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Michael Putney. Posted on Wed, Apr. 30, 2003 in
The Miami Herald.
In Cuba tomorrow hundreds of thousands of people will gather to observe --
celebrate is too strong a word -- May Day, the annual homage to labor.
It's ironic, because the fruits of labor in Cuba are reaped mainly by the
government, which contracts with foreign investors to provide workers whom
Castro pays in pesos while demanding that his ''joint venture'' partners pay him
in dollars. Fidel Castro rejects capitalism, you see, unless he's the
capitalist.
The great majority of Cubans attending ceremonies honoring workers will be
there because their boss or local Committee for the Defense of the Revolution
ordered them to attend. And these days in Cuba, such orders carry considerable
weight. Intransigence, even mild resistance, can result in the loss of your job,
ration card or freedom. Recently 78 Cuban dissidents lost theirs. Castro has
practiced such repression for the past 44 years, but rarely on this scale.
The latest crackdown has all the earmarks of a regime struggling -- and
failing -- to maintain internal order, according to Jorge Domínguez of
Harvard University. ''Sad as these recent events have been, damnable as the
behavior of the Cuban government has been,'' Domínguez says, "it's
important to realize that it is a sign of change; that it is an illustration of
ways in which Cuba has already changed.''
ASKING FOR FREEDOM
Domínguez, perhaps the preeminent Cuba scholar in the United States,
was in Miami last week to speak at Casa Bacardi, home of the Institute for Cuba
and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami. He says that Cuba has
been in the process of a transition from Castro to someone or something else for
more than a decade. The question is: a transition to what? Will it be a
''succession without transition,'' or a wider change to a more-open society?
The Cuban journalists, independent librarians, human-rights activists and
dissidents now in prison clearly want the latter. Their mistake, such as it was,
was asking for freedom of speech, press, politics and assembly. For the right to
peacefully change, not overthrow, their government.
Their real crime, of course, was meeting with James Cason, head of the U.S.
Interests Section in Havana, and other American diplomats. Last Friday Castro
called Cason a ''bully with diplomatic immunity.'' He also blamed the Bush
administration and Cuban exiles in Miami for a ''conspiracy'' that forced him to
round up ''mercenaries'' and execute the three men who hijacked a Havana ferry.
''It is so obvious that anyone can understand,'' said Castro. "No
responsibility can be assigned to Cuban authorities.''
Positively Orwellian. In Castro's Cuba, war really is peace, freedom is
slavery, and ignorance is strength. And Castroism is sanity.
What's the United States to do? Well, complain loudly and urge the rest of
the world to do so, too. It largely has, the ineffective U.N. Commission on
Human Rights notwithstanding. But the Bush administration is contemplating other
measures such as ending cash remittances and direct flights. It shouldn't.
Such steps would hurt and antagonize ordinary Cubans while giving Castro
more ammunition in his perpetual anti-U.S. campaign.
''Canceling remittances, canceling direct flights to Cuba would be
counterproductive,'' says Domínguez. ''It would make a transition in Cuba
more distant, not nearer.'' I agree.
But there are alternatives. President Bush could adequately fund Radio and
TV Martí (as he promised in Miami last May) so that they can be seen and
heard on the island. He also could expel more of the Cuban spies stationed in
the United States and order American diplomats in Havana to start issuing a lot
more visas. So far this year we're well below the pace for the annual quota of
20,000.
Castro says that he cracked down on dissidents to prevent another mass
migration to U.S. shores. Sounds like that's exactly what he's contemplating. On
Cuban Independence Day or be fore, Bush should tell Havana what he'll do if
Castro tries another Mariel: Stop the would-be migrants on the high seas and
send 'em back.
If Castro thinks that Bush is not serious, all he has to do is ask Saddam
Hussein, who's rumored to be in Havana. Now, that would be reason enough for
regime change.
mputney@click10.com | 
