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Dissidents say it's time
to open talks
With Fidel Castro in
failing health, his critics see an opening
to thaw relations with the U.S.
By David Adams, Times Latin
America Correspondent. Published December
18, 2006 on the St.
Petersburg Times.
HAVANA - Former Cuban diplomat and economist
Oscar Espinosa has fought a 14-year battle
with the Cuban government. He was only recently
released from jail for his dissident writings.
But these days Espinosa's beef is as much
with the United States government as it
is with Havana's communist authorities.
"It's absurd what the Americans are
doing," he said during a long interview
in the small Havana apartment, stuffed with
books where he lives with his wife and fellow
dissident, Miriam Leiva.
"There's no room for extremism. What
we need is to create space for dialogue."
He was referring to the widely condemned
U.S. embargo against Cuba and to additional
restrictions imposed by the Bush administration
in 2004 limiting family travel to the island
by Cuban-Americans, as well as cash remittances
sent to relatives.
Dramatic recent events in Havana and Washington
are causing Cubans, both on the island and
in exile, to question U.S. policy more loudly
than ever. Four months after Cuban leader
Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power due
to illness, his recovery seems ever more
doubtful.
Many Cubans would like to see Washington
explore a different approach with the collective
leadership emerging under Castro's younger
brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro.
Those Cubans are also hoping that current
U.S. policy toward Cuba might soften in
the new Democratic controlled Congress.
A 10-member congressional delegation, led
by prominent critics of the U.S. embargo,
returned from a three-day trip to Cuba on
Sunday as part of an effort to explore ways
of opening negotiations with Havana's new
leaders.
Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass, said Sunday
that the lawmakers' visit "underscores
the desire for a change in policy that we
believe is embraced by most Americans."
Since taking the helm, Raul Castro has
twice expressed Cuba's willingness to begin
talks to normalize relations with the United
States.
Each overture was rejected by the State
Department, which says it will only talk
when Cuba opens democratically and begins
a dialogue "with the Cuban people."
Cuban dissidents complain that Washington
is not only missing out on a historic opportunity,
but is ignoring domestic opinion.
A Gallup poll this month found that 67
percent of Americans favor restoring diplomatic
relations with Cuba.
Even before Castro's illness, Cuban-Americans
had been showing signs of weariness with
the embargo. Miami's three hard-line Cuban-American
members of Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
Lincoln Diaz-Balart and his brother Mario
Diaz-Balart, were comfortably re-elected
in November, but with reduced majorities.
When two of the three members recently
appeared on a popular Spanish-language TV
show in Miami to defend the travel measures,
they were visibly embarrassed when a telephone
poll of viewers came out 57 percent against
the policy.
Earlier this month an umbrella group of
Cuban exile organizations in Miami echoed
the call for easing restrictions on travel
and remittances. Consenso Cubano issued
a report saying that the policy "violated
fundamental rights of Cubans, damages the
Cuban family, and constitutes ethical contradictions."
Perhaps most significant, the report was
backed by the Cuban American National Foundation,
for many years the political powerhouse
for Cuban exiles.
"Isolating people has never brought
about political transition," said Carlos
Saladrigas, a Cuban-American banker and
co-chairman of the Cuba Study Group, a member
of Consenso Cubano. "How can the administration
call for Cuba to start a dialogue with the
Cuban people if we can't even travel there?"
Four prominent dissidents signed a statement
late last month asking the United States
to lift its travel restrictions, which allow
Cuban Americans to visit family members
only once every three years. U.S. laws "in
no way help" their struggle, they said.
The four also questioned the effectiveness
of U.S. aid programs designed to assist
dissidents. Their statement followed a congressional
report by the General Accounting Office
that lambasted the program's lax controls
and wasteful spending.
The dissidents said they hoped easing travel
restrictions would make the aid flow better,
adding that they need foreign financial
help to overcome harassment in Cuba, which
usually includes loss of employment.
But dissidents say the issue of aid pales
compared to the search for political solutions
to end the conflict with the United States.
"Without Fidel, we have to look at
Cuba with a more open mind," said Vladimiro
Roca, another dissident who has served jail
time. Raul Castro deserves credit as "a
very organized person" who capably
led the Defense Ministry, which Roca described
as "the most organized and efficient
institution" in Cuba. "He has
always had good advisers and he listens
to advice," he added.
Espinosa and Roca agreed that the United
States should carefully study Raul Castro's
offer of negotiations. "He made a positive
proposal," said Roca, the son of a
Communist Party leader. "It deserved
a better answer."
While the dissidents have no fondness for
the Cuban communist system, besides a firm
belief in the social gains of free education
and health, they nonetheless argue that
it is foolish to advocate sudden, wholesale
political change in Cuba.
Instead, they expect very gradual change,
beginning with an economic opening similar
to the Chinese model. As evidence, they
point to a weekly TV show, Mirando China
Looking at China, running on Cuban state
television. The Chinese broadcast with subtitles
showcases the achievements of China's burgeoning
market economy, complete with glittering
high-rises and streets choked with new cars.
"Raul and Fidel are different personalities
so their style of leadership will be different,"
Roca said. "I don't know if it will
be better or worse. We must let him work
and then we'll see."
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