On the day Luis Robles — a young Cuban imprisoned without trial for a year for merely holding up a protest sign — is finally getting his day in court, 114 Democratic members of Congress presented a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to “engage with Cuba.”
Sounds reasonable, but they asked Biden on Thursday to unilaterally suspend regulations on food, medicine and other humanitarian assistance, remove all restrictions on remittances for families and non-families, fully re-staff the U.S. embassy, roll back Trump administration rules restricting travel to Cuba and remove the island-nation from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list.
What a sweet pot of goodies to hand the oppressor.
The ultra-repressive regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel, which has criminalized everything from independent art-making to what Cubans post on the Internet, obtains a much-needed infusion of goods and cash. The discontented angry enough to fight for their rights receive hefty remittances to make them feel all better — and the oppressors in bed with U.S. enemies, such as Russia and Iran, and fueling the blossoming dictatorships in Venezuela and Nicaragua, get a pass on misbehavior.
What about Robles, arrested and jailed before the historic protests of July 11 for merely asking with a homemade cardboard sign that rapper Dennis Solís, also unfairly imprisoned for making music, be released?
Too bad, collateral damage.
But don’t worry, when the Biden-Harris administration plays nice with Díaz-Canel, the pesky human-rights issue — the beatings, the arrests, the harassment in front of homes and the hundreds of political prisoners now jailed with and without trial under trumped-up charges stemming from the peaceful historic protests of July 11 — will resolve itself.
Fantasy.
Perched on their partisan ivory dome on Capitol Hill, these U.S. representatives fail to see that the “humanitarian crisis in Cuba” they want the United States to unilaterally assuage stems from the failings of the now almost 63-year-old-Cuban dictatorship, not U.S. sanctions or the embargo.
Cuba has plenty of European and other foreign partners investing billions on the island. Cuba has plenty of exiled family members sending remittances to Cuba from all over the world — the U.S. limit, $1,000 per person per quarter, is nothing to sniff at. That’s luxury income in Cuba.
While Cubans go hungry, die from COVID-19 infection and — in this land lush with forests — lack caskets to bury loved ones, the government continues to build luxury hotels. And they just unveiled the Fidel Castro Ruz Center, a stately museum devoted to the memory of the demagogic leader. All thanks to the donations of foreign country investors and sympathizers.
Meanwhile, the government is also opening doors for Cubans to leave the island and emigrate to the United States as another way to get rid of the opposition, ensure the continuation of remittances — and bring Biden to the negotiating table with the threat of unleashing another exodus.
Idyllic fantasy
“Protecting human rights in Cuba, including the right to protest, is better served by principled engagement, rather than unilateral isolation,” the lawmakers argue in the letter.
It sounds idyllic, but they falsely claim that during President Obama’s rapprochement , repression in Cuba subsided.
Let’s see how that worked out for both Obama and the Cuban people.:
During the flip-flop invasion of American tourists on cruise ships, the Ladies in White, walking in silence holding gladioli along a Havana boulevard on Sundays to call attention to husbands and sons jailed for political reasons, were shamelessly beaten up, dragged and arrested by police. Tourists and locals filming the brutality be damned.
After Obama’s visit and his televised historic speech on Cuban television illustrating the way forward for an open Cuba and what change and democracy could look like, the Castro brothers turned on him. In a show of disgust, they staged a military parade in which the troops’ chant called for “a bullet to Obama’s head.”
And, as for the rising entrepreneurial class, it was limited to people playing the government-alliance game. Only supporters need apply for Airbnb licensing, for example. When enthusiastic people tried to sell clothes and other artifacts sent from the United States from their homes, they were shut down.
Now, a mere five months after the Cuban regime bore down on the population with military force only seen in the likes of Venezuela, these members of Congress want to reward a ruthless regime with an infusion of dollars.
It’s not surprising, given that 40 of these Democrats voted against supporting the Cuban people’s right to protest on the floor of Congress.
Yes, diplomacy should always be a tool, and I have argued in favor of staffing the embassy — and in favor of continuing backdoor efforts, too.
No Obama redux for Biden?
But Biden and his administration don’t need to resort to an Obama redux, which had its time seven years ago and its successes and failures.
Why must U.S.-Cuba policy always be reduced to two extreme points of view, to players who either indulge the Cuban regime or insist on American military action? Both are jingoistic, shortsighted and appalling.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: There is a third way of helping the Cuban people and pressuring the Cuban regime to reform and respect basic, universal human rights.
And the task at hand for Biden and his administration is to find it, not ignore the brave Cuban people like Robles who have broken through their fear and put their lives on the line.
The real humanitarian crisis in Cuba stems from repression, U.S. Congress.
Cubans can’t breathe.
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