United States Cuba Policy-Time For A Reality Check; Republicans Sell Out Cuban Family Values to Placate Extreme Right-Wingers
By Tony Martinez, Esq.
"Free to Fly", a powerful new documentary on US Cuba travel issues by Estela Bravo, reveals the reality and history of the tortured application of travel restrictions to Cuba and their devastating impact on families. The same tragedy is being repeated now with the new rules that just went into effect. How are we going to free Cuba by separating and cutting off Cuban Americans from their own families still on the island? One definition of insanity is doing the same action repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. Welcome to US Cuba policy and the horror of the embargo and travel restrictions.
The Bush Administration made a grave political miscalculation and let all U.S. politicians learn the lesson about U.S. Cuba policy. Only a minority, albeit a vocal and well funded hard line Republican minority in Florida, supports continuing the embargo on Cuba and these new travel restrictions. United States foreign policy with Cuba deserves to be logical and rational. The current policy is neither. What the majority of Cuban Americans and all Americans supports are family reunification, travel and visitation, and a cessation of the hostilities that have provoked so much loss of economic opportunity and human suffering. The hard line seeks change in Cuba through political retribution and humiliation by cutting off even their own community from their families on the island of Cuba. Cuban citizens will find ways to resist and sacrifice even more. Why? It is not the nature of Hispanics to accept humiliation as a political means to an end. You cannot humiliate a Hispanic into anything, especially a Cuban. The very nature of the policy of economic and political humiliation, like the embargo shows, seeks to do just that. It is utter ignorance of, and is inconsistent with, the Hispanic culture and mindset, which abhors humiliation and prides itself on being able to resolve difficulties... "resolver" (spanish for "to resolve.") I am not Cuban American and still, even I know humiliation will never work with a Cuban! The absurd notion that freedom will come to Cuba by cutting off people from their families is a prescription for failure. American politicians should know you cannot win the hearts and minds of Hispanic voters supporting policies like this. Does President Bush really think he can win the Hispanic vote in this country? Cuba is not South Africa.
The reality of the future of U.S. Cuba policy lies with the U.S. Congress, which has overwhelmingly voted to lift travel restrictions to Cuba several times and legalized the sale of food and medicine to Cuba in 2000. Several hundred thousand Americans have already traveled legally to Cuba over the years, not including the probable thousands that have traveled to Cuba unauthorized over the years. These Americans and Cuban Americans return crying at the thought of a policy which would limit contact and interaction with people and families. In the Latin culture, family is the most important thing. Contact and communication with family is sacred. If you think President Bush can win the Hispanic vote with policies and behavior like this, think again. The votes this November will be against Bush, not for him. Adelante John Kerry.
The current regulations demonstrate one more time, the utter disregard for the history of the United States and Cuba. Until the Cuban revolution of 1959, the United States was deeply involved with the internal affairs and leadership of Cuba. Why are we seeking to repeat history as if we have learned nothing from it? The Cubans are concerned that interference from foreign sources, particularly the United States, will return them to their pre-revolution period as eloquently stated in a November 10, 2003 National Review article by James Symington:
"Respecting Cuba's regime immediately pre-Castro, the encyclopedia has this to say: "Cuban politics before 1959 consisted of graft, corruption, maladministration, fiscal irresponsibility, and social insensitivity especially toward Afro-Cubans. Foreign [read U.S.] interests controlled the economy, owning 75% of the arable land, 90% of the essential services, and 40% of the sugar production. Income from sugar was augmented by a vigorous tourist business based on hotels, casinos, and brothels. Havana became especially attractive during the years of U.S. Prohibition as a source of liquors and pleasure. Yet the prosperity of the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s enriched only a few Cubans, mainly politicians and their families. The average rural worker earned $91 a year."
This is the reality they perceive and the only history they know. They do not want to lose the progress they have made in areas like healthcare and education. Those generations of Cubans that have emerged since 1959 will tell you they will never go back to the Batista period of their history. The promise of democracy and freedom must offer much more and they must be free to draw their own conclusions about their own political system. Here is where part of the disconnect lies. Many of the Cuban American hardliners are the descendants or beneficiaries of the regime of late Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, the very regime and people who were thrown out by the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro. And in the name of freedom and democracy in Cuba, they are now leading the charge here in the United States and influencing the Republican party.
Why do we choose not to learn from history? History records that when social and economic conditions were very bad in Cuba for most Cubans prior to 1959, a young lawyer named Fidel Castro, along with a relatively small group of people around him, successfully overthrew a despotic dictator named Batista, who was supported by the United States through most of his time in power. When the Cubans decide they want a change in their form of government and their leader they will effectuate whatever change they feel is necessary for them. What if Cubans, left alone and treated as responsible mature participants in a world society, were permitted to discover for themselves what the failures and limits of their government are and decide for themselves how they will adapt and improve their society to become more prosperous and vital? Do they have that right as a sovereign country? It is sheer arrogance to deny them the right to figure it out for themselves instead of being imposed upon and humiliated by us. Discovering freedom is far more potent and powerful than having it imposed. For all Americans, and I include Cuban Americans, to presume that we know what is best for the 11.5 million people who actually live on that island flies in the face of the ideals for which our country stands for. For change in Cuba to be successful, it must be organic and must come from within those living on the island, without interference. America's best role is that of a good neighbor and economic partner, promoting democratic ideals, developing economic opportunities, and creating social progress. We are doomed if we seek to repeat the mistakes of the past and ignore history.
By further limiting the right to travel to Cuba, Americans question why their constitutionally protected right to travel has been limited by an administration bias to appease this vocal minority. In the name of pursuing democracy in Cuba, Americans are themselves being denied their own human and constitutional rights. While the debate has not yet taken the form of a new constitutional legal challenge, given the new constraints, the Courts may soon have the opportunity to protect the rights of all Americans. And, the Courts may very well decide like the Congress has several times, that enough is enough. The minority has a right to its views but not to supplant the will of the majority of our country. It is an oxymoron that in the cause of granting more rights and freedom to people, you have to give up your own rights and your own freedom. How are we going to engage in behavior now that is diametrically opposed to the progress and development of relations that have long been underway? Can anyone really believe that limiting the right of Cuban Americans to visit when and whom they choose among their families in Cuba and restricting their right to send money to their loved ones, all the while flying U.S. military planes around the island to beam radio and TV programming are going to somehow transform Cuba into a democracy?
It is time to deal in reality, the reality that what America wants is engagement, travel, and commerce with a neighbor we have isolated and punished for choosing a different path for itself. The majority of this country wants peaceful and meaningful engagement and a better future for Cuba through dialogue and engagement, something that has never been tried. There is no embargo on love and friendship. Change will come to Cuba this way. The friendship, warmth, and regard shared between the Cuban and American peoples rise above the politics of both our countries and will make the post embargo transition easier than some may be concerned about. I have complete faith this will triumph over the current politics of humiliation and spite. The choice for Miami is to see the reality of U.S. Cuba policy as it truly is and to begin making choices that will restore the two countries to positions of true friendship and cooperation with one another. It begins with the reconciliation and reunification of the Cuban and American family not with separating it further. Perhaps a President John F. Kerry will be able to do that next year.
Tony Martinez Esq, is Washington DC based Attorney and Consultant. He is an expert on US Cuba policy and Latin American issues. He serves as an advisory board member to the Latin American Working Group www.lawg.org and the United States Cuba Political Action Committee. Email: tonymartinez@compuserve.com
