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Surer
footing on Cuba
Palm
Beach Post Editorial.
Saturday, August 16, 2003.
The wet-foot/dry-foot Cuba policy has created
an equally crazy corollary that can be termed
the Wet Tarp Rule. Five Cubans caught trying to
land in Palm Beach County were stuck on a Coast
Guard vessel's deck, huddled under a tarp to escape
Wednesday night's storms. They couldn't come ashore
-- where dry feet would mean sanctuary -- and
security concerns kept them from going below.
President Clinton invented the wet-foot rule
after the 1994 refugee exodus. Like him, President
Bush juggles the need to protect Florida's coastline
and the special treatment the Cuban-American voting
bloc demands for Cuban refugees. Some Cuban-American
lawmakers this week lambasted President Bush for
shading toward protection. The steps they demand
that Mr. Bush take are, in most cases, a continuation
of the act-tough policy that has failed for more
than 40 years.
They were incensed that Mr. Bush returned 12
men who hijacked a government boat. Castro's courts
freed half but sent the other six to prison for
up to 10 years. In returning the men, Mr. Bush
signaled that hijackers are not welcome. Any other
decision would have encouraged Cubans to commandeer
boats and planes -- an intolerable policy, particularly
after 9/11.
For those who don't resort to hijacking, the
wet-foot/dry-foot policy remains glaringly arbitrary,
as highlighted by the recent forced repatriation
of a dozen Cubans intercepted aboard a vintage
truck converted into a boat. Ideally, the U.S.
-- as with other nationalities -- would return
all Cubans who can't prove that they face imminent
danger from political persecution at home. The
other broad option -- to admit all Cubans whether
they reach shore (dry foot) or are intercepted
at sea (wet foot) -- would encourage the kind
of influx that has taxed Florida in the past.
Taking all comers also would let the steam out
of opposition within Cuba.
Cuban-Americans also are pressing President Bush
to resist efforts to ease travel and trade restrictions.
And they want him to indict Castro and send more
aid to dissidents in Cuba. Such aid is the most
defensible request, but even that runs the risk
of letting Castro avoid responsibility for his
failures by blaming the Yankee monster.
Over time, trade and diplomatic contact have
softened other communist dictatorships. President
Bush should take the same approach to Cuba.
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