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Castro gouges his people
Palm
Beach Post Editorial,
November 03, 2004.
Old tyrants don't die soon enough. They
just fall, hurt themselves and then inflict
more pain on their people.
Fidel Castro broke an arm and leg last
month in a much-publicized tumble. He recovered
quickly enough to take it out on the Cuban
people, announcing a new policy that makes
it illegal to use U.S. dollars and requires
a 10 percent charge to convert them into
pesos. Rising oil prices and tighter U.S.
sanctions have worsened Cuba's chronic economic
problems. Unable to provide real solutions,
Castro turns to retaliatory measures. As
always, the people take the real fall.
Cuban-Americans, many of them in Florida,
send about $1 billion each year to relatives
and friends on the island, making remittances
the strongest segment of an economy that
has remained in perpetual crisis since Castro
took power. The new policy will take money
out of the pockets of Cubans and add more
hardship to lives that already are hard
enough. Castro legalized the dollar a decade
ago, and Cubans' buying power rose. Items
that once were unattainable - appliances,
quality clothing and food, in particular
- found their way into households of people
who were neither elite nor tied to Castro's
political machinery. In real and symbolic
terms, the dollar has meant freedom for
many Cubans.
The Bush administration's decision to impose
more trade and travel restrictions on Cuba
has already depressed standards of living,
and the ban on the dollar will make matters
worse. At long last, Castro and the U.S.
government appear to have found common ground
in their determination to deny Cubans a
better life. Instead of a progressive approach
that would empower the people and prepare
them for what comes after Castro, President
Bush embraces Cold War tactics. Oppression
from the tyrant is expected. But from the
U.S. government?
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