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Lula's
missed chance
Region's leaders should call for Cuba's freedom
Posted on Tue, Sep. 30, 2003 in
The
Miami Herald.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da
Silva, who inherited numerous problems, has done
a fine job managing tough domestic issues while
satisfying international creditors. But he fumbled
badly on his visit to Cuba last weekend. A regional
leader must also exercise moral authority, and
Mr. da Silva failed to do that. He ignored the
human-rights abuses and political prisoners of
Cuba's repressive dictatorship even while rewarding
the regime with $200 million in business.
Once a radical leftist and a union leader, Mr.
da Silva is an old friend of Fidel Castro. But
in an interview in The Washington Post last November,
Mr. da Silva's position on Cuba was crystal clear:
''Let's not confuse the passion that my generation
has for the Cuban revolution and what it represented
then with any approval of the Cuban regime today,''
he said. ''I defend religious freedom, cultural
freedom, freedom for trade unions and political
freedom.'' Those words came before Cuba's repressive
crackdown this spring. Still, Mr. da Silva declined
to meet with Cuba's dissidents or to take up the
cause of its political prisoners. He didn't even
recognize fellow labor activists who struggle
against a regime that outlaws unions independent
of the government. Instead Mr. da Silva used the
tired, oft repeated excuse in Latin America that
he doesn't opine on the "internal political
conditions of other countries.''
What a cop-out. The Organization of American
States promotes human rights and democracy, so
why should the region's only remaning dictator
get a pass?
Moral integrity demands that Mr. da Silva, and
other regional leaders, follow Mexico's lead and
call for basic freedoms for Cuba's oppressed people.
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