Is the Castro-friendly Cuba policy working?

Is the Castro-friendly Cuba policy working?
Friday, February 26, 2010

IN THE PAST few months, proponents of lifting U.S. and international
sanctions against Cuba have been gaining momentum. Their argument is
that the strategy of isolating the Castro regime has failed and that
more trade, more visits by Americans and more diplomatic engagement will
produce better results. The thaw they advocate is well underway: Cuba's
suspension from the Organization of American States has been lifted, and
the Obama administration has removed some restrictions on travel and
remittances. A coalition in Congress is pressing for the elimination of
remaining constraints on food exports and travel, while Spain, which
holds the presidency of the European Union, has been advocating a new
policy of cooperation with Havana.

Since the critique of the old Cuba policy was grounded in its supposed
ineffectiveness, it seems fair to ask: Is the new, Castro-friendly
approach working? A good answer to that question came Tuesday, when
Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a 42-year-old Afro-Cuban political prisoner, died
after an 83-day hunger strike.

Mr. Tamayo, a construction worker, was one of 75 Cuban dissidents swept
up by the regime in March 2003 and sentenced to long prison terms.
Initially jailed for three years on charges of public disorder and
"disobedience," he later received a sentence of 36 years because of his
acts of defiance while in prison. He launched his hunger strike in
December to protest repeated beatings by prison guards and to demand
that the government recognize his status as an Amnesty International
prisoner of conscience.

As Amnesty put it, that Mr. Zapata "felt he had no other avenue
available to him but to starve himself in protest is a terrible
indictment of the continuing repression of political dissidents in Cuba."

Human rights groups agree that Cuban totalitarianism has not eased since
79-year-old Raúl Castro replaced his 83-year-old brother, Fidel. "Rather
than dismantle Cuba's repressive machinery, Raúl Castro has kept it
firmly in place and fully active," said Human Rights Watch in a report
last November. "Deplorable prison conditions, torture, and lack of
medical attention" explained Mr. Zapata's death, said Freedom House,
which in 2009 designated Cuba one of the "worst of the worst." Yet the
stroking of the Castro brothers goes on. As Mr. Zapata died, Brazilian
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was arriving in Havana for another
warm reunion with the brothers -- his third in the past two years. The
embarrassed Brazilian president said he "deeply lamented" Mr. Zapata's
death. Too bad he and other Castrophiles were not willing to speak out
on his behalf before he died.

Is the Castro-friendly Cuba policy working? - washingtonpost.com (26
February 2010)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022504953.html