Web Posted: 06/25/2009 12:00 CDT
The United States has no argument with the people of Cuba. It's the
government of Cuba that five decades of American leaders from both
parties have opposed. And the reason for that opposition is the Cuban
government's treatment of its own citizens — denying them the ability to
select their leaders in a democratic process and consistently violating
their basic human rights.
If the goal is to succor the people of Cuba, then there's a wide range
of policies the United States can promote. Lifting restrictions on
travel and the amount of aid Cuban Americans can send to family members,
as the Obama administration has proposed, fits neatly with that objective.
Nothing, however, should be done to strengthen or legitimize the
dictatorial rule of the Castro regime.
Unfortunately, that's what the Organization of American States — urged
on by Venezuela and Nicaragua — seems to be doing by agreeing to
re-admit Cuba to the Western Hemispheric grouping.
The OAS expelled Cuba in 1962 because of the incompatibility of its
ruling ideology with the organization's democratic standards, reaffirmed
in the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter.
What has changed in Cuba since 1962? Not much.
A report issued last month by the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights states, "Restrictions on political rights, freedom of expression
and dissemination of ideas have created, over a period of decades, a
situation of permanent and systematic violations of the fundamental
rights of Cuban citizens."
The United States was able to wring out a compromise that calls for a
"process of dialogue" on Cuba's "practices, proposals and principles" as
part of its return to the OAS.
That's a pretty nebulous concept.
Here's a much-easier idea that diplomats from the Western Hemisphere's
democracies should remember: People first, governments second.
Help Cuban people, not their oppressors (25 June 2009)
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/49040916.html
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