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.
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"The isolation of Cuba has done an excellent job of isolating the longest lived dictator, and denier of human rights, still around."
I guess you've never heard of butt boy W's master Bandar. It's all kissy kissy with him. How's THAT square with ya?
Any perceived threat from Cuba vanished when Soviet subsidies ended, so there is no good reason to maintain sanctions. Only some of the exiles have a dream of returning to Cuba and recovering their wealth, while American grain farmers and others would benefit from a Cuban market for their goods, while all Americans would benefit from normal relations with our neighbor.
What a surpise? As they say, you can catch more bears with honey. We have been stuck with a knee-jerk foreign policy for fifty years. We have demonized Fidel Castro to the point where anything but a bad ending for him (and Cuba?) is bad for us. If we had spent less time pandering to expatriot Cubans who lost their bananna republican loot, Cuba might be a far different place today.
It is time to normalize relations with Cuba. The next president would be wise to lift the embargo. Perhaps we should gift Gitmo as a jesture of good will to the good people of the Democratic Republic of Cuba, but not before we sent Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld & Gonzales their to await their pending war crimes trials.
The policy is starting to work!
It was obvious that if we just held the embargo in place for about 50 years that Castro would start to get old. Maybe you liberals will stop complaining now.
We are the mighty, the powerful United States. But we are not big enough to admit our mistakes, which are legion, and which will come home to roost until we learn to say, "Oops -- sorry."
There will be no change in Cuba policies with the moron W in office.
W couldn't count his balls ten times and get the same answer twice, let alone develop sound policy.
It's a sorry state of affairs, but the truth is that our Cuba policy is not going to change as long as both the Democrats and Republicans need every last vote they can get out of Florida.
ok, then maybe our policy can change after the election???? it's high time. great post by sarah stephens.
I think that most Americans are aware of the hypocrisies of America's foreign policies by now. So you have to ask yourselves; what are the reasons behind this ridiculous restriction? I think the answer must lie with the Cuban exiles in Fla. that have some kind of weird hold over our politicians. I can understand how they have influence in Fla. but cannot see how these "patriots" have garnered so much clout on a national front. It's required as a repug candidate to have at least one country to hate to keep the old fear of communism going, especially if it is a country that has little influence( as compared to China $$). But why are the Dims so reluctant to drop the embargo? I sure wish some journalist would do so research on this.
The United States is famous for continuing failed policies ad infinitum rather than admit a mistake.
It would be wonderful if the United States could grow up enough to swallow it's undeserved pride and start showing some respect for those we disagree with! Don't expect anything like a sign of humility or common sense to start with this administration!
Now, maybe the Cuban exiles in Florida will lose their control of the pandering politicians and some sort of sanity can return.
It seems that you have to go through a 'Dunkirk' and a broken post war nation or an occupied Paris or a smashed and burnt Hamburg and Berlin to know the kind of humility to bring it about. Reticent about going to war? Why would that be? America has thrived on the wars in foreign places. Apart from an alien attack what will change that? Rome governs invincible
Yes, if we are going to start repairing our image around the globe with the end of making trillionaires out of billionaires (whether in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Europe or the US of A), lets begin with an enlightened policy to help boost the economy of Cuba. Lets, for God's sake, start making some friends. Blessings - Chuck
It sure is time to change and reverse that policy. I remember going with the Vinceramos Brigade, organized by the Weathermen, to Cuba and cut sugarcane. The Westherman knew that I was a Newsweek correspondent, stationed in the San Francisco bureau, but they neglected to tell the Cuban officials.
After cutting cane for about three weeks, (losing 35 pounds) and after visiting various towns nearby, I came to the conclusion that this was a fairly well run country. If people wanted to overthrow Fidel, it would only take mass resentment, as every family had one or more AK-47s leaning against a corner in each of their homes.
As opposed to other poor countries I've worked in (Taiwan, Vietnam, Algeria, China, Russia, Europe ...), no one begged from me. The only complaint I heard was how much time they had to wait for their local buses.
Eventually, I typed up about 300 questions, which I asked our camp director to forward to the foreign ministry. No nonsense questions like "since the world market for sugar is $1 dollar a pound, why is the USSR paying Cuba $3 per pound."
Well, it shocked them to learn that there was an MSM in their country and I was kicked out forthwith.
I was not even supposed to go, according to our State Department travel restrictions. When I returned via Canada, two FBI agents met me and asked where I'd been as if they didn't know. I told them, they went through my stuff. Took my machete and walked away smoking my Cuban cigars.
Story appeared in the magazine in early 1970 or 71.
I came back with a great fondness for the village of Agua Cate and the Cuban people.
It's about time this policy was reversed.
Amazing, discouraging, and insulting to see that 1/3 of 1% of the population have been dictating and controlling our Foreign Policy against the will and benefits of 99%. Hope a presidential candidate (forget McCain) will have the courage in politics to lose the votes of fake Americans in Miami, and do the right thing: restore our prestige at the international level and enhance our relations with Latin America. The real world is laughing at us, because of the Miami Mafia. We can not dictate anymore. We are losing our power, prestige and economic influence, and now, our military force is questionable, our intelligence less and less suitable to even understand what an average citizen of the real world can predict before us.
let's change the name of that great US airport in Washington. Maybe the FBI Building, also.
When Castro came to the US, after unseating a real tyrant--Ba
What might have happened if only Ike had listened to him!
With what crummy leadership we have been cursed!
And who was Ike's vice pres? Richard Nixon!
Instead of letting Castro try his socialist experiment we have done everything we could to undermine his efforts. The fact that he still was successful in keeping his population relatively stable is a testament to his vision. Of course, the disgruntled came to our shores to help with undermining him.
If we had allowed his experiment to proceed unhampered all would have benefitted. Instead we created a self-fulfilling prophecy of hardship and suffering for the Cuban people.
The coup that brought Castro to power was due to the policies of Battista. But because he was our puppet dictator we HAD to react with condemnation. Had to have that sugar! Just like oil.
What crummy leadership indeed!
Who was that troglodyte Senator that made the Cuba sanction PERMANENT?
Now that's leadership!
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