Obamas Cuban Detente wsj ~ December 17, 2014 The Cuban government finally released American Alan Gross from prison on Wednesday after five harsh years, and what a haul Raul and Fidel Castro received in return: The release and repatriation of three of their spies serving life sentences in the U.S., plus the start of an American diplomatic and economic embrace that they have long sought. Mr. Obama hailed these steps as historic, adding that his goal is nothing less than to begin to normalize relations between our two countries. In his familiar claim to superior wisdom, he assailed the outdated U.S. diplomatic and trade embargo and claimed that through a policy of engagement we can more effectively stand up for our values and help the Cuban people help themselves as they move into the 21st century. We should stipulate that 20 years ago these columns called for lifting the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. We did so to assist the impoverished Cuban people and perhaps undermine the regime. But we also stressed that no U.S officials have to dignify Castros regime by sitting down at a negotiating table with Cuban officials: The whole point is to continue to oppose Castros government while allowing succor for Cubas people. Mr. Obamas approach will provide immediate succor to the Castro government in the hope of eventually helping the Cuban people. Taken on its own the prisoner swap is defensible. Mr. Gross is 65 years old and ailing after being arrested in 2009 for providing satellite equipment to Cubas small Jewish community as a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development. He should not have had to die in a Cuban dungeon. The Castros also released a Cuban who had spied for the U.S. and had been in prison for nearly 20 years. This is a welcome case of rescuing one of our own. The Cuban government also agreed to release 53 of its political prisoners, many at U.S. request. The three Cubans the U.S. released in turn were convicted in U.S. criminal court of spying on America, but they at least served 16 years. The problem is that wrapping the prisoner swap into a larger policy shift makes it look like Cubas hostage-taking of Mr. Gross paid off. All the more so because Mr. Obama is going out of his way to give formal U.S. recognition to the Castro government that remains one of the worlds most tyrannical. The benefits for the regime from this new era are obvious. Cuba is starved for cash, and its main patron in Venezuela is teetering as oil prices fall. The country desperately needs hard currency, which is the main reason it exports its doctors to work abroad. So the dictatorship will cheer Mr. Obamas decision to allow greater dollar remittances to the island, as well as more opportunities for Americans to travel and invest in humanitarian projects and information technology, among other things. Only Congress can fully lift the trade embargo, but with Mr. Obamas many new loopholes, creative investors will find ways to gradually break it down. Keep in mind that the regime confiscates every dollar spent in Cuba now, while paying its workers in near-worthless pesos. The White House press release did not say that will change. Mr. Obama is also giving U.S. companies more freedom to export telecom equipment to the island, in the name of giving ordinary Cubans the tools to communicate with the outside world. But other countries can already supply Cubas telecom needs. The problem is that Cubas police state bars private ownership and limits and monitors private communication. The President is betting that U.S. investment will create more free space for average Cubans and eventually overwhelm the dictatorship. We hope it does, but also consider the fate of Stephen Purvis, a British real-estate developer in Cuba who was abruptly imprisoned in 2012 on dubious charges of revealing state secrets. He spent 16 months in a Cuban jail, where he says he met numerous other foreign business prisoners. The least defensible part of Mr. Obamas new policy is its attempt to rehabilitate Cuba as an ordinary state. The President has tasked Secretary of State John Kerry to begin talks on renewing formal diplomatic ties, and he wants high-level exchanges and visits between our two governments as part of the normalization process. Mr. Obama also called for a review of Cubas designation on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Cuba wants off that list, though there is solid evidence that it has helped Venezuela relocate Iranian agents in the Americas. Whats striking is how little Cuba had to do for such a major shift in U.S. policy. At least Burmas military government released the leader of the opposition and opened up its political process before the U.S. lifted sanctions. By offering so much for relatively little, Mr. Obama may calculate that an American gesture now will lead to a larger opening once the aging Castro brothers finally go to their eternal punishment. He may also hope that by acting now he can prepare the way for a triumphant visit to Havana before the end of his Presidency. Mr. Obama came to office in 2009 promising a new era of engagement with U.S. adversaries, and engage he has. Perhaps his Cuban reset will turn out better than have his efforts with Russia, Syria, North Korea and Iran. wsj ~ December 17, 2014 wsj/articles/obamas-cuban-detente-1418862551
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 19:03:18 +0000
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