Subject: [big campaign] New Huff Post from Creamer-Now is the Time to Change US Policy Toward Cuba
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:45:38 EDT
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Now is theTime to Change U.S. Cuba Policy 
For half a  century, United States policy  toward Cuba has been aimed at 
isolating and  defeating the regime.  That policy  has demonstrably failed. 
Fidel Castro and his successor Raul Castro, have  outlasted presidents 
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan,  Bush I, Clinton,  Bush 
II and almost two years of the Obama Administration.  
The definition  of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and 
expecting to get a different  result.  By that definition, the  policy of attempting 
to isolate Cuba is – to put it charitably –  daft.  
This failed approach to Cuba was originally justified as part of the Cold  
War policy of “containment” of the Soviet  Union.  That policy has  now 
outlasted the Soviet Union by two  decades.   
A shooting war in Vietnam in which almost 50,000  Americans were killed has 
come and gone.  Vietnam is now a  reliable U.S. trading partner  and 
favorite tourist destination, but the policy of isolating Cuba –  with which we 
have never had a violent conflict – remains. 
Richard Nixon long ago made peace with China which,  though still an 
officially Communist country, is now one of our most crucial  trading partners and 
holds much of our country’s debt.   But our policy of isolating  relatively 
tiny Cuba – just 90 miles from our shore –  continues.  
Of course one of the reasons for the failure of this ancient policy is  
that it was long ago abandoned by every other country in the world.  Canadians 
vacation at Cuban  resorts.  South Americans sell Cuban  agricultural 
products.  Our European  allies all have friendly relations, but our policy of 
isolating Cuba  persists. 
The only real accomplishment of  U.S. policy toward  Cuba has been to 
restrict the  rights of U.S. citizens.  Current policy prevents ordinary  
Americans from traveling to Cuba.  It is the only place on earth to which  our own 
government prevents us from traveling.  It is the freedom of Americans that 
is  being abridged – and we should be just as outraged by that limitation on 
our  freedom as we are by a gag order on our freedom of speech or an 
abridgment of  our freedom of religion.  
What is particularly galling is  that this restriction on our freedom has 
also helped limit the opening of Cuban  society that is its alleged 
rationale.  Want to open up Cuban society?  Then engage them in travel and trade.  
Invite their students to the  United  States and encourage our students to 
study in  their universities.  Encourage  cultural exchanges, baseball games, 
soccer tournaments.   
In other words, the restriction on American travel to Cuba not only limits 
our freedom – it actually  prevents the presumed goal of our policy – to 
open up Cuba.  That’s just plain dumb.   
Of course, the  same goes for our economic “boycott” which does not so 
much prevent Cuba from  getting the things its needs (though it definitely 
makes the lives of ordinary  Cubans more difficult), as it prevents American 
companies and farmers from  selling them American products.  
Members of Congress spend hours of time on the House and Senate floors  
extolling the priority of creating American jobs and promoting the sale of  
American products, and then prevent the sales of those products to a customer  
that would be ready and willing to buy.  The result? Other countries sell 
Cuba the same products and benefit by the  creation of jobs in their countries 
rather than the United  States. 
And to top things off, U.S. policy towards Cuba has been a major sore point 
with other  countries in Latin America, who view it as a  vestige of Yankee 
paternalism toward the entire region. And it is used by those  who want to 
harm America as another piece of  anti-American propaganda. 
The proximate political reason for this patently ridiculous policy is the  
large Cuban American voter block in southern Florida.  Many Cuban Americans 
emigrated here immediately after the Cuban  Revolution half a century ago 
and were virulently anti-Castro.   
But as the years have gone by, the attitudes of the Cuban American  
population have fundamentally changed.  Polls now show that now 67% percent  of 
Cuban Americans support allowing all  Americans to travel to Cuba (Bendixen 
poll: Conducted April 14-16, 2009 – Cuban  Americans only).  Even  among Cuban 
Americans, it’s no longer good politics to favor a travel ban to  Cuba.  Yet 
the old guard hardliners continue to  intimidate many politicians – not the 
least because Florida is almost always  a swing state in Presidential 
elections.   
To be sure, there have been some modest modifications in American  policy.  
American farmers have been  allowed to sell product to Cuba for some time – 
though on much  less favorable terms than their international competitors.  
Some educational travel is allowed – but  only with a special license from 
the Federal Government.  
President Obama has vowed to change our policy toward Cuba.  Not long after 
he took office he allowed  freedom of travel to Cuba for Americans of Cuban 
descent –  a move that was wildly popular among Cuban Americans.  
Within the next several weeks Congressman Collin Peterson, Chair of the  
House Agriculture Committee, will mark up legislation in his committee that 
will  allow farmers to sell agricultural products to Cuba on much  more 
favorable terms – and allow Americans of all sorts to travel there.  
A broad coalition of groups supports the bill ranging from major farm  
organizations to organizations that focus on American policy toward Latin 
America.  The measure has bi-partisan support, support from advocacy groups 
aligned  with both sides of the aisle, the Catholic Church and most major human 
rights  organizations. 
You’d think that would be enough to guarantee passage, but the hard line  
Cuban American lobby has created a PAC that is spreading contributions aimed 
at  dissuading Members from supporting a measure that is so obviously good 
public  policy. 
One of their arguments is that persistent Cuban human rights abuses  should 
not be “rewarded” by this kind of measure.  Of course no one really 
believes that  Cuba is a “threat” to American  national security. And most human 
rights groups believe that the best way to  address human rights issues 
there is to open up Cuban society and culture.  
Just last week, seventy-four of Cuba’s most politically prominent  
dissidents – including Miriam Leiva, the well-known blogger Yoani Sanchez, and  the 
hunger striker Guillermo Farinas – signed a letter to the U.S. Congress  
asking them to support legislation to legalize travel to Cuba and increase 
sales  of U.S. food.   They wrote in part: 
We  share the opinion that the isolation of the people of Cuba  benefits 
the most inflexible interests of its government, while any opening  serves to 
inform and empower the Cuban people and helps to further strengthen  our 
civil society….. 
The supportive presence of American citizens, their  direct help, and the 
many opportunities for exchange, used effectively and in  the desired 
direction, would not be an abandonment of Cuban civil society but  rather a force 
to strengthen it. Similarly, to further facilitate the sale of  agricultural 
products would help alleviate the food shortages we now  suffer. 
If the core of the Cuban dissident movement is in favor of allowing  travel 
to Cuba, who in their  right mind could argue that it would “reward” 
repression in Cuba? 
Just as important, of  course, it is ridiculous for the United States to 
tie our policy to  what the Cubans do.  Our policy  should be based on what is 
good for the people of the United States, and those  goals include 
eliminating the current pointless restrictions on our own  citizens’ right to 
travel, allowing our companies to sell products to Cuba,  benefiting from the jobs 
that increased exports provide – as well as answering  the call of Cuban 
dissidents to open up Cuban society.  
And it’s just plain hypocritical to make the argument that we shouldn’t  
trade with Cuba when we trade  massively with countries like Saudi  Arabia 
and China that certainly don’t win  anyone’s annual human rights award. 
Finally, polls show that most Americans – Democrats, Independents and  
Republicans -- support the elimination of government restrictions on travel to  
Cuba as well as restrictions on the  American sales to the island.  
President Obama is expected to sign the Peterson bill if it is  passed.  
Hopefully Congress will  give him the opportunity to reset our relationship 
with Cuba and create  a policy that finally works to maximize American 
interests. 

Robert Creamer is  a long-time political organizer and strategist, and 
author of the recent book:  “Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win,” 
available on _amazon.com_ 
(http://www.amazon.com/Listen-Your-Mother-Straight-Progressives/dp/0979585295/ref=pd_bbs_s
r_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206567141&sr=8-1) .

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