has led to confidence-building measures, including regular meetings between U.S. and Cuban military commanders. The Bush administration's decision to hold these prisoners there deepened U.S.-Cuban military cooperation. The U.S. seeks, and Cuba willingly offers, cooperation to seal the border to prevent Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoner escapes from the U.S. base and to stop cross-border infectious diseases;

Since the Reagan presidency, U.S.-Cuban migration agreements presume that most Cubans do not have a legitimate fear of persecution from the Castro government and do not, therefore, qualify for U.S. refugee or political asylum status. The administration argues this position in U.S. courts;

The U.S. and Cuban coast guards also cooperate routinely. In the Florida Straits, the U.S. Coast Guard interdicts Cuban migrants lacking proper U.S. documents and returns them to Cuba. The Cuban Coast Guard permits these operations. The coast guards cooperate from time to time over drug-traffic interdiction;

The Bush administration authorized agricultural exports to Cuba. The U.S. instantly became Cuba's principal food supplier and one of its top import partners. Cuba privileges U.S. exporters, paying them in cash. No other Cuban trade partner receives such exquisite treatment. The U.S. authorizes humanitarian donations to recipients in Cuba. The U.S. is Cuba's second largest source of donations. The Cuban diaspora, principally from the U.S., remits about US$1 billion per year to friends and relatives in Cuba. This sum greatly exceeds Cuba's earnings from sugar exports. Last year, the Bush administration liberalized the procedures for lawful Cuban-American remittances.

Why, then, the hostile rhetoric between national leaders and symbolic policies such as restricting travel? Presidents Bush and Castro benefit politically from such rhetoric. Aggressive Bush administration rhetoric makes it easier for Castro to sustain his elite coalition. Aggressive Castro rhetoric and repression of human-rights activists make it easier for the Bush administration to sustain its policies. The war of words and symbols consolidates each president's political support where it matters most: the few people in each country for whom these issues matter more than others.