Cuba: Island in the Dream

"Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you." - Jean Paul Sartre

The news that America's policies toward Cuba are changing will further humanize our country while de-humanizing Castro's government. We minimize our political gains with the people of Cuba when we further their hardship under Castro by not allowing any type of transactions with the U.S. President Obama's loosening of restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuban families with relatives in the U.S. will further weaken the hold of the Castro brothers' regime on the island.

The Cuban people have managed to retain great hope through all of their sadnesses. During my only trip to the island in the early 80s, there was consternation about the traction being gained on the global sugar market by NutraSweet. Cuba's economy was reeling. I found it both troubling and funny that Reagan's America was afraid of a nation that might be brought to its economic knees by an artificial sweetener.

The embargo first imposed on Cuba by John Kennedy has not punished the politically powerful in Cuba; it has only harmed the workers and the families and the people who would otherwise love America without reservation. I understand the misplaced notion that if we do business with Cuba we will help their economy thrive and the Castros will receive credit and political power but the Cuban people are considerably smarter than most U.S. policy makers believe. As our entourage was led around the island by "minders," we were made welcome and consistently told by everyone from business owners to cane cutters and master cigar rollers, "We don't blame the people of America. We understand your government does things you don't like."

I thought, "Yeah, that happens now and again."

Our conflict with Cuba is also a product, in many respects, of our government's previous behavior. The U.S. propped up Fulgencio Batista for many years as he reaped fortunes off the backs of campesinos chopping sugar cane, cutting tobacco, or distilling rum while he also allowed the American mob to run casinos and provide him with a big slice off of the top. Dictator Batista imprisoned and tortured as many or more people than has Castro. If people had not been so poor and suffered for so long as they watched the rich Yankees come play on their island and give more money and power to Batista there might not have been the political support for Fidel and Che when they crossed the gulf to start the revolution.

Cuba remains locked in a great time warp today. 1959 American automobiles still roll the roadways because that was the last year the U.S. allowed imports prior to Castro's control. However, a few multi-national corporations from America use foreign subsidiaries to sell items like refrigerators and appliances to the Cubans when they are shipped from factories off sovereign U.S. soil. Unfortunately, there isn't much of a market since most Cubans don't have an income to afford such luxuries as modern electronics. The old Riviera Hotel, once gloriously towering over the seawall in Havana, is mildewed and in need of rejuvenation. The city has an almost ancient ambiance that leaves a visitor feeling time is flowing backwards and almost nothing will jar the culture or the economy into the contemporary world. Regardless, there is also the sense that Cuba's intellect and energy and belief in itself is a potential waiting for an opportunity.

True freedom and capitalism are likely to sweep the island like an intoxicant if America ever gives Cuba actual business reconsideration. The country could balance its budget on a few shipments of rum and cigars to New York and Chicago. In fact, more progressive political leaders from some of the U.S. agricultural states have been pressing since the B**h administration to begin limited trade. Cuba can also be a big market for American products. Perhaps, the simplest way to change Cuba's political system is to give the populace a little sample of our economy. President Obama's first steps are cautionary but they are longer than any of his predecessors in about a half century.

America's policy toward Cuba has been rank hypocrisy. In the years since the embargo was launched, we have done business with bad actor power abusers like Saddam Hussein and have courted the friendship of Saudis, whose money and sovereign soil gave sanctuary to most of the villains that attacked us on 911. As we consider Cuba today U.S. oil companies are lusting over the oil fields in Iran even though we despise that country's government. How many killers and dictators have we had commerce with since the beginning of the embargo? Isn't it safe to say policy would have changed long ago if Cuba had been sitting atop oil reserves? The genocides in Rwanda and Burundi might have been checked by American power had those countries produced a more alluring resource than yams. We don't pick up our guns for yams.

The people of Cuba have suffered far too long. Give them a taste of freedom's honey and watch what happens.

Also at http://www.moorethink.com

Comments

[IntellectuallyHonest]

Hurry up and end the embargo already. Congress is taking away our rights by enforcing the ban on travel. As if they aren't pathetic enough as it is.

[LMPE]

I just bet that if we hadn't blockaded Iraq, the Iraqi people would have overthrown Saddam Hussein years ago.

[Robster]

Americans who are aware that Castro begged the Russians to do a preemptive nuclear strike on DC and NYC during the missile crisis don't feel so badly about the embargo. If Castro had his way, the remnants of humanity would be digging out about now, so naturally a little animosity exists. But yes, a flood of capitalism would sweep the island in a mater of months and the communist system would exist in name only after that.

[vippy]

I have to say it again, I, for one, am glad that Castro got rid of Batista and the American Mafia!

[Libertyfan]

One corrupt government does not excuse an even worse government.

[MajorKong]

James, didn't you get the memo? China good, Cuba bad.

[petphotos]

Years ago, the stated mission was "self determination". Over the last number of years (8 for sure), the mission seems to have change to "shove democracy down their throats, wether they want it or not."
I am sick of holier than thou crusades.

[unitron]

There's nothing in The Constitution that says Congress has to ask Cuba's permission to make them the 51st state. :-)

[ronjdomer]

Great article. My wife and I are getting up in age. We would like to go to Cuba before we die. We want to meet the wonderful Cuban people and see their beautiful country. I am praying that President Obama will take the next steps by allowing all Americans to visit Cuba and end the embargo. I think a few simple gestures of good will on the part of the Cuban government would be enough to tip the scales..

[RepugsOut08]

Watch Michael Moore's "Sicko," and you'll get a first hand account of the generosity, shared love of humanity and respect for honor among men and women of duty, that the Cuban people have in common with all people of good faith in the world.
It's time to quit allowing a frail old dictator's "commie" memory, to keep us from embracing the good people of Cuba. As we borrow billions from the "commie" Chinese, and "see the soul" in a "commie" Russian leader's eyes, perhaps we can stop bullying this island that offered us doctors in the wake of Katrina when our own president failed us.

[Lynwood Walker]

We get a very skewed picture of cuba in the US because of the cuban population here, which is largely madeup of the lighter-skinned minority who owned most of the property and thus lost the most. To the darker, and poorer cubans, Castro is the only reason they have anything.

Capitalism and democracy do not go hand in hand so I get annoyed reading articles that put the two together. Democracy actually has more in common with socialism because its about equal rights, every life has equal value. A true democracy would not allow some citizens to die of treatable illness, or form natural disasters, or from lack of proper nutrition. A proper government provides for its citizenry. I dont see cuba, from increased US trade, becoming anything other than a thriving socialist nation. The memories of the cuban majority is still fresh and they do not want to see the return of Batista-style capitalism.

[Lynwood Walker]

The embargo is senseless American Imperialism. Latin America is not our responsibility and we do not and should stop trying to control the choices they make in government. I look forward to the quickly approaching day when latin america unionizes like the EU and begins to look out for its self interest. America for too long has worked to undermine the development of latin ameria, through the guise of trying to help, in order to prevent us from ever having a strategic military threat in the hemisphere.

I am not the biggest fan of Castro when it comes to human rights, but hating his country and claiming that the people are suffering simply because they dont have luxury items is insane. What the majority of the cubans have now compared to what they had with previously US-backed regimes is so much more. Before Castro, most of the people had no access to basic nutrition or medicine. They were used almost as slave labor by the rich land owners. The US turned Cuba into a community exploit. Castro ended that. Now cubans enjoy proper nutrition and access to healthcare that is good and affordable. Their education system is also top-notched, and their literacy rate is better than ours.

[leftionthenews]

"The news that America's policies toward Cuba are changing will further humanize our country while de-humanizing Castro's government."

It may make our country less of a brute, although until we cease the economic warfare against Cuba known as the blockade we will never be anything but an aggressor. But how the changes will "dehumanize" the "Castro's" [sic] government (known properly as the Cuban government) I have no idea. THEY haven't been responsible for the blockade, which is entirely a unilateral action, so lifting it, or changing any policies at all (Cuban-American travel) can only change the status of the U.S. government, not the Cuban government.

And as long as the U.S. government is holding the Cuban Five (www.freethefive.org) in prison, five Cuban heroes who came to the U.S. to put an end to the decades long anti-Cuba terrorism based in Miami and who have been in prison for more than ten years, the Cuban people will never have a positive opinion of the U.S. government. Refusing to extradite Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela to stand trial for the mid-air bombing murder of 73 mostly Cuban civilians is another U.S. sin which, until removed, will also prevent the U.S. government from having a clean bill of health in the eyes of Cubans.

[steamboat]

Would you be okay if Cuba extradited Phillip Agee and Asaka Shakur to the US since you are making a big deal about Carriles?

[camper65]

Where is Hyman Roth when you need him?

[valkyrie607]

Um... Cuba has NOT remained in a time warp. While their politics leave much to be desired, economic development has not remained stagnant. At this point, their food production could serve as a model for many other countries. Their advances in urban agriculture, organic farming, and production of alternative energy are to be admired, not scoffed at. Check it out:

http://www.cityfarmer.org/cuba.html

[JohnTy]

Agree. A Kiwi web site which gives additional information.

http://www.organoponico.com/?page_id=28

On a recent trip to Cuba I spoke with someone who hopes the US blockade will be lifted, and was generally anti-Castro - although he confirmed my impression that the revolution still has a lot of support.

His comments are worth repeating:

we don't want to become like Puerto Rico;
we don't want McDonald's;
we wish to retain our Cuban identity.

Others were adamant that they wished to keep their health system and their free education; and I don't think you woould find much support for handing back the confiscated sugar estates to the Cuban residents of Florida.

I suspect that most people on here have never visited a 3rd world country and are not aware what real poverty is like. They won't find it in Cuba.

[Dogsoldier1950]

This is real loony tune economics and childish political thought-but what can you expect? The long time embargo does not prevent the EU, PRC, Japan or most anyone from selling the Cubans anything: Cars, frigs, oil with cash or on credit. We sell farm commodities on credit to Cuba too. The reason the Cubans are so very poor is their economic and stalinist political system. Cuba, as the rest of the region, is poor in resources but has driven its best and brightest out of the country. Castro and his family will hold on to power with the gun, jails and summery executions. But hey Castro is a hero to the left!

[steamboat]

Freedom----Not as long as the Castro's are alive !

And I say that as a person who WANTS the embargo ENDED...But I'm being real.