“Facts and Knowledge Are the Antidote to Threat” Mark Entwistle, Former Ambassador to Cuba

Part VI, Chapters 21 through 24 , examines the theme of conducting “business in Cuba.” The interviews give a clear sense of what the attempt to enter the market in Cuba was during the Obama thaw and what it is currently. These conversations took place with American and Canadian business consultants, a president of a bipartisan non-profit organization, a U.S. attorney, and a company president. This chapter is an interview with Mark A. Entwistle, who was the Canadian ambassador to Cuba from 1993 to 1997. Today, he is co-founder of Acasta Cuba Capital Inc., an advisory business development firm guiding market entry to Cuba. We completed the first interview in August 2019. In this interview, he discussed his experiences as an ambassador in Havana; the effectiveness of the U.S. embargo; implications after the enactment of Helms–Burton Title III by the United States; the extraterritorial reach of U.S. law in terms of Cuba, and what he proposed as an antidote to the blockade. As an update, in a second interview in April 2022, Mr. Entwistle provides a deep analysis of the Biden presidency who, in his first two years in office, continued the Cuba policies of his predecessor, despite his campaign promises to roll back Trump sanctions.