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Appeasing Castro prolongs
tyranny
By Peter Brookes. Boston
Herald, July 19, 2005.
Last Thursday, the French embassy in Havana
decided to invite Fidel Castro's communist
cronies over to help celebrate Bastille
Day.
Shamefully, they expressly didn't invite
any of Cuba's dissidents: France had promised
to turn a cold shoulder to democracy activists
struggling to free themselves from their
own (island) prison.
So much for liberte, egalite and fraternite.
But it's not just the French who have decided
to play along with Cuba's horrendous human-rights
practices; the European Union as a whole
has caved to Cuba's caudillo, Fidel Castro.
Back in 1996, the EU adopted a "Common
Position'' on Cuba, with the avowed goal
of promoting democracy, respect for human
rights and improvement in the often-dismal
living conditions for the Cuban people.
But the EU has shifted to appeasing Castro
on these issues.
It started in March 2003, when Fidel threw
75 nonviolent democracy dissidents into
jail. The next month, the EU slapped Cuba
with economic sanctions, lowered the level
of diplomatic contact and put regime opponents
on the A-list for embassy parties. In response,
Havana suspended relations with the EU.
The diplomatic chill lasted nearly 18 months.
Then, last November, Havana threw a bone
to the EU by releasing 14 of the 75 political
prisoners for "humanitarian reasons.''
That first hint of a Cuban concession was
enough for Spain's socialist Prime Minister
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who convinced
the EU to cave, ending sanctions for a trial
period. By January, the two sides had restored
full diplomatic relations.
The EU also agreed to stop inviting dissidents
to national celebrations. The claim was
that ending the practice would advance "constructive
dialogue'' with the regime.
So how did Cuba express a "constructive
dialogue?''
In May, Cuban security services arrested
and deported lawmakers and journalists from
Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Czech
Republic who had traveled to Cuba to attend
a dissident rally.
The EU's response?
Shockingly, the EU's Council of Foreign
Ministers agreed to extend the suspension
of the sanctions until at least next June.
That is, even as it admitted that Cuba's
government had made "no satisfactory
progress on human rights,'' the EU opted
for more diplomatic happy talk.
The EU council also tried to extend the
ban on dissidents at embassy functions,
but Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the Czech
Republic all objected strongly. The issue
was ultimately left up to each country's
discretion.
All this undermines EU's much-touted moral
authority. That's especially offensive to
the many Europeans who lived for decades
with the threat - or under the repressive
yoke - of communism.
Vaclav Havel - the post-Cold War Czech president
- urged the EU to support Cuba's dissidents.
Havel wrote earlier this year that the EU
must "defend its freedoms and values,
and not abandon them'' by aligning with
dictators or forgetting "their experience
with totalitarian regimes.''
He's right. Cuba's 11 million people deserve
better. An estimated 300-plus political
prisoners languish in Cuban jails.
The U.S. State Department's 2004 Report
of Human Rights Practices says Cuba is a
"totalitarian state.''
With El Presidente nearing 80 years of age,
it's time to start thinking about the post-Castro
era.
One hundred and three years after independence,
Cuba still isn't "free.'' Instead of
struggling under colonialism, it is has
been crippled by Castro for 46 years.
The United States is already in touch with
the island's political opposition. It makes
sense for the EU to fully engage - and encourage
- regime opponents, rather than pander to
the failed Castro regime.
One day, a Cuban Vaclav Havel may lead a
new Cuba. But if the EU continues to placate
Castro's grip on the island, Cuba Libre
may never become more than a slogan.
Copyright by the Boston
Herald and Herald Media.
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