Barack Obama pledged during the presidential campaign he would lift limits on how often Cuban Americans can visit family members on the island and on how much money they can send them. He's apparently ready to make good on that promise, ending one of the more ignoble and inhumane aspects of American policy towards Cuba.
The Telegraph reports:
First to go under Mr Obama will be rules, brought in by George Bush in 2004, that say Cuban-Americans can only return home once every three years. In addition to annual visits, the amount of money they can take will be raised from $300 to $3,000.An adviser to Mr Obama said: "Cubans will be less dependent on the state for money and they will have greater contact with their relatives in the US. That can only aid understanding." Those changes require only a presidential order. The adviser said: "He could do it on day one. Obama has a lot on his plate with the economy so Cuba will not be top of his list but I'd expect it to happen fairly quickly." During the campaign, Mr Obama vowed to maintain the economic embargo older even than he is which prevents other Americans from visiting the island.
I would add to that humanitarian benefits that lifting the limits would bring. The dictatorship might benefit financially from the increased travel and remittances, but that would be outweighed by the good it would mean for suffering Cubans. Obviously, the limits have not brought down the Castro regime, so they are not worth the very real human cost.
The overall embargo, too, has not brought down the regime, but even after 50 years, it is too soon to abandon it. Its obvious shortcomings aside, the embargo remains a powerful bargaining chip for the United States, and it should be relaxed and maybe even abrogated only after the Castro dictatorship changes its ways. It could start by releasing political prisoners — in fact, the United States should make clear negotiations are not possible until the dictatorship empties its jails of those there because of their opposition to the regime.
That, too, seems to be Obama's approach. He may be more willing that his predecessors to simply talk with Havana, but that does not mean he's prepared to abandon traditional American hostility towards the Castro dictatorship. He made that clear during the campaign, and any doubts or criticisms of the president-elect are, at best, premature. And with other items, like the slumping American economy, taking higher spots on his earlier agenda, there is no need to panic.
Remember this: Along with the embargo, American policy for 50 years has been to keep Havana at arms-length, and Cuba is no freer than it was 50 years ago. As long as we state clearly what our goal is — a free and democratic Cuba — where is the harm in talking?
Recent Comments