No, Mr. President, Castroite Cuba is Not What Change Looks Like

 

IBDEditorials.com

Tourists take a selfie as they drink cocktails at the Bodeguita del Medio Bar in Old Havana, Cuba. AP

Diplomacy: President Obama's much hailed "normalization" of ties with Cuba is anything but normal. Cuba is a top violator of human rights and the rule of law. Normal relations will just entrench the regime, not change it.

With a flurry of the usual cliches about going forward and not being "imprisoned by the past," President Obama hailed his own decision to normalize relations with Castroite Cuba with his trademark "This is what change looks like!" in a speech at the White House Wednesday.

Problem is, it's one of the most inaccurate statements he's ever made.

The exchange of embassies in the two countries amounts to virtually no change, given that more than 300 U.S. diplomats already staff the U.S. interests section in Havana today.

And the president's decision to permit Americans to travel to Havana and buy $400 worth of goods won't bring change either, given that the Cuban military controls all the tourist infrastructure on the island and the American tourist market is a big one.

It is Cuba's military that will benefit from the cash of curious Americans eager to visit Havana's Malecon seafront road to take Beyonce-style selfies with mojitos, posing with colorful, maraca-shaking locals.

If Cuba had a private sector of any significance, yes, there could be a change in the economic dynamic and perhaps the rise of powerful interests seeking more freedoms. But the fact remains that it's Raul Castro's military regime with its vast security apparatus that is getting the big cash lifeline from the U.S. in exchange for ... nothing. Cuba's regime will feel no pressure to change anything.

Maybe that's why most Americans — by 46% to 39% — think Obama has "given away the store," according to a poll reported by Fox News Wednesday.

The State Department has pointed out that Cuba is one of the worst violators of human rights in its recent report, operating with extreme restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly, as well as mass surveillance, a president who rules by decree, zero free or fair elections, and a vicious style of mob rule against dissenters.

Lobbyist Mauricio Claver-Carone of the Cuban Democracy Advocates in Washington has pointed out that normalization of relations doesn't even appear legal.

"According to U.S. law (Libertad Act), diplomatic recognition should only be considered 'when the President determines that there exists a democratically elected government in Cuba.' It also states that 'the satisfactory resolution of property claims by a Cuban Government recognized by the United States remains an essential condition for the full resumption of economic and diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba,'" he wrote on his blog, Capitol Hill Cubans. Neither of those conditions have been met.

Obama has assured that where he has differences with Cuba, he will speak out for "American values." Will he really?

Just as Castro has done mass surveillance on the domestic population, the Obama administration has done it, too. Just as Castro has spied on and harassed journalists, so has the Obama Justice Department. Just as Castro has ruled as dictator in the name of "the people," so has the White House, ruling by executive order.

And pardon us if we notice the similarities between Obama's big labor political surrogates forming harassment mobs on the lawns of unpopular bankers and the mob thuggery against dissidents that is normal in communist Cuba.

The bottom line is that President Obama doesn't even have the moral authority to challenge Castro, given his own presidency.

And that isn't change, that's simply making the U.S. one nation among many, ending the U.S. role as the beacon of the hemisphere and leader of the free world.

Essentially, this normalization brings the U.S. down to Cuba's level, given that money will ensure that the conditions are no longer there for Cuba to change.

Obama assured that it would all mean "a better future is ahead."

He must have been thinking of Castro.