Marco Rubio: Obama's Faustian Bargain With Cuba
By MARCO RUBIO JULY 8, 2015
MIAMI — WHEN President Obama announced the formal re-establishment of
diplomatic relations with Cuba last week, he criticized the supposed
failures of United States policy toward Cuba, which, Mr. Obama said,
"hasn't worked for 50 years."
The reality of course is that American policy is no more to blame for
Cuba's economic and political problems than it was for the Soviet
Union's bread lines or for the fact that tens of millions of Chinese
still live in poverty.
The only people who are responsible for the Cuban people's woes are
their geriatric rulers, who insist on maintaining a socialist economy
that almost all other countries — with the possible exception of North
Korea — have realized is a failed relic of the past.
It is these dictators who also deny their people access to the Internet.
It is they who direct the security services that terrorize and harass
any citizen who dares speak up against the Castro regime. It is they who
imprison people who attempt to defy the system and make them endure
unthinkable conditions. Many have fled their homeland permanently.
Mr. Obama's outreach has done nothing to change any of this. On Sunday,
Antonio Rodiles, a prominent activist, was beaten by regime thugs, and
nearly 100 others were arrested. Human Rights Watch reports that in
recent months, "short-term arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders,
independent journalists, and other critics have increased dramatically."
The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, an
independent human rights group, puts arbitrary detentions for political
motives in May alone at 641, the most in months.
Yet Mr. Obama insists that building economic and diplomatic ties is
likely to bring freedom and democracy to the island.
However, our extensive experience with transitions from Communism has
shown that economic opening and diplomatic engagement do not
automatically lead to political freedom. No Communist police state has
ever unclenched its fist just because a McDonald's has opened or an
embassy has been established.
China began its economic opening in 1979; today it remains a one-party
state, where the human rights activist Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Nobel Peace
Prize winner, remains in prison, along with other dissidents. Calls for
political pluralism are silenced. Vietnam, too, years after throwing its
doors open to American corporations, continues to be tightly controlled
by the Communist Party.
For many people in both countries, the standard of living has improved,
but at a price: Prospects of political freedom for regular citizens are
extinguished as elites with connections to the party become economic
oligarchs. Chinese Communist Party leaders and their families have
become rich beyond belief, and their grip on power seems unshakable.
When we make engagement with the odious leaders of these countries our
foreign policy, we make a Faustian bargain that is contrary to our
national values and also to our strategic interests.
Instead of the administration's approach — one-sided concessions that
have served only to reward Cuba's rulers despite their lack of reform —
we should be stating clearly what reforms America expects before we
deepen ties.
We should reinforce our longstanding policy that Cuba must address
millions of dollars worth of outstanding property claims and judgments.
Individuals designated as domestic terrorists by the F.B.I. should be
returned to the United States to face justice. Most important, all
political prisoners must be released, and political reforms begun, so
that Cubans can enjoy their fundamental freedoms.
How do we achieve this? By standing firm in our commitment to the Cuban
people. By increasing the support for independent civil society groups
and activists and radio broadcasts that the regime wants to end. By
blocking Cuban officials who have committed or overseen human-rights
violations from traveling to the United States. Just as we have stood on
the right side of history against the repression of other totalitarian
regimes, we owe the Cuban people more time so we can get it right and
not worsen their situation.
If the Castros — President Raúl and his elder brother Fidel — realized
that they would be able to profit only by reforming and allowing more
political and economic openness, increased United States engagement
might make a difference. Otherwise, Mr. Obama's policy will lead only to
a deepening of repression.
This is why so many dissidents in Cuba are denouncing Mr. Obama's move
as a betrayal. They know that the Castro family and other relatives
control all the economic levers already, and will surely reap the
benefits once American businesses, driven by the desire for economic
gain at all costs, and American tourists, tempted by this newspaper's
idealized version of hip Havana, flock to Cuba.
It is the ruling oligarchs who stand to benefit from Mr. Obama's opening
to Cuba, not the Cuban people. It is unfortunate that, after taking a
strong if difficult moral stance for many years, we are now empowering
those who deny the Cubans their wish to be free and prosperous.
Marco Rubio, a United States senator from Florida, is seeking the
Republican nomination for president.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/opinion/bp-deal-will-lead-to-a-cleaner-gulf.html?rref=opinion&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Opinion&action=swipe®ion=FixedRight&pgtype=article
No comments:
Post a Comment