According to the State Department, the American arrested is an employee of Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), an international development group based in Washington, DC. A cursory reading of the situation may lead commentators to conclude that Cuba has behaved irrationally by arresting an innocent man and jeopardizing already-strained relations. Nevertheless, it is important to understand the role of DAI in Latin America and beyond.

In 2008, DAI won an American government contract that was part of a USAID program aimed at promoting democracy in Cuba. Such contracts were heavily criticized in a 2006 report by the Government Accountability Office because almost all of the $74 million used by the U.S. government for democratic programs in Cuba went to Cuban-exile organizations in Miami, without due oversight, rather than pro-democracy groups in Cuba itself.

DAI received a lot of unwelcome attention when it was linked to the 2002 attempted coup in Venezuela. The company was accused by the Venezuelans of financing groups involved in the coup. The U.S. watchdog group SourceWatch has documented the firm's involvement in bankrolling a propaganda campaign on Venezuelan television against the government of Hugo Chavez. In 2003, DAI came under fire for its conduct in the Philippines, after it was accused of encouraging the Philippine government to adopt various economic reform measures. DAI lobbied for controversial proposals to open the Philippine air and sea transport industries to foreign companies, to institute higher tariffs, and to revamp of government fiscal authority.

Other projects in Iraq and Afghanistan have led some pundits, such as whistleblower and former CIA agent Philip Agee, to believe that the organization is used as a front for the CIA. That is not to say that the DAI employee arrested is indisputably a spy, but the fact that American officials admit that he was distributing cell phones and computers, as well as other communications equipment that might have been restricted, will raise eyebrows regarding the motives behind the DAI employee's trip to Cuba.

Obama's List

While most of the countries have documented ties to terrorist activities, the inclusion of Cuba is anomalous. Its appearance is explained by its questionable presence on another U.S.-produced list: state sponsors of terrorism. Many experts believe its inclusion is anachronistic, given that there is no current evidence to support the theory that Cuba sponsors terrorists, especially not those linked to al-Qaeda. Many Cubans hoped that Obama's election would help restore diplomatic relations between the two nations, but the inclusion of Cuba on a "security risk" list needlessly hinders potential rapprochement.

Many Cubans and U.S. analysts also see a double standard in Obama's attempt to prevent terrorist acts by placing Cuba on a "security risk" list. For years, the Cuban government has demanded the extradition of Luis Posada and Orlando Bosch. Both men are wanted for trial in Venezuela over the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. Posada currently resides in the United States where he is due to stand trial on immigration fraud charges, yet the Obama administration has shown no intention of extraditing him. Bosh was originally due to be deported in the 1980s to face charges until the administration of George H.W. Bush overruled his deportation, leaving Bosch a free man. Declassified FBI and CIA reports have stated that Posada and Bosch were behind the bombing.

Diatribe Replaces Dialogue

The tentative moves toward repairing relations made by the Obama administration last year have now ground to a halt. Discussions on migration and a direct postal service have been postponed and replaced with a war of words that shows no sign of abating. The Obama administration has continued to publicly denounce Cuba for its human rights record and Obama made his position clear when he hosted a Q & A session with Cuba's most famous dissident, Yoani Sanchez. Espousing his view that Cuba must reciprocate the Obama administration's early moves on travel and migration before more critical issues can be resolved, the U.S. president said that, "I am not interested … in talking for the sake of talking. In the case of Cuba … diplomacy should create opportunities to advance the interests of the United States and the cause of freedom for the Cuban people."

The Cuban government has instead ratcheted up its anti-American discourse. Ex-leader Fidel Castro wrote in a message relayed at the closing session of an ALBA (The Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas) summit in December that, "Beneath the friendly smile and African American face of Barack Obama, the true intentions of the empire are obvious," while Cuba's foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla , accused President Obama of behaving like an "imperial chief" at the Copenhagen climate change talks.

The Obama administration now feels that it has done enough to engage Cuba and believes that it is up to Cuba to make a move on an issue that would help restore relations. On the other hand, Cuba feels that Obama's moves to ease travel restrictions and the sale of telecommunications equipment are merely token gestures that do nothing to solve more important and pressing issues, such as the U.S embargo against Cuba. The impasse means that initial hopes of better relations have now faded. It will take a grand gesture from one of the two parties to rescue diplomacy and end the cold-war standoff. Otherwise, U.S.-Cuba relations will continue to remain frozen in time.