Delvis Fernandez Levy. Published Tuesday, June 5, 2001 in
the Miami Herald
President Bush should not fall prey to ideologues and profiteers in the
'struggle to liberate Cuba.'
President George W. Bush and his foreign-policy advisors have exhibited a
level-headed approach in dealing successfully with China. The president also can
be commended for reaching out to a wide range of constituencies for support of
his foreign and domestic policies. At least in word, if not in deed, he strives
for consensus.
However, in attempting to please Florida's Cuban-American community, the
president may be treading on swampy ground with his nomination of Otto J. Reich
to become assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.
The president should be aware the Cuban-American community is changing. He
should not fall prey to ideologues and profiteers in the "struggle to
liberate Cuba.''
In the aftermath of the Elián González controversy and ensuing
loss of the community's prestige, Miami's leaders are struggling to find a place
in mainstream American politics. They are striving to put on a face of
tolerance, successfully lobbying, for instance, to host the Latin Grammy Awards
though musicians from Cuba may play and be paid.
Notwithstanding threats of fines and jail, almost 200,000 Americans last
year traveled to Cuba. More than 130,000 of these travelers were Cuban
Americans, mostly from South Florida. Despite threats of ostracism, five Bay of
Pigs veterans returned to Cuba, opting for reconciliation over hostile
confrontation. And without complaint Cuban Americans accepted President Bush's
extension of a Clinton order prohibiting small airplanes and ships from entering
Cuban waters or airspace.
The nomination of Reich appears to be an attempt by the president to reward
Cuban Americans for their support. The reward, however, may well put us on the
outer fringe of the American body politic, adversely impacting the lives of
ordinary Cuban Americans and U.S. relations with Latin America.
Reich's avowed opposition to Americans traveling to Cuba jeopardizes the
people-to-people contacts that allow valuable exchanges of ideas between Cubans
and Americans.
Reich's Office of Public Diplomacy in the Reagan administration ran a
domestic propaganda operation to build support for contras in Nicaragua, which
led Congress in 1987 to accuse him of engaging in "prohibited, covert
propaganda activities.'' The office maintained a network of individuals and
organizations whose activities were coordinated with, and sometimes directed by,
then-Col. Oliver North and the National Security Council. Their "prohibited''
acts included planting in newspapers bogus letters that appeared to come from
contra leaders.
Given the existing tenuous political and social situation in much of Latin
America, the president needs advisors with the ability to work toward finding
peaceful and lasting solutions to the multiple problems affecting people in our
hemisphere. The person who becomes assistant secretary of state for Western
Hemisphere affairs, should be an American who has in heart and mind the best
interests of the United States and is not bound to extremist ideologues or
failed policies of the past.
Delvis Fernandez Levy is president of the Cuban American Alliance
Education Fund in Washington, D.C.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 