Kerry was for democracy in Cuba before he was against it

Kerry was for democracy in Cuba before he was against it
By Alberto de la Cruz on 04/05/2011 – 9:06 am PDT

It is as easy as it is comforting to forget Senator John Kerry's
presidential campaign in 2004. Watching him run for president alternated
between comedic and painful as he thrashed and convulsed his way into
the annals of history best forgotten. While politicians of all stripes
have a natural predilection for position changes and policy turnarounds,
Kerry took the bad habit to an all new level: who can forget his most
(in)famous flip flop: "I actually did vote for the 87 Billion before I
voted against it." Of course, this was only one of Kerry's many flip
flops as he tried to be everything to everyone and ended up being
nothing to no one.

When it comes to the case of USAID funding and Kerry's attempt to stop
it, he is doing nothing more than being John Kerry. As our friend
Ernesto Hernandez Busto from Penultimos Dias so pertinently points out
(in Spanish), Kerry was for democracy in Cuba before he was against it.

My translation:

There was a time during the summer of 2004 that John Kerry, then
the Democratic candidate for president, believed that what was needed to
solve the "Cuban problem" was an international campaign. And this is how
he made it known:

"I want to work with the international community to increase
political and diplomatic pressure on the [Fidel] Castro regime to
release all political prisoners, support civil society and begin a
process of genuine political reform. We've had a number of years in
which the international community has refused to really be part of our
efforts to deal with Castro."

Of course, that was then when Kerry was looking for votes from Cuban
Americans in Florida and the flip flop, if you will, was on the other
foot. Now, however, things are different. And like a nasty habit, Kerry
regresses to his normal self. In other words, he attempts to speak out
of both sides of his mouth.

Unfortunately, Kerry is in a position of power in the Senate, and while
he plays games with his positions and flips, flops, and flies, there are
courageous dissidents in Cuba desperate for aid and help.

These men and women risk their lives and the lives of their families
every day in their valiant pursuit for freedom and democracy in Cuba.
Kerry's actions are not just farcical, they put the lives of thousands
of Cubans in danger.

Ernesto sums it his article by pointing out the bad timing behind
Kerry's initiative to freeze USAID spending on democracy programs in
Cuba and how it plays into the hands of the Castro dictatorship. He also
questions the motives of Kerry's influential advisors. Once again, my
translation:

You do not have to be a political genius to understand that the
freezing of those funds approved by Congress will send the wrong message
to the Cuban government. The capitulation before an aggressive Castro
propaganda strategy will leave the Obama administration — which has
already given previous concessions in relation to tourist travel,
remittances, and academic and cultural exchanges — in a very bad place.
Any of Kerry's advisors should have explained these platitudes to him,
but everything seems to indicate that some of them have their own firm
ideas regarding the "Cuban situation." It is interesting, for example,
that Fulton Armstrong, a "Cubanologist" who presented himself at an
academic event as a "senior advisor to Senator John Kerry on the Western
Hemisphere," never advised his employer that if he really was interested
in bringing down the "bastion of communism" in the region, he would be
better served not giving them the gift on a platter of an international
campaign that he asked for years ago for the opposition. (Well, perhaps
it can be interpreted in another more paranoid way: this is the same
Armstrong who worked as an analyst for the CIA and who years earlier
was accused of being "under the influence" of the Cuban government. Some
sources have in fact described him as the "mentor" of Ana Belen Montes,
who was convicted of espionage. It would be without a doubt quite an
irony that someone who has been proven to work for the CIA now would end
up being behind the thing that most helps the regime. But in the end,
politics does have these curious twists.)

Beyond any conspiracy theories or timely criticisms that can be
made regarding the way this money is allocated and distributed, the
USAID program aimed at a democratic transition on the island should not
have obstacles put in its way because of political games or sudden
fiscal policies. And much less at this moment. Eliminating or hindering
those funds would be giving a gift to the Castro government, and will
demonstrate an incomprehensible disdain for the dissidence and Cuba's
incipient civil society.

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