So long, Castro
Relations with Cuba still need work
By Amanda Moucha
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Illness and old age did what nearly half a century of U.S. policy toward Cuba could not – remove Fidel Castro, 81, from office.
After 49 years of ruling Cuba with an iron fist, outlasting nine U.S. presidents, Castro has formally stepped down as president and head of Cuba’s armed forces.
Don’t be fooled though; there will be no election to determine his successor. Tyrannical power is a family affair and Castro’s brother, Raul, 76, will take permanent control of the country. Raul has already run Cuba for 19 months, when Castro withdrew from the public eye in July 2006.
Little has changed during this time. Free speech is still suppressed, democracy is crushed, freedom of the press is circumscribed, free enterprise is illegal, fair trials are a fool’s dream, religious freedom is restricted, racism runs rampant, and the prospect for change is nonexistent.
The United States plays the most important role in speaking out against Cuba. Since the early 1900s, the U.S. government has tried to preserve a “good neighbor” name to Latin America, acting continuously as the observer of well-being.
However, our attempts to affect Cuba’s political stability, since the beginning of Castro’s rule in 1959, have been incredibly unsuccessful.
The Cuban Revolution of 1959 became an interruption of the political reconciliation which the U.S. had begun. After the revolution, Castro adopted a socialist government, changing the tone of U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba.
Positive measures to persuade Cuba back to its intended plans for democracy included the U.S. interfering with commercial trade between Cuba and the rest of the world, giving political asylum to Cuban peoples who desired to leave (though recently such privilege has been denied to Cubans,) applied diplomatic pressure, and most recently, tightened the 35-year economic embargo.
It would be fruitless for the United States to make concessions with the Cuban government now. Even without access to U.S. markets and investments, there are many steps that need to be taken to improve economic and political conditions within Cuban, including:
Adopting free-market policies that include a reform of Cuba’s constitution and passage of laws to abolish all legal prohibition of private enterprise and property ownership
Holding democratic elections in a politically pluralist society, where the Communist party must compete with democratic organizations and political parties
Freeing all political prisoners currently in Cuban jails
Disbanding the Interior Ministry’s security police and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, which function as thought-control police and spies in every Cuban neighborhood
Eliminating the Marxist political doctrine, which is central in the education system
If members of the pro-Castro camp are so fixated on dropping the embargo, why can’t they admit that these things need to happen?
Without these steps, lifting the embargo would only assure a continued repression of the Cuban people. These demands are not blackmail but a democratic challenge to the Cuban government.
Those who advocate lifting the embargo are violating a commitment to democracy and the individual’s right to self-determination. Castro is a ruthless dictator, and a danger to all democratic nations and his brother will be no different.
The embargo is not unwarranted; it is a legitimate instrument for achieving the goal of a free and democratic Cuba.
The United States cannot abandon the Cuban people by relaxing or lifting the trade embargo against the communist regime. Instead, the U.S. government must reject all pressures to ease the embargo until all the objectives for which it was imposed are achieved.
Anything less would constitute an unacceptable breach of faith with the Cuban people, who today are the very few left in the world who suffer the brutality of a communist dictatorship.
> Comments
Johanan Raatz on Mar 03, 2008 at 10:27 AM:
Too bad he wasn't taken out beforehand. Before he killed all of those innocent people to quash ideological or religious views he didn't like, or before he was allowed take poor little Elian Gonzalez back to his island paradise that everyone is trying to flee from.
Daniel on Mar 03, 2008 at 08:48 PM:
You have displayed no respect for democracy in your own piece. Capitalism and democracy are not synonymous and your suggested removal of Marxist doctrine and implementation of free markets is completely contradictory so your so-called worry for democracy for the Cuban people.
There's a reason why the United States has been the leader of aggression towards Cuba--the rest of the world minus Israel has condemned the embargo.
Raul Castro just signed a treaty with the UN promising many more civil liberties to the CUban people.
But beside that point, you are wrong about racism in Cuba compared to that of the U.S.
Cubans are way better off than any U.S. puppet state in the area. Why aren;t you writing about the condition of people in Haiti or Honduras or another Caribbean/Central American state blessed with free market capitalism? Why has South America rejected the Free Trade of the America's Agreement?
Johanan Raatz on Mar 04, 2008 at 08:00 AM:
and your suggested removal of Marxist doctrine and implementation of free markets is completely contradictory so your so-called worry for democracy for the Cuban people.
If you didn't notice I didn't mention anything about democracy in Cuba. Now people should be allowed to be Marxist, however Marxism is inherently undemocratic in that it restricts individual freedoms to own private property.
"But beside that point, you are wrong about racism in Cuba compared to that of the U.S."
You need your eyes checked because I didn't mention anything about racism in Cuba compared to the US either. Racism in the US is mostly gone. Now the really salient issue though is what kind of religious and ideological freedoms the people in Cuba have compared to the US.
Among a number of Castro's other crimes against humanity people in Castro's island paradise are persecuted for their religious beliefs.
http://tokatakiya.blogspot.com/2006/10/why-i-hate-fidel-castro.html
Frankly Castro should be air striked into oblivion for what he's done. As for his mass murdering (and popular) henchman Che Guevara I think that the CIA and the Bolivian Army hadn't had him summarily executed soon enough. They could have prevented a lot of terrorism and killings if they took him out earlier.
"There's a reason why the United States has been the leader of aggression towards Cuba--the rest of the world minus Israel has condemned the embargo."
The embargo is necessary to put pressure on Cuba to give up it's communist totalitarianism.
"Raul Castro just signed a treaty with the UN promising many more civil liberties to the CUban people."
Well that's good. Now let's hope that it's worth the paper it's signed on.
"Cubans are way better off than any U.S. puppet state in the area."
Not really. If you compare Pinochet to Castro under Castro's regime there are far fewer rights and freedoms. Read about the Kirkpatrick doctrine we usually support authoritarian regimes over totalitarian ones. Castro's regime was totalitarian Pinochet's was only authoritarian. Furthermore under Castro's regime a lot of innocent people were brutally killed. Now granted under Pinochet alot of people were also brutally killed or dissappeared but a great many of these were terrorists and not average citizens.
"Why aren;t you writing about the condition of people in Haiti or Honduras or another Caribbean/Central American state blessed with free market capitalism?"
Good idea, maybe I will. I've seen a number of articles praising Castro's regime. Perhaps I should write one praising Pinochet's or Fujimori's (BTW Fujimori was a UWM grad) regime. Afterall it would be far less radical.
"Why has South America rejected the Free Trade of the America's Agreement?"
Because it hasn't been liberated yet.
Johanan Raatz on Mar 04, 2008 at 08:04 AM:
Daniel, For some strange reason I thought your post was to my comment. It wasn't, but it's good to read anyway.
Nathan Johnson on Mar 04, 2008 at 08:44 PM:
"Socialist democracy is not a luxury but an absolute, essential necessity for overthrowing capitalism and building socialism...
It is an absolutely essential precondition for making a victorious revolution which will lead to a classless society."
Ernest Mandel http://www.socialistaction.org/vanguard.htm
Patsy on Mar 05, 2008 at 10:53 AM:
Hey Daniel if you like cuba so much, move there, and leave our country the hell alone. we kinda like it the way it is.