Cuba Libre IV: A Cuban Walesa Will Do Just Fine
Michael Landweber has rebutted my rebuttal using three basic arguments. They are:
1. If granted access, American business interests could coax the Castro regime into making incremental changes that benefit the Cuban people.
2. That leaving the embargo in place means doing nothing.
3. That Cuba is not the Soviet Union and we don’t even know if a Cuban Gorbachev exists.
Let’s take them in order. I’m a firm believer in the principle that the best indicator of future performance is past performance. Based on this line of thinking, I expect that American businesses operating in Cuba will no more coax the regime into moving toward its demise (that’s what we’re really asking of them isn’t it?) than Spanish businesses, Canadian businesses, British businesses, etc. For example, Spanish hoteliers happily assisted the Castro brothers by enforcing tourist apartheid at Cuba’s hotels and resorts for almost two decades. Cubans were not permitted to stay at such hotels, even if they had the money to do so.
You see the irony is that the regime’s capricious and arbitrary nature means that rather than having leverage to push for changes in Cuba, foreign enterprises have a vested interest in the status quo. Nobody wants to see their multimillion-dollar investments evaporate in an expropriation because they were perceived by the dictatorship as agitating on behalf of “counterrevolutionaries.” So Mr. Landweber’s “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em strategy” fails the test of common sense.
Mr. Landweber somehow misconstrues my support of continuing the embargo until Cuba makes significant changes as defeatism. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s been my experience that totalitarian dictatorships collapse under pressure, internal and external pressure. Gorki Aguila, the Cuban dissident punk rocker I mentioned in my earlier response to Mr. Landweber, was miraculously released by the regime on Friday and fined about $28 U.S. after being found guilty of a lesser charge of “disobedience”. Did a tourist intervene? Did the Spanish company Sol Melia or the Canadian Sherritt (both of which have extensive investments in Cuba) put in the good word? No, of course not. Gorki Aguila is out of jail today because of a global groundswell of grassroots support that arose thanks to the Internet. Raul Castro and his henchmen realized they had a public relations nightmare on their hands. For a regime that lives off propaganda the situation was turning disastrous.
You see we aren’t going to sweet talk Raul Castro, a man with blood on his hands, a man who ordered the shoot down of two American civilian aircraft over international waters in 1996, into becoming reasonable or into abandoning Marxism. The regime, as currently constituted, will never knowingly take steps toward its own demise which is why it only allows foreign participation in its economy in a very limited way in which it can maintain the maximum amount of social control.
So what is America to do? What can Americans do? We can help raise awareness of the Cuban reality. We start by countering Castroite propaganda and not repeating the myths of “free” Cuban healthcare and education (neither can be that great if people are literally dying to get away from it). We can stop perpetuating the falsehood that the United States is somehow responsible for the failure in Cuba of an economic system that has failed in every other country that has tried it.
How did Raul Castro come to the realization, earlier this year, that tourist Apartheid in Cuba had to end? The same way South African leaders came to the realization that the original Apartheid had to end, internal and external pressure. When the world’s attention was brought to the despicable state of affairs in South Africa, apartheid became an untenable policy for its government.
Rather than blaming the United States for Cuba’s sad state of affairs (which Mr. Landweber implies because he seems to think there are changes waiting to happen if only America would initiate them) he should join us in denouncing the injustices that happen in Castro’s Cuba. Rather than jump into bed with the oppressors we should be exposing the oppression.
Lastly I’ll add that of course Mr. Landweber is right in that the comparison of Cuba and the USSR is not a perfect analogy but there are similarities that can’t be overlooked. The fact is that Stalin or Khrushchev would not have made the changes the Soviet Union made during the 1980s . A changing of the guard needed to take place and the people had to live under the oppression until it was no longer sustainable in order for the cracks to appear in the facade. Yes, Ronald Reagan dealt with the Soviets, all the while building up the U.S. military and putting pressure on them. He supported dissidents and denounced Soviet communism for what it was, an evil empire. The Soviets were willing to concede some things, something that neither Castro the elder nor Castro the younger has been willing to do so far.
Mr. Landweber doubts whether there is a Gorbachev figure in Cuba. Perhaps he’s right. But one thing is certain, even many of Cuba’s Communist Party apparatchiks no longer believe Marxism-Leninism, as evidenced by the flight of many of their children to Europe and other countries in Latin America. They understand that the Castro brothers are rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. Mr. Landweber apparently wants to throw the regime a life preserver. Besides, we don’t need a Cuban Gorbachev. A Cuban Lech Walesa will do just fine.
Mr. Landweber and I agree that Americans are for the most part ignorant when it comes to Cuba. We can thank the accommodating mainstream media for that. Nevertheless its not too late for him to join us in fingering the real culprits in the Cuban tragedy and putting some of that external pressure on the dictators that have lorded over Cuba for half a century. But maybe that’s just more wishful thinking.
Henry Louis Gomez is Cuban American and is the managing editor of BabaluBlog.com
No related posts.
Businesses from the United States are active in Saudi Arabia, where they don’t try to change the political system there. Why should U.S. businesses insist on trying to change the political system in Cuba? Why not just go there and obey the laws as they do in Saudi Arabia, in China, or in Vietnam, and do business like other law-abiding foreign businesses do?
The real problem is that U.S. law doesn’t allow U.S. business to invest in Cuba. The Cubans are open to that, but U.S. law makes that impossible.
It’s time to normalize relations with Cuba.
Comment on September 1, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
Ah my day wouldn’t be complete without having the communist apologist Walter Lippmann stop by to spread his propaganda. Here’s why, to answer your question. Nobody consulted the Cuban to see if they were OK with their country being run an anti-democratic blood-thirsty thug. You are at the top of my F-U list for when the regime crumbles.
Comment on September 1, 2008 @ 1:34 pm
Thanks, Henry –
It’s always a pleasure to hear your cheerful voice. No one consulted the Cuban people when, on March 10, 1952, Fulgencio Batista abolished Cuba’s parliamentary democratic system and installed a military dictatorship on the island. Washington immediately recognized the Batista dictatorship.
One wonders why Henry, who has never been to Cuba, is so desperate to prevent the people of the United States from seeing the island for themselves?
This coming Saturday a U.S. soccer team will play in Cuba, for the first time since 1947. Too bad we can’t go and cheer the U.S. team on because that would be against U.S. law.
The Little Leaguers from Vermont didn’t get hurt, nor will the soccer players. What are you so afraid of, Henry? YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN TO CUBA.
MIAMI HERALD
U.S. will play in Cuba for first time since 1947
Posted on Mon, Sep. 01, 2008
By MICHELLE KAUFMAN
mkaufman@MiamiHerald.com
It’s still very early in the 2010 World Cup qualifying process, but already the U.S. faces an intriguing match as it heads to Havana to play Cuba on Saturday. It’s the first time the U.S. national team will play on the island since 1947, although a U.S. under-20 team did play there in 1991 during the Pan American Games.
The U.S. team is convening in Miami on Sunday, training Monday through Thursday at Barry University and then heading to Havana. The last time the U.S. played Cuba was the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and the U.S. won 4-1.
The U.S. team, coming off a 1-0 win over Guatemala, will be heavily favored against a Cuban squad that lost to Trinidad and Tobago.
U.S coach Bob Bradley called up 16 of the 20 players from the Guatemala game, led by captain Carlos Bocanegra, who scored the winning goal. He also invited six players from the Olympic team that played a few weeks ago in Beijing, including Sacha Kljestan, Maurice Edu, Michael Bradley (the coach’s son) and Michael Orozco, in his first international appearance. Orozco was ejected with a red card three minutes into the Olympic match against Nigeria and is eager to put that behind him.
Comment on September 1, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
Walter, why do you insist on talking about Batista? Does the fact that Batista was a dictator change the fact that Fidel Castro is a dictator? No, of course not. But that’s typical communist rhetoric to brand all opponents of Castro as Batistianos. I look forward to meeting you, in a free Cuba. Then I’ll be happy to share my thoughts with you up close and personal.
Comment on September 1, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
Dear Henry –
Your words to me were precise, and I responded to your words:
You said:
“Nobody consulted the Cuban to see if they were OK with their country being run an anti-democratic blood-thirsty thug. You are at the top of my F-U list for when the regime crumbles.”
I responded that Batista was a dictator, which he was. Fidel Castro is not a dictator. He’s stood aside from all government responsibilities and mostly writes and visits with friends these days.
Not all opponents of the Cuban Revolution are Batistianos, but Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart and others of that ilk ARE Batistianos. Check out what his father said about Batista. Remember, his dad was a member of the Batista regime from 1952-1958, the entire length of the illegal dictatorship’s tenure in office. If that doesn’t make him a Batistiano, I don’t know what does. I would say that the sons are chips off the old block, but perhaps you would not agree.
FROM THE FATHER’S TESTIMONY TO THE CONGRESS OF THE United States in 1960
(excerpt, link to full follows)
Mr. SOURWINE. Did you ever hold office under any President other than Batista?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, Sir.
Mr. SOURWINE. Were you, then, a pro-Batista Cuban? You were part of the Batista government?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes. I was pro-Batista before 1952, when the party that he founded-he called it a new party, and he called the Cuban youth to join that party in order to fight for order, for progress, and for stability of the Cuban country. And I liked those principles. I joined him in the opposition. I was the leader of the youth party in all the nation while we were in the opposition. And in 1952, when the coup d’etat took place-in 1952, 10th of March-I continued with Batista, because he promised to give the country progress and stability, and I was very much concerned with the terrible situation of my country before those years when the life, the human life didn’t have any value at all. And being a Christian, as I am, I have always thought that it is not possible to think in any other human principle in any country if you dont have before anything the guarantee of the human life, and of the human dignity.
Mr. SOURWINE. When did you leave the Batista government?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. I was elected in 1954 a congressman, and I continued within the government of Batista with very definite and peculiar point of view, as head of the youth movement. We were asking Batista in private and in public for honesty in the government, for progress, for stability, for free elections, and there is a matter of record, even in the U.S. magazine like Time, of that time, when we asked in a big rally of more than 80,000 young men and women all throughout the island headed by me, we asked Batista to have free elections.
FULL
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/us-cuba/diaz-balart.htm
Comment on September 2, 2008 @ 8:02 pm
It is so funny how similar Henry Gomez him self to Castro’s Regime. In Cuba if you dare to speak you mind agains the Goverment you are accused of a gusano (a Miami Cuban). In America, if you dare to differ with Henry Gomez you are acussed of been a pro Castro or a Castro apologist.
Do you wonder why are there so few people speaking up against the Embargo, especially Cubans? Well my people are living in Miami in many ways the same way they were living in Cuba. In the island under an oppressive Goverment. In Miami under an oppressive class that dictate what is alright to say or not to say in Free Miami. If you don’t believe melook at what happen to Rolando Beverra many years ago.
Comment on September 3, 2008 @ 7:29 am
Julio Calabaza,
That’s really funny. Except for one thing. When I denounce someone they don’t get thrown into prison. I’m a private citizen. As to whether or not Lippmann is a communist or an apologist for the regime, the reader needs only to google his name and read his writings.
Good day sir.
Comment on September 4, 2008 @ 1:19 pm
Henry Gomez is free to say what he likes. His opinions should be understood as those made by someone who has never in his life been to Cuba. Gomez constantly trumpets the opponents of the Cuban government inside the island, but now even they are calling for a temporary lifting of the US government restrictions:
sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sns-ap-cuba-us-gustav,0,3161081.story
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Cuban dissidents ask Bush to temporarily loosen US embargo to help hurricane victims
By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press Writer
1:30 PM EDT, September 4, 2008
Click here to find out more!
HAVANA (AP) _ Two prominent Cuban dissidents have asked U.S. President George W. Bush to temporarily loosen restrictions on travel and sending money to the communist-run island to help tens of thousands left homeless by Hurricane Gustav.
Marta Beatriz Roque and Vladimiro Roca signed a Spanish-language letter to Bush which they delivered to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana on Wednesday. Officials at the mission, which Washington maintains here instead of an embassy, said they passed it along to the White House.
The letter, sent by fax to foreign reporters on Thursday, asks Bush to lift restrictions on travel and money transfers to Cuba by Cuban exiles in the United States “for at least two months.”
“You know as well as we do that any family member abroad would like to have physical contact with those who are going through a difficult situation,” they wrote.
Gustav slammed into western Cuba with 140 mph (220 kph) winds on Saturday, ripping roofs off homes, leveling buildings, tossing trees, cars and power lines and crumpling electric towers.
About 100,000 homes nationwide were damaged, thousands beyond repair, and Fidel Castro suggested recovery could cost billions of dollars.
“Knowing how intransigent the Cuban government is about accepting help from your country … we ask that you permit American non-governmental organizations to help the region so as to soothe the suffering of its inhabitants,” the dissidents wrote.
Past hurricanes have served to soften the U.S. embargo, if indirectly.
In 2000, the U.S. Congress authorized direct sales of American food and farm products to the island. The communist government refused to import even one grain of rice for more than a year because of a dispute over financing, but finally agreed to take advantage of the law after Hurricane Michelle in November 2001 cut into its food stocks.
Today the United States is the island’s leading supplier of food.
Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother Fidel as president six months ago, has not asked for international aid, though Russian planes carrying tents, building materials and food landed in Cuba on Thursday.
Roque is a former government official who was among 75 political activists sentenced to prison in 2003 on charges of conspiring with U.S. officials to undermine Cuba’s communist system. She was subsequently conditionally released for medical reasons.
Roca is a former fighter pilot and son of a legendary communist leader who served nearly five years in prison for his political beliefs.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comment on September 5, 2008 @ 6:00 am
I think Julio Calabaza is a recent immigrant from Cuba who likely grew up hearing nothing but anti-U.S. and anti-Cuban exile propaganda from the Castro government. As you know, when you tell a big lie long enough, people will start to believe it. There are likely many in Cuba who think like him – disliking the Castros but suspicious about the exiles who left many years ago, who they have been told intend to return to Cuba, dispossess the natives, and recreate their privileged lifestyles at the expense of the Cuban majority.
I don’t see how that can be done, when most of those who left Cuba in the late 50s and early 60s as adults, the ones who supposedly benefited from the Batista regime, are dead.
I would like to add that any exiles who are filled with bitterness and hatred toward the Castros and anyone else in Cuba you are estranged from should let it go. By holding onto them, you are not only being self-destructive but giving the Castros and others a victory over you. Do the Christian thing and take that victory away by forgiving them. God bless you.
Comment on September 5, 2008 @ 9:17 am