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Posted on Thu, Sep. 12, 2002 in
The Miami Herald.
Vicki Huddleston did a fine job
There were clear signs that Vicki Huddleston, chief of the U.S. Interests
Section in Havana until last Friday, did a good job: Time and again she angered
the Cuban government. That's because, in her three years there, Ms. Huddleston
supported dissidents, reached out to ordinary Cubans and was a vocal critic of
the repressive regime. She performed her job with a style and humor that was
difficult to deflect or belittle.
Nothing fazed her -- not even getting kicked out of Cuba's Afghan hound
kennel club, along with her prized hound. After she protested to the foreign
press, the club apologized -- to the hound. ''It's a dog-eat-dog world out
there,'' Ms. Huddleston said. "Besides, I'm always in the doghouse here.''
Ms. Huddleston became more proactive under the Bush administration and its
unabashedly anti-Castro, pro-transition policy. Called the ''radio ambassador''
by many Cubans, Ms. Huddleston handed out thousands of small short-wave radios
to everyone from rural campesinos to guests at her Fourth of July party. The
radios are far more than symbols of free speech and ideas; they are a practical
means of allowing Cubans access to something other than state-run media, be it
Radio Martí, the BBC or myriad alternatives.
Had she been able to, she also might have supplied Cubans with the Internet
access they are almost completely denied. She did, however, supply independent
libraries, ordinary individuals, human-rights activists, independent journalists
and independent clinics, unions and cooperatives with tens of thousands of books
and magazines. In the process she encouraged freedom and civil society -- and
raised their profile outside the island.
At the same time, Ms. Huddleston recognized that Cuban Americans have an
important role to play in reconciliation and a better future for Cuba. ''I don't
think that the transition will be peaceful or prosperous without them,'' she
said.
A career foreign-service officer, Ms. Huddleston took on a tough diplomatic
job and made it look easy.
We offer thanks and appreciation for her constant efforts to free Cuba from
tyranny. | 
