Wagging the dog
Mike Ching

In 1959, Fidel Castro ended the Cuban revolution, putting an end to hot local conflict. But in doing so, he created the conditions for a long-distance conflict between the Cubans who lost their assets and social positions and those who took them over.

It is important to note Castro did not conduct the revolution under the auspices of Marxism. The adoption of Socialist economic structures were adopted as a response to the Cold War. The institution of Socialist economic structures was seen as a structural method to consolidate the gains of 1959.

The most significant of these gains for the Cuban population was the issue of land reform and this is the origin of what has become the movement of Cuban expatriates. Those disposed by the Cuban revolution joined forces with the United States, attempting an unsuccessful military invasion in 1961 before settling on the trade embargo as the policy of choice. This policy remains until this day.

Cuba’s place in the world has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and most other communist states, Cuba is now an isolated anomaly and is a threat to no one.

The argument that Cuba propagates violent revolution and is a client Soviet state is no longer valid. Cuban troops are out of Africa and any Russian military presence is virtually nonexistent. The embargo on Cuba no longer exists as a deterrent to an external threat. It exists as a response from an internal one.

The voting response of Cuban-Americans has been instrumental in the perpetuation of the Cuban embargo. While Cuban-Americans, as a whole, represent a pluralistic voting demographic, it is the right end of the Cuban-American political spectrum that has succeeded in pressuring the government.

The Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF), which has over 50,000 members, was founded by the late Jorge Mas Canosa in 1981. This organization is considered the most prominent of all anti-Castro lobby groups. CANF oversees anti-Castro radio broadcasts and opposes negotiations with Castro.

In the most recent incident involving Cuban expatriates, two small planes operated by the anti-Castro group, "Brothers To The Rescue," were shot down by Cuban fighters in waters north of Havana. Congress, strongly pressured by the U.S. expatriate community, considered bombing Cuba in retaliation.

The resulting anti-Castro sentiment allowed for the introduction of the Helms-Burton Act, which allows domestic companies which had lost land in the ‘59 revolution to sue foreign enterprises which did business in Cuba. This occurred at a time when the Cuban economy was most vulnerable.

There is no military reason for a trade embargo with Cuba. American reasons to maintain the embargo are contradictory to other policies toward other nations.

If the U.S. is concerned with human rights, why does it maintain relations with China?

If the U.S. is concerned with the return of property to expatriates, why will it not negotiate with the government in Havana? The U.S. is full of contradictions.

Sanctions have retarded Cuba’s development and hurt families. This small, vocal minority, not even representative of the entire Cuban-American population, has dictated U.S. foreign policy. The policy of using trade barriers to push the Cuban government to democracy has not been working. It is time for the U.S. to rethink its foreign policy.