CUBA
Without democracy, no reform
BY OTTO REICH and FRANK CALZON
www.ottoreichassociates.com
In maintaining Cuba on the official list of State Sponsors of Terrorism
for another year, the Obama administration last week said Havana
provides safe haven to terrorists belonging to three outlaw
organizations. Additionally, Cuba, according to the United States,
``permit[s] U.S. fugitives to live legally in Cuba. These U.S. fugitives
include convicted murderers as well as numerous hijackers.''
The statements could not come at a worse time for those who want to lift
Washington's ban on American tourism to the island, apparently including
Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega. Ortega traveled to Washington recently to
speak with Gen. Jim Jones, Obama's national security adviser. The
National Security Council released a statement from General Jones, but
kept mum about what the cardinal requested.
The Washington Post, however, reported that Cardinal Ortega
``subscribe[s] to the rosier view'' of those who believe that despite
Fidel Castro's opposition, ``Raúl [Castro] is determined to press
forward with a program of change that will extend for years, rather than
months.'' Ortega said it is ``not realistic to begin'' with the
``democratic reforms'' that Obama has demanded as a condition for
improved relations. Yet, without democracy and the civil and economic
rights that accompany it, all other reforms will fail and can only serve
to extend the hold of the Castro dictatorship.
Ortega's visit undergirds efforts by some in Congress to allow tourism
and extend bank credits rather than insist on cash payments to U.S.
exporters. The administration's newest terrorism report spoils those
plans: ``Cuba continued to provide physical safe haven and ideological
support to members of three groups designated as Foreign Terrorist
Organizations by the United States'' -- FARC, ELN and ETA. The first two
groups operate in Colombia. ETA is responsible for many murders in Spain.
The latest assessment comes despite Cuba's protests and efforts by
sympathizers to have its name removed from the terrorist list. Cuba has
been on the list under five presidents, Republican and Democrat, since
1982. The closest Havana got to being removed was in the 1990s, when Ana
Belen Montes, then the highest Defense Intelligence Agency official
responsible for assessing Cuba's threat, almost convinced some
well-meaning colleagues of Cuba's innocence. She was arrested in 2001
and a year later was sentenced to 25 years after pleading guilty to
spying for Havana.
About the cardinal's visit, the NSC quotes General Jones saying: ``The
United States government desires to see all political prisoners
unconditionally released from jail in Cuba with the right to remain in
Cuba upon release.'' Jones also called ``for the immediate release of
[USAID contractor] Alan Gross, who has been held without charge since
early December 2009'' in Havana, for allegedly giving laptops and cell
phones to Cuban dissidents.
But if the NSC was reticent about quoting the cardinal, The Washington
Post was not, concluding that Ortega has a benign view. The Cuban
prelate brought the message that Raúl Castro ``is ready to talk with the
United States'' because Castro wants ``U.S. trade and investment'' in
order to ``revive'' Cuba's economy.
Yet many Cubans believe that a dialogue between Raúl Castro and the
cardinal, or even with Washington, is not enough. The road to Cuba's
``revival'' should start with the release of all political prisoners, as
President Obama has asked. The cardinal should take a message back:
Forget about U.S. foreign investment and tourism saving the Castro
regime; free the Cubans' economic capacity, which is much more than
allowing them to own single-chair barbershops or to manufacture paper
flowers at home. Cubans, not foreigners, can jump-start the island's
manufacturing, trade and agricultural production, but only under the
sole proven economic system: free enterprise.
As a first step, Raúl could reduce the taxes on remittances, as
President Obama has asked, and permit those funds sent by exiles to
finance significant economic activity. That would be real change,
ameliorating the current economic crisis and providing employment for
many un- and underemployed Cubans while liberating them from their
dependence on the state.
That might not be what Raúl Castro wants, but most Cubans, Catholics and
non-Catholics would welcome it.
Otto Reich is a former assistant secretary of state and ambassador to
Venezuela. Frank Calzón is executive director of the Center for a Free
Cuba in Arlington, Va.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/13/1773993/without-democracy-no-reform.html
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