May 23, 2001. Chicago Tribune.
With the introduction last week of the Cuban Solidarity Act of 2001, Sen.
Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations--and a
veritable geyser of bad policy ideas with regard to Cuba--may have outdone
himself. No matter how large the federal surplus eventually turns out to be, it
couldn't possibly be large enough to justify this waste of $100 million of
public money.
Helms' bill would underwrite dissidents in Cuba and supply them with all
their needs, from crackers to cellular phones. According to a press release,
recipients "may include prisoners (and family members), persecuted
dissidents or repatriated persons, workers' rights activists" and anyone
else working to overthrow Castro.
He described the package as a "blueprint for a more vigorous U.S.
policy to liberate the enslaved island of Cuba," and compared it to the
American support for the independent labor movement in Poland in the 1980s.
The Cuban-American National Foundation, the largest and best financed of the
anti-Castro organizations in this country, quickly endorsed Helms' package. Most
analysts suspect the foundation came up with the idea and the senator--co-author
of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act and implacable foe of Castro--was only too happy to
oblige.
But if piercing Cuba's isolation is what the senator seeks, there is a far
cheaper and faster way: Lift the ban on Americans traveling to the island. Then
just stand back and watch.
A stampede of hundreds of thousands of tourists would gladly bring the
books, videos, magazines and other subversive materials that Helms wants to
smuggle into Cuba. More dangerous still for Castro's regime, these blabby
gringos will bring tales of life outside, including news that the 1960 Fairlane
was not the last model car manufactured by Ford.
Best of all, the tourists will do it all at their own expense, in exchange
for a sunburn, cheap rum drinks and enough renditions of "Guantanamera"
to make anyone swear off Caribbean vacations.
In reality, of course, there is no way that Helms or anyone else can hope to
filter $25 million a year into Cuba for the next four years. Most likely, very
nearly all of this windfall will go to the anti-Castro groups in Miami rather
than to any starving dissidents in the island.
In Cuba, leading dissident figure Elizardo Sanchez already has said "No
thanks!" to American money. The perception of being on the payroll of the
U.S., he said, would be the end of his credibility. Any outside subsidies also
would only give Castro a ready-made justification to tighten the vise around any
dissent groups.
American support of Poland's Solidarity movement came after Lech Walesa had
already established himself as an opposition leader and tens of thousands had
joined his independent union.
U.S. money did not create Solidarity and it's not likely to ignite an
opposition movement in Cuba or anywhere else. That is more likely to occur when
the U.S. ends the isolation of Cuba, Cubans see some political and economic
alternatives--and then go for them. | 