fidel - 1 : US - 0
by Sandra Kinne
Published: February 23, 2008
In March 2004, thanks to an academic license and a semester-long course in graduate school, I spent a week in Havana with two dozen classmates and administrators from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
As I talk about in “90 miles,” Cuba is a paradox of an island nation. It is both beautiful and depressing. Its people are hopeful yet beaten. It is a developing nation but with no means by which to develop. Cuba is 90 miles south of Miami, yet it is world away.
Most Americans, including our policymakers, do not know what Cuba is really like. They only know what they read in State Department reports or hear in sound bites. Books and pictures offer most American’s only images of Cuba. Our nearest Southern neighbor is the most foreign to us. This is because of a very restrictive travel ban and a 46 year embargo, our country’s longest, most-failed policy.
Politicians, often pandering to a small population of Miami voters, stick to the status quo of supporting the embargo and trade restrictions. George W. Bush, in May 2004, tightened already-severe travel restrictions to Cuba. Though just three months earlier, in February 2004, he lifted the travel ban to Libya. That’s right; the U.S. State Department considers travel to Libya safer than travel to Cuba. Oh, and it’s also legal. Get caught coming back from Cuba through Mexico or Canada, and you face “civil penalties and criminal prosecution,” according to the State Department’s website.
Until today’s resignation by Fidel Castro, none of the leading candidates advocated for an end to the embargo. Chris Dodd and Dennis Kucinich have long-called for an end to the embargo, but they’re no longer running. Hillary Clinton not only doesn’t support ending the embargo, she supports George W. Bush’s policies limiting travel to the island for family emergencies only. Barack Obama, in an op-ed in the Miami Herald last August, called for an end for travel and remittance restrictions. According to an online article Tuesday, in light of Castro’s official relinquish of power, Obama is now calling for an end to the embargo.
Cuba is closer to the United States than Albany is to New York City; than Los Angeles is to San Diego; than Houston to Austin; than Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. Yet, we can’t travel to Cuba. Travel restrictions only keep families from one another. Travel restrictions have kept Cubans from knowing Americans. Travel restrictions have kept Americans from knowing Cuba. Travel restrictions have kept democracy from the island. Travel restrictions have kept people 90 miles apart.
Much of this is due to the pressure from Cuban-Americans, notably those in Miami. Often Republican voters, they try to dictate both parties’ policy and perspectives on Cuba. From their disappointment over the failure of 1961’s Bay of Pigs invasion to the initial handling and final decision over Élian Gonzalez in 2000, the small Cuban-American community has had a large voice in 10 administrations’ policy toward their homeland. Arguing dollars spent and goods sent to Cuba end up in Castro’s control, many Cuban immigrants and older, displaced Cubans view the embargo as the best way to force Castro from power and bring democracy to the island. Well, at least they did. Not sure how they’ll feel after today’s news.
In March 2004, while at a lunch with recognized diplomats, a representative from the Dutch Embassy in Cuba, said, “Cubans may not be able to elect their own president, but they can elect the United States President.” He was referring to the 2000 Presidential election and the increasing influence of Cuban-Americans in Miami, but he could have been referring to the last 46 years of a failed policy. The influence this small group, less than .5% of the US population, has had on policy toward Cuba is amazing. If only we could get that kind of pressure for an embargo on “reality television” or any CD by someone who was on American Idol.
The embargo has failed. It has not led to a revolution; it has lead to Third World conditions in a nation with great need. The travel ban has been counter-productive. Instead of allowing American citizens the opportunity to spread democracy - be in the form of dollars, information, or our mere presence in the country - 10 administrations have enforced the same policy. The embargo and travel ban have failed; not because they have reduced Cubans to a state of destitution but because they have reduced Cubans to a state of destitution and not led to a revolution.
With today’s departure of Castro as the official leader of Cuba, Cubans have the first real opportunity in a half-century to create change for themselves. The United States can, and should help, by lifting the embargo. By leaving on his own terms, Castro won; let’s not let his successor do the same.
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