Obama Should Put the Castros in Their Place
The U.S. must not change to improve bilateral relations. Cuba must change.
The stalemate with Cuba has nothing to do with “not talking,” as Obama simplistically characterized it. The debate is not about whether or not we should have open lines of communication with regimes that are adversarial in nature. In Cuba’s case we certainly do have those lines open. Cuba has an interests section in Washington, D.C., and the United States has one in Havana. The United States has negotiated agreements with regards to immigration, drug interdiction, and energy exploration boundaries. The real sticking point has to do with Cuba’s sovereignty, or rather the Castro brothers’ perverted vision of what sovereignty means. In their minds there is no distinction between that concept and their divine right to abuse, imprison, and kill Cuba’s citizens.
Their vision of sovereignty reminds me of a public service announcement that used to air on late-night television. The spot showed a man and woman in bed, both with uncomfortable looks on their faces because they could hear their neighbor, beating his wife, through the wall, but were afraid to intervene in a “private” matter. Obama can be the neighbor who passes the abuser in the hallway and pretends nothing happened while chatting about the ballgame or he can take the high road and denounce the Cuban dictatorship for the serial abuser that it is.
The latest example of the Castro regime exercising its prerogative to enforce Cuba’s “sovereignty” came last week when members of Cuba’s police deemed it necessary to intimidate Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez because she was planning a meeting with a handful of fellow bloggers. This 90-pound (soaking wet) threat to Cuba’s sovereignty needed to be nipped in the bud. Other threats to Cuban sovereignty include people like Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, who denounced Cuba’s abortion practices, and others who had the audacity to lend books to their neighbors from their meager independent libraries. It’s all a matter of sovereignty, you see.
Many self-proclaimed “Cubanologists” in the media who are advocating a change in this country’s Cuba policies like to point to the fact that the Castro regime has outlasted 10 U.S. administrations, as if that were something of a proud accomplishment. It’s not; it’s actually a black eye on themselves and the international community that has refused to join the United States in loudly and forcefully condemning Cuba’s atrocious human rights record. To put 50 years of Castros into perspective, imagine the best president you’ve ever lived under. Do you think you might get tired of him after 10 or 20 years? How about 30 or 40? Now imagine the worst president and imagine him holding the reins of power for more than 45 years. Now consider that Fidel Castro makes George Bush look like George Washington.
No, you won’t be reading many columns in the mainstream media espousing the unpopular view that it’s the totalitarian dictatorship 90 miles to our south that should change, must change, before the United States modifies its stance. But then again, by now we should expect no less from them than contempt for our country and total awe and respect for its enemies.
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Henry Louis Gomez is Cuban-American and blogs at BabaluBlog.com.
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27 Comments
1. robotech master:Obama Should Put the Castros in Their Place…. He’s going to offer them cabinet positions?
Dec 9, 2008 - 11:43 pm 2. vivo:The USA has relations with many totalitarian regimes around the World. Cuba is targeted because of the right-wingers who fled and live in Miami. Change can come to Cuba once commercial relations are opened. The Soviets and Chinese might take an interest. But the USA has better chances of being a neighboring friend.
Dec 10, 2008 - 4:38 am 3. Scott Gunsaullus:China, Vietnam, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan. These are just a few of my favorite despotic regimes that the United States is happy to trade with and in many cases, provide billions of dollars worth of military hardware.
The Cuban people have endured great suffering over the past 50 years. But how much of that was at the hands of Castro and how much was the result of the U.S. economic stranglehold. If the United States were really interested in change, we would lift the embargo and let the almighty dollar be our foreign policy, as we have done in Vietnam.
But by all means, stay the course. It’s working! Any minute now…
Dec 10, 2008 - 6:07 am 4. Mike T:Sanctions didn’t work against Saddam Hussein and others like him and Castro. All they do is impoverish the people and make them cling more to their government. You want to make Cuba free? Increase their GDP 500% through trade and investment. Once most Cubans have a little money of their own and something to lose, they will probably send the Castros packing.
Dec 10, 2008 - 6:13 am 5. cedarford:vivo:
The USA has relations with many totalitarian regimes around the World. Cuba is targeted because of the right-wingers who fled and live in Miami. Change can come to Cuba once commercial relations are opened. The Soviets and Chinese might take an interest. But the USA has better chances of being a neighboring friend.
Agree completely. All the Exile anti-Castro zealots and their quarantine and insistance that Cuba is “different” than all the other communist nations we have relations with and Americans could travel and see first hand – all they have done is become a tool Castro regularly used to solidify and retain dictatoral powers.
We had a great opportunity when the Soviet Union collapsed to moderate Cuba. The Cuban leadership gave every signal that they were willing to moderate and open up Cuba to full trade and commerce and cultural interactions. The Exiles with their control of southern Florida and being the “difference” in elections in a critical swing state instead doubled down, arguing in 1991-92 that the embargo was indeed succeeding and it was a matter of months before Castro was driven to his knees and “Freedom!!!! and the Old Batistas” triumphed. All it did was add another 16 years onto the previous 30 years of Exile politics failure. Meaning another 16 years the average Cuban was screwed by the communists and the Exiles.
Dec 10, 2008 - 6:34 am 6. Saltherring:The U.S. should not enter into any agreements with Cuba until Fidel Castro breathes his last evil, despotic, Stalinist breath.
Dec 10, 2008 - 7:46 am 7. readytoshoot:Anyone who thinks that by lifting the embargo on Cuba you will change the regime is smoking some really good shit. Many countries already trade with Cuba including the U.S. The only difference is that the U.S. doesn’t trade with Cuba on credit. Also, how could anyone think that the regime would change with capital investments and lifting the embargo when the regime controls who gets paid and what they get paid. The only thing capital investments would do in Cuba is prolong the regimes power. The only embargo that exist in Cuba is the internal embargo that the regime sets on it’s own citizens.
Dec 10, 2008 - 9:56 am 8. Andy Anderson:I’m rather ambivalent about removing the trade embargo, but only because it provides the Castro regime with a propaganda tool to thrash the US. The reality is that Cuba can trade with virtually every other country in the world except the US, so they don’t have any real problem with access to what they need. In fact the law allows Cuba to purchase US agricultural products, but Cuba is required to PAY CASH, because they have a tendency (like all other Marxist countries) to not pay their bills. Cuba has no problem selling their cigars, sugar, and resorts to the rest of the world, removing the embargo would have little impact on their balance of trade. The failure of the Marxist economic system, and the FACT that the leadership and the military get paid first, and then if there is anything left the crumbs can be sold to the people is the primary cause of their economic failure. Also, our willingness to do business with some other unpleasant regimes is because it’s in our interest to do so. Why is this so hard to understand? We have no real interest in trading with Cuba that can’t be satisfied somewhere else. They also provide no real strategic position that is in the US interest.
Dec 10, 2008 - 10:56 am 9. Cybergeezer:Obama has already set a date to have one on one talks with the Castro brothers; He wants to know how he can institute himself in the U.S. just like Fidel. Obama also wants a box of Cohibas for the Oval Office.
Dec 10, 2008 - 1:51 pm 10. Pat J:I tend to think we pander too much to the right-leaning Cuban exiles in this country.
Dec 10, 2008 - 2:20 pm 11. vivo:7. readytoshoot:
” The only thing capital investments would do in Cuba is prolong the regimes power.”
Naive idea. American (or a large country) investment leads to relationships with citizens and the potential for political influence in a peaceful environment. It’s worked around the globe. Miami Cubans sacrifice their “brothers” by isolating them, and they call themselves Christian. They resent that they couldn’t keep exploiting their “brothers”.
Dec 11, 2008 - 4:12 am 12. vivo:8. Andy Anderson:
“I’m rather ambivalent about removing the trade embargo, but only because it provides the Castro regime with a propaganda tool to thrash the US.”
Oh, poor baby. They will trash your misguided patriotism . . . But every thinking citizen cares more about his fellow Earth citizens isolated just 90 miles away. This is the 21st Century! We need to evolve, not regress!
Dec 11, 2008 - 4:24 am 13. Cybergeezer:Being familiar with the Cuban situation since before the “Cuban Crisis” in the late ’60s, The U.S. government coddles Cubans like no other immigrant. There are laws covering Cuban refugees that are meant to apply to Cubans explicitly, thanks to Jimmy Carter.
Dec 11, 2008 - 6:27 am 14. vivo:My real question is; Why has Cuba never been invaded by expatriates wanting to start a coup? Apparently, the U.S. is too accommodating and comfortable. I have sailed around Cuba in an American flagged sailing vessel, and have not been harassed. There have been regattas of sailing vessels from Tampa/St.Pete that have docked in Havana. Until The Miami Herald ran an article about the blatant smuggling of Cuban cigars and liquor several years ago, anyone wanting to travel to Cuba from the Florida Keys was unrestricted. Refugee smuggling has been going on for years. Cuba is a sizable island, but if Cubans REALLY wanted to invade and take their precious island back from the Castro regime, it would not be difficult. I’d guess that 33% of Cubans in south Florida have a power boat capable of a round trip to the island; That’s a sizable armada.
13. Cybergeezer:
Miami Cubans are happy here. They just love to hate.
Dec 11, 2008 - 8:15 am 15. Jack:This is ridiculous, we should open up all relations with Cuba, remove the embargo, allow businesses to go to the island, allow travel of US and Cuban citizens, just like we do with all dictators and communists. This island is 90 miles away, there is no reason to continue our current practices which have nothing to help the Cuban people. Isn’t it about the people and freedom and the pursuit of happiness. The more we normalize relations, the more we diminish Castro’s hold. There is no more Soviet Union to prop them up. The 60s are over, let’s move forward. The island used to be a great vacation spot. It’s a piece of crap now.
Dec 11, 2008 - 9:00 am 16. Andy Anderson:Vivo, the usual response from the left – demonize, instead of responding with facts. I care greatly about the people of Cuba, and have seen the photos and read the books about the dismal treatment of the “people”
Dec 11, 2008 - 12:54 pm 17. Will Becker:of Cuba. I don’t believe that removing the embargo would make one iota of difference for the average Cuban citizen. You failed to respond to my primary point that dropping the embargo wouldn’t likely result in any significant change in the GDP of Cuba, they already have the ability to trade with every country of consequence other than the US. Even if it did, do you really think the “people” would see any of it? The money would continue to go to the Military, the leadership, and to the showy facilities that they maintain for tourists. Why is it that the Cuban government can build and market high-tech medical devices for export, but can’t seem to keep aspirin in the pharmacies? Don’t the Cubans trade with the Swiss for example, home of Bayer Aspirin? It defies logic to believe that trading with US will change the way that the Cuban Stalinist Government will treat the folks. Dealing rationally with the Soviet Union after WWII didn’t exactly change things for folks in Eastern Bloc post-war, they just got worse. Reason and logic are the path to dealing with dictatorships like the Cubans. Just caving because you have good intentions has yet to work with any Marxist government. We’ve bent over backwards in making concessions to the N. Koreans as an example, due to our “good intentions”. It certainly has served us well. Maybe if Jimmy Carter made just one more trip to Cuba… Well a boy can dream.
Don’t hold your breath.
Dec 11, 2008 - 4:48 pm 18. Amel Rodriguez:As a Cuban who was a kid when Castro came into power (so not a Batistano at all) a son of a laborer, (so not a rich person at all) anda recent arrival to the USA who does not live in Florida (so not a member of so called the right-wing Cuban Mafia) cannot agree more with Andy Anderson. The Cuban totalitarian regime will not change with the lifting of the influx of money brought buy USA tourists and the concession of loans. The survival of the regimen depends on keeping the society under strict control and they will not relinquish that if they are better economically. They have only allowed some privet enterprise when under extreme danger of social explosion like after th demise of the USSR. As soon as they got Venezuela to subsidize the system with oil, all the measures were rolled back. These are facts, the rest is wishful thinking.
Dec 11, 2008 - 4:53 pm 19. Cybergeezer:Anyone remember “Alpha 66″? An organization of Cuban expatriates who “trained” in the Everglades on weekends with their M-16’s, etc, smoked some good cigars, got drunk, went back to work Mondays, came back next weekend for more “war games”? I think they all traded their M-16s in for boats. They’ll be in the Boat Parade this weekend in Ft. Lauderdale.
Dec 12, 2008 - 6:21 am 20. vivo:Actually, this looks like what “We the People” are becoming in the United States; A country with a disfunctional government that uses our money for their unilateral purposes, while its citizens throw ink and insults back at it.
And, get this; The Cuban government has a greater satisfaction percentile than the U. S.!
16. Andy Anderson:
I made my point, and I can’t say you’re wrong. I just hope people do the right thing for the well being of many.
Dec 13, 2008 - 3:03 am 21. Ann:Bambi “put the Castros in their place”??????? Well, at least I’ve had my laugh for the morning. He can’t even get his corrupt buddy from Illinois to resign from the governorship.
This empty suited hate-America-first wannabe president can’t put anything in its place except his finger on his face when he wants to flip off an opponent in public.
Dec 13, 2008 - 7:13 am 22. kevin c:mr GOMEZ-OBAMASCUM WANTS THE US TO BECOME CUBA. HE WONT CHALLENGE FIDO OR RAUL CASTRO ON ANYTHING. AS A MATTER OF FACT, I FULLY EXPECT THE OBAMASCUM TO EMBRACE THE COMMIES THERE AS ONE OF HIS OWN. AND COME TO THINK OF IT, THEY ARE
Dec 13, 2008 - 1:22 pm 23. kevin c:HEY BY THE WAY ALL YOU CASTRO LOVERS-FORBES MAGAZINE LISTS CASTRO IN THERE FORTUNE 500-HOW DOES HE ACCOMPLISH THAT? LIVE ON AN ISLAND AND HAVE NO FISHING INDUSTRY? ONLY IN A COMMIE COUNTRY. YOU EXCUSE MAKERS FOR EVERY HATE AMERICA ENTITY ON THE PLANET CANT EVER COMNE UP WITH ONE REASON WHY COMMUNISM,ISLAM AND EVERY OTHER ANTI CAPITALIST ENTITY FAILS, ILL GIVE YOU ONE. ITS CALLED FREEDOM IS THE SOLUTION TO THE HUMAN CONDITION. AND CAPITALISM IS SIMPLY ECONOMIC FREEDOM.
Dec 13, 2008 - 1:26 pm 24. vivo:23. kevin c:
Go back to school and learn some grammar. Maybe in Cuba . . .
Dec 13, 2008 - 9:45 pm 25. deguello:Yes indeed, put ‘em where they would do the Obama administration the most good;how about appointing Raul as FBI chief:think of the hispanic votes,and gove Fidel control over fannie mae,let’s help the poor!
Dec 15, 2008 - 10:41 am 26. deguello:Vivo:go back to the library and learn something about Cuba,aka the world’s only tropical totalitarian state .Even better, why not move there? Imagine, Cuban exiles having the gall to hate the mass-murdering marxists who have turned Cuba into a combination gulag/ disneyl and for armchair commissars like vivo .
Dec 16, 2008 - 9:03 am 27. xtraa:Hm,
I don’t know. The USA could also learn a bit from Cuba. For example to bring their healthcare system up to the standard of the rest of the world, or to lower the extraordinary high criminal rates. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for capitalism but some things needs to be regulated by the citizens from a specific point, not only from big companies that just wants to make maximum profit.
May 26, 2009 - 9:49 pm