Cuba. To some, it’s just a Caribbean island to which they can’t travel. To others, it stands for haunting memories of oppression and destitution. And for some, it carries the romance of successful political revolution, albeit with an extremely poor aftertaste. Either way, Cuba remains a hot-button issue in U.S. politics, and it just went up in temperature.
Despite being a short, ramshackle raft-ride away, travel to (and, essentially, contact with) our Caribbean neighbor has been outlawed since 1963, when President John F. Kennedy enforced a trade embargo during the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Democracy Act reinforced the denial of any type of economic dealing with Cuba, including tourism, with the intention of strangling the presumed dictatorial regime of the infamous Fidel Castro into submission. Food and medicine could still be sent to the ailing populace in the form of aid, and financial institutions could loan money to encourage infrastructure growth, but for the most part, the United States cut off all ties with Cuba until free elections were held under the watch of the international community.
There is a growing movement in Washington, however, that seems ready to change that. On March 31, a group of Senate Democrats and supporters unveiled a bill with the intention of removing the trade and travel restrictions on Cuba, in order to re-open diplomatic and economic relations with the country. And just yesterday, President Obama lifted restrictions barring Cuban-Americans from visiting and sending money to their Cuban relatives. These policy shifts have, of course, drawn some ire from the other side of the table.
In particular, Cuban-Americans, whom frequently vote along Republican party lines, have been opposed to dropping the embargo. Sen. Mel Martinez, a native of Cuba, is among the opposition, saying that “having tourists on Cuban beaches is not going to achieve democratic change in Cuba.”
Those on the other side claim that cutting off all ties with Cuba isn’t doing anything to further democracy in Cuba, either. Upon retuning from her fact-finding visit to Cuba to see if the country would be open to reestablishing diplomatic relations, Democratic House Rep. Barbara Lee brought up the point that “We have to remember that every country in Latin America, 15 countries, have normal relations with Cuba; we’re the country which is isolated.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said less than a year ago that she had no confidence in the embargo: “I don’t think it’s been successful, and I think we have to remove the travel bans and have more exchanges – people-to-people exchanges – with Cuba.” Republican senators, on the other hand, claim the Castro regime is in no way deserving of this “forgive and forget” attitude the bill exhibits, saying that once Raul Castro releases his political prisoners and shows more tolerance for freedom of speech and human rights, then we’ll talk.
So who is right? Well, both are. Sort of. The Democrats are right in saying that the embargo isn’t working, especially taking into account what Lee said about the entirety of South America being more than happy to help Raul’s regime along. At the same time, Republicans are certainly right that tourism will in no way encourage change in Cuba. Think of the average American tourist: Do you really want him or her to be our first major diplomatic envoy in 40 years? Bringing back the “enclave tourism” of old is not a solution, especially if the old prevision of interaction with the average Cuban citizen being illegal is still upheld.
The Republicans’ argument has far more going for it at this point. Yes, the position of keeping the embargo into the future is inadvisable, but Raul Castro has made it clear he plans on upholding the proud tradition of his brother’s “repressive machinery,” as Human Rights Watch has called it. When the average citizen can’t say, “you know, maybe our glorious leader isn’t doing such a great job,” without the threat of being imprisoned for life, that’s not a country I want to patronize.
The right part in this debate is the idea of opening diplomatic relations with Cuba again. Simply ignoring Cuba and hoping the Castro regime would collapse under its own weight was wishful thinking. But we are far from ready to become buddies with Cuba. Talking, trying to reach an accord and encouraging the release of power to its people are far better paths to take.
Until basic human freedoms and rights are returned to its people, and those imprisoned for desiring those freedoms are released, the last thing we should be doing is sitting on a beach sipping mai tais and ignoring the plight of the people around us.
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