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Posted on Tue, May. 21, 2002 in
The Miami Herald.
President Bush struck all the right notes addressing an admiring crowd in
Miami while commemorating Cuba's centennial. His speech reflected understanding
of Cuba's reality and the lack of political, economic and civil freedoms that
plague the Hemisphere's only dictatorship.
His Initiative for a New Cuba reinforces a policy already in place, with a
couple of new twists. The initiatives keep trade and investment sanctions in
place. That's appropriate. Mr. Bush said, "I know trade with Cuba will go
to enrich the Castro regime, and I'm willing to use my veto.''
President Bush's speech was posited in a challenge that Fidel Castro is
unlikely to take up. He suggested that Castro begin with free and fair National
Assembly elections in 2003. He said that the petition for human and civil
rights, known as the Varela Project, should go to a referendum, as required
under the Cuban constitution. He demanded full participation of opposition
political parties and international monitors.
Other initiatives are aimed directly at helping the Cuban people.
Negotiating direct-mail services would be good. It increases the free flow of
ideas between our peoples. Increased aid to U.S. religious or civic groups could
bolster civil society in Cuba; easing U.S. restrictions on humanitarian aid may
have a positive impact.
Mr. Bush also listed a series of basic economic rights that don't exist in
Cuba today. Among them, the ability of trade unions to exist independent of the
regime; the right of private employers to hire and pay workers of their
choosing; and of foreign employers to pay their employees directly in the
currency of their choice rather than through a regime that pays in pesos, though
the work is paid for in dollars.
We continue to endorse the embargo on U.S. trade and investment in Cuba. As
the president said, without political and economic reforms, our trade merely
enriches Castro and his cronies. We believe that establishing trade with a
country that has no hard currency would inevitably lead to U.S. subsidies of
that trade, which we oppose on the same grounds.
But we believe that travel is different. Free travel to Cuba by all
Americans potentially could break the information embargo that the Castro
government has imposed for 43 years. Few things would have as salutary an effect
as the frequent visits of Cuban-Americans to the island. They can tell the truth
about living in the United States. That right and opportunity should be extended
to other Americans. The pressure for liberty they could build could change the
course of history.
President Bush offered the carrot of normalized relations with Cuba, but
only after Cuba has taken steps toward true democracy and economic reform. We
applaud his resolve and his endorsement of freedom and his good faith.
Realistically, the carrot offered today is unlikely to change Cuba's
dictatorship. However, it may enourage would-be successors to take democratic
steps. | 
