It will seek to establish that respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of nations, which are crucial to harmonious relationships between neighbors.
Churches can play a more important role than that.
Arce cited the highly visible role the NCC played in securing the return of young Elian Gonzalez to his family in Cardenas. Elian, who had been orphaned at sea while defecting from Cuba with his mother, was returned to his family after a bitter and protracted legal battle between his father and expatriate relatives in Miami. It is not as if teams of U.S. church-goers don't already visit Cuba. Officials and church-goers pass back and forth on mission trips, conferences and study seminars. It would like to welcome more doctors who could talk to the powerful lobby of the American Medical Association about the effects of the U.S. economic embargo on Cuban health care and more teachers who could do likewise with their own unions and lobbyists.