Obama administration could be yet another that fails to change Cuba

Obama administration could be yet another that fails to change Cuba
Guillermo I. Martinez | Columnist
December 11, 2008

This theater of the absurd has a revival every four or eight years;
every time the United States elects a new president.

The plot is simple. The United States should lift the economic embargo
on Cuba imposed almost half a century ago. Most embargo opponents say
Washington should do so unilaterally, without any pre-conditions. Cuba
will change by itself once we lift an economic embargo that clearly has
not worked.

An American initiative of this type, the thinking goes on, would
pressure Cuba to reciprocate and release its political prisoners, soften
restrictions on some type of private ownership of property and
businesses and end the stranglehold the regime holds on all facets of
life on the island.

At this point, the violins play vigorously to introduce actor Vinicio
del Toro as Che Guevara, as in the film. Drums bang as Roger Cohen
publishes a lengthy article on Cuba in last Sunday's New York Times
Magazine. A new poll says Cuban-Americans want the embargo lifted.

Finally a magazine publishes an interview with Raúl Castro saying he is
willing to meet with president-elect Barack Obama at a neutral site,
"for example, Guantanamo."

All want Obama to lift the embargo and restore full diplomatic relations
with Cuba. Changes in Cuba will come later.

All of these polls, books, articles and lobbying never mention the times
different administrations in Washington tried to establish closer ties
with Fidel Castro's regime, always to be rebuked and embarrassed
internationally.

Efforts at improving relations with Havana began under President Gerald
Ford and continued with Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill
Clinton. Castro's response to some of these efforts: Sending Cuban
troops to Africa to fight on behalf of the Soviet Union; the Mariel
Boatlift; machine-gunning Cubans trying to leave the island on a
tugboat; having Cuban pilots in Soviet-made jets shoot down two Brothers
to the Rescue planes; and allowing more than 35,000 Cubans to leave the
island in 1994 on rafts made of anything that would float.

Anyone naive enough is welcome to try again. They do so at their own risk.

Guillermo I. Martínez lives in South Florida. He can be reached at
Guimar123@gmail.com.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-gmcol11sbdec11,0,7820788.column