Time to Retire America's Failed Cuba Policy

This is the event that fifty years of U.S. policy was designed to stop.

Fidel Castro has announced his retirement. He will be replaced in a peaceful succession, without the violent upheaval that U.S. policy makers have been predicting since the 1960s.

Now that Fidel Castro has announced his retirement, it's time to retire our Cold War era Cuba policy. It failed.

Every U.S. president since Eisenhower has tried to kill or topple Fidel Castro and replace Cuba's government and economic system with something more to our liking. They never succeeded.

It was the express purpose of the U.S. embargo, with sanctions more comprehensive than any we impose on Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria to stop this transition. But it couldn't.

For years, the U.S. embargo has been rebuked in lop-sided votes in the U.N. General Assembly. On October 30, 2007, when we were last drubbed by a margin of 184 to 4 (and one abstention), not a single country in South America, Central America or the Caribbean supported our policy. Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic, three countries praised by President Bush one week earlier for their support of U.S. policy against Cuba, joined the condemnation -- so did Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, a nation whose democracy was born with the help of U.S. sanctions.

As the Cuba embargo sullies our image around the world, it undermines the national interest and our highest values here at home. The embargo sacrifices the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens to travel. It cruelly divides Cuban families on both sides of the Florida straits. Trade sanctions cost U.S. businesses about $1 billion annually, and deny U.S. citizens access to vaccines and other medical treatments. Enforcing the embargo drains resources from the war on terror. By isolating the American people from the Cuban people, we stop our citizens from doing what Americans do best; we can't offer Cubans our support or our ideas, and we're unable to benefit from what they could offer us.

I have been to Cuba close to thirty times in the last seven years and I have spoken to Cubans of every stripe -- fans of the revolution and diehard opponents of President Castro.

Cubans by their nature have vastly divergent opinions, except on one fundamental point: it is Cubans living on the island -- not politicians in Washington, not their kinsmen in Miami -- who must decide for themselves what happens next in Cuba. They cherish their sovereignty, they reject violence and instability, and they want the United States to respect those values as much as they do, especially now that they can see a future past President Fidel Castro and beyond the 50th year of their revolution.

There is a debate happening in Cuba right now, triggered by Raúl Castro on economic reform that is remarkable in its sweep. Leaders have spoken to us with unusual candor about the inability of Cubans to keep pace with prices, but they are committed to raising living standards in ways that are consistent with the preservation of Cuba's political system. We have to have clear minds about their intentions for this debate, its limits, and where it might lead.

Now would be a perfect time to send the long overdue signal that the United States is no threat to Cuba's national security, that we honor the aspirations of average Cubans, and that we are capable of having a constructive relationship with their government.

If President Bush cannot answer the call to history that has been issued in Havana, perhaps his successor will respond with greater imagination when he or she takes office in Washington next year.

People here should not misunderstand this historic moment: the Cubans we know, even determined political opponents of Fidel Castro, are proud of their country, proud of its accomplishments, and persuaded that only Cubans in Cuba -- not politicians in Washington or hardliners in Miami -- have the right and responsibility to determine their own destiny. We owe them that opportunity, now more than ever.

Comments

[Senior Bigmouth]

There is something wrong with cubans having a party on the streets of Miami.What does this say about"family Values" Why not show more dignity than the one you hate. Your lesson is not lost on many thinking people.Everything said about China, etc. is true, what did Cuba do? Because of one leader we damm the country. It is a good thing others do not feel that way about our leader Bush and all his horrible mistakes.

[FilMishMish]

Good point. It is clear that many outside the U.S. hate Bush and his policies but still make the distinction between him and the American people. Why can't we do so for other nations? The crippling US-designed UN embargo on Iraq in the nineties comes to mind. Millions went without food and medicine and half a million Iraqi children died because of our administrations' hate for Saddam. And there was no outcry here in the US from us.

[HartlessBeest]

SHAME on the United States. Stop whining and take care of your own household before judging others. You boast of a democracy when it is non-existant in your own country. The U.S is not a democracy, but a corporate dictatorship, not to mention that it cannot even run an honest election (2000 and 2004), resulting in the many hoodlums taking control for the past seven and a half years. It has the gall to demonized Castro’s Cuba for well over 45 years because Cuba has successfully demonstrated, despite the embargos and the many abhorant critisisms, it has, much to the chagrin of its **neighbour**, maintained economic stabilty, a healthcare and educational system far superior to the ones in the U.S.

Hypocracy is alive and well in the United States.

[LastLiberalRepublican]

Ms. Stephans:

I read your essay with some interest and do think you raise some valid points. Conspicuously absent, however, is any mention of or discussion of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the impact that had on the embargo. You also overlook the fact that every president since 1960, whether Democrat or Republican, has respected the need for the embargo. Ultimately, it is probably only the absence of Castro (and his brother?) that can set the stage for resuming diplomatic discussions with Cuba as the prelude to lifting the embargo.

[realist333]

It is US domestic politics, not realistic diplomacy, that keeps the Cuban embargo policy alive.
Every president since 1960 has realized the importance of the Cuban Exile vote and has feared to risk losing it.
The retirement of Fidel Castro will not change the Cuban social system. However it will evolve in a direction comparable to that of China after Mao's passing. 21st century Havana will look more like Shanghai than Miami.
The next (almost certainly Democrat) president could make history by abandoning the failed Cuba policy and normalizing relations with Havana. Normal relations would be good for both countries.

[reinaldok]

One of the very first tasks of our next president will be how to handle the Cuban situation. I certainly fear that there will be the same old USA interventionist policy,think Nicaraguam Guatemala, Chile on and on. Will we once again deny Cuban people the right to decide for themselves how they want to govern their own country? Many estimates believe that at least 80% of the population of Cuba live better under the Castro regime then they did under the Batista -USA backed dictatorship. Sure many of the Cuban exiles have seen their privileged life style change, but they never give the credit due to Cuba in so very many areas, healthcare, education, sports etc. It is also so interesting how in this case as in so many others, the United States has remained almost totally isolated. A few minutes chat with any
business person from Spain, England, Canada,
Brazil etc will show how they have been able to manage their affairs with Cuba. Many in the Miami group seem to have the near sighted opinion that if a change comes in Cuba, they will be able to take over in a relatively short period of time. Pipe dreams. I recently asked a well known Spanish exporter, "How did you ever work out the situation of the funds owed those who lost moneys due to the revolution? The answer was quick and short, "We worked those problems out 40 years ago." Embargoes, travel restrictions, blockades, they all must end.

[Skorpian1965]

Forgive me if I am wrong on this....we lost 68,000 troops in a failed war in Vietnam, and yet we have diplmatic relations with that country? We have never lost a single soldier in a war with Cuba (don't talk about the bay of pigs, those were Cuban rebels with the CIA backing), yet we refuse to talk to them or have any kind of relations whatsoever with them.......what am I missing here. What the hell did Cuba EVER do that damaged America???

[WIpatriot]

They said "NO" to corrupt capitalism.

[littleblackcat]

Skorpi, a nation doesn't have to do anything to the United States to be the recipient of our scorn. Or worse. Remember a country called Iraq?

[Gerald Sutliff]

I couldn't agree more about the Cuba's transfer of power; it's time we left them alone. To that I add: Let's tell all the Cuban Americans (and other investors) that the U.S. will not support any property claims made by those who left Cuba and came here. It's over with, finished just like the American oil claims in Mexico dating back to before their Revolution.

[Chinampas]

Fidel Castro's government is responsible for the embargo placed on Cuba, not the United States. The cuban people are being oppressed by their government, and they must force a change if they want the embargo lifted. We don't need a stronger communist country ninety miles from our borders. The communist system must be eliminated if the people of Cuba want to prosper in the long run.

[littleblackcat]

Exactly what are you holding up as an example, Chinampas? The U.S.? The people are certainly prospering here, aren't they? Foreclosures at record rates and climbing rapidly, poverty levels rising faster than the water in New Orleans, the hole in Manhatten still there nearly seven years later, milk at $4.00 a gallon, bread at $4.00 a loaf, gasoline at $3.00+, a tankful of heating oil costing nearly $900.00, student loans being cut, educational grants being cut, curiculum trimming in nearly every school system, Veterans' benefits a nightmare, vets' healthcare a disaster, suicide rates up across the board, depression rates through the roof in all age brackets from small children to the elderly, health insurance an obscenity, health care costs likewise, health CARE slipping, especially if you're working class, (drive-through childbirth and open-heart surgery, anyone?) eavesdropping on anyone, anywhere, anytime, for any reason (to save us from terrorists!) property taxes over the moon (you don't get to "own" your home even if it's paid for!) and anyone who wants to start a business of their own is blasted out of the water unless they have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank and can hire a team of pros to get them through the money-bleeding schemes designed to keep anyone who isn't part of the 'chosen circle' from getting a toe-hold. Independent thinking is forbidden, common sense is a thing of the past, and it won't be long before anyone who posts an opinion like this will be shot. We're prospering? With a government like the one we've been saddled with for the last seven years?

[azyuwish]

Bravo Littleblackcat!

You said it. Best post of the bunch IMO. YOu've just been added to my "favorites" or should I say, I've signed on as a fan....

[realistic2008]

We have over 40,000,000 people, that is almost 8 times the population of Cuba, in this country that can't get ahead, no insurance, homeless uneducated and starving on those basis on your logic I could be justified to say also that the capitalistic system should be eliminated?

[Garvagh]

The utter idiocy of US foreign policy toward Cuba has been an embarassment for many clear thinking Americans for many many years now. Castor in effect was propped up by the hostility of the US. In much the same way, the naive and really rather stupid US hostility toward Iran has tended to enable the government to act in repressive ways that otherwise would be less available.

[Buckywunder]

Cuba is a beautiful country where people have suffered unnecessarily long enough.

I look forward to traveling to Cuba, Havana in particular, in the near future.

Also, one of the great byproducts of the Bush regime getting bogged down in Iraq is that it has allowed an opening for the flowering and renewal of democracy in Latin America. Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia are a few of the countries who have developed their own path without interference from the U.S.

Cuba showed the way.

[littleblackcat]

The perfect word, Bucky; interference. The United States has become known for its
I N T E R F E R E N C E !! It's time we learned how to mind our own business, we are NOT superior to everyone else on earth.

[HakimKutta]

Brother Raul seems like a kindly soul but he is getting long in tooth as well. Then what? Unless a strong and dedicated leader emerges our vulgar Goliath will overwhelm them with the detritus of our barbarian culture. Let us honor Fidel for his courage and commitment while we say farewell to his ideal of a just society. Soon Costco and Burger King will start their inevitable crawl and the people will be inundated, like all of us, as another doomsday block falls into place. Adios Fidel, may your next incarnation be just as feisty as this last one, and may you continue to rub our gringo noses in our own shit....

[Troubledgoodangel]

Vivan los Cubanos Libres, libres de ir donde quieran y vivir donde quieran! Es tiempo de que Cuba deseche autoimpuestas cadenas! Un pais verdaderamente libre debe ser abierto al mundo! Contrariamente, no es mas que una prision! No se dejen enganar mas, Cubanos!

[EspritDeVoltaire]

We keep on making the same stupid mistakes in our foreign policy and shooting ourselves in the foot. We’ve made it possible for anti-American extremists to remain in power by giving them an enemy to rally their forces against.

We did it in Cuba with Castro and we repeated the same stupid misguided policy with Iran and the Mullahs. The easiest way to take control of these countries is to normalize relations with their governments. Once that happens the extremists’ base will shrivel and we can subvert their governments from the inside just like we did with Pakistan. Sanctions don’t work, but extending the hand of friendship and then undermining their administrations from within is a proven winner.

[vietveter]

Really!!!
We tried to invade and failed, we tried to kill him and failed. The only ones that pay the dues for Castro are the people.

Want to take over Cuba? Normalise relations and McDonalds them to death.

[realistic2008]

and most importantly make them listen rap music and watch TV programs, what a sweet revenge would that be.

[rwilliams1961]

Of course it's time to establish normal relations with Cuba. If opening with China brought about the results it did when it's thousands of miles away, think how quickly the Cuban system will change at 90 miles.

One thought that is striking. Castro has been in power for 49 years. For 28 of those, a Bush or a Clinton has been in the White House. Wow.

[GuiltyUndertaker]

You're comparing apples and oranges when you compare Cuba and Red China. There's a slight gap in population between the two.

[Dadoftwins]

Not 28 until HRC completes two terms.

[SamThornton]

Long story short: Fidel - 1, ten US presidents - 0.

[EdwardUlyssesCate]

Policy? No way. The same financial masters that actually run America decided to experiment with a small enclosed society to determine how to control a population after Peak Oil. America's Peak Oil was discussed in 1956; Castro planted in 1959, and no one was allowed to disturb it, even though only 90 miles off our coast. Explained here 18 months ago:
http://greatreddragon.com/commentary/060706_Cuba.htm ::

[Wulfstan]

If the US had not embargoed Cuba it would be a lot more prosperous today. The embargo essentially drove Cuba into the arms of the Soviet Union. Approaches were made both by Che Guevara and Fidel to the US to normalize relationships and trade, but they were both snubbed by every US president from JFK onwards.
This childish attitude should have ended years ago.

Embargoes brought down regimes in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe and look what a mess it is and South Africa, but not Cuba.