Let your conscience guide you
Suspend travel, remittance restrictions on Cuba to assist island’s post-hurricane recovery
Taken from the South Florida Sun
Sentinel
The
United States must show compassion, and diplomatic smarts, by easing
remittance and travel restrictions to Cuba.
Suspend travel, remittance restrictions on Cuba to assist island’s post-hurricane recovery
Sun
Sentinel Editorial Board Read Spanish Version
September
9, 2008
Taken
from the South Florida Sun Sentinel
The
United States must show compassion, and diplomatic smarts, by easing
remittance and travel restrictions to Cuba.
The island has
been slammed hard by two hurricanes in successive weeks. First,
Gustav ripped through its western province early last week. Now, Ike
has pummeled western and central Cuba, too.
Considering Cuba’s
deteriorated state, and the brittleness of its buildings, it’s
expected the storms could leave widespread destruction. Cuba’s
capital, Havana, might be spared serious damage. But early images and
reports suggest there might be much need for post-storm food and
shelter in other parts of the country. For the United States to sit
on its hands, or send meager amounts of aid, is a huge error. Do we
really want to come across that punitive and petty?
Worse, it
would be unconscionable for Washington to stand behind four-year-old
travel and remittance limits preventing Cuban Americans in the United
States from providing assistance to loved ones in great need.
Those
restrictions were counterproductive before the storms. It would be a
fiasco to stick to them now. And yet, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice’s recent comments suggest the Bush administration is telling
Cubans to look elsewhere for help.
Washington must open
channels for U.S. aid to arrive. Havana must allow that aid to be
delivered without erecting obstacles or discriminating against Cuban
expatriates in America.
In the wake of two hurricanes, it’s
logical to expect that a large swath of the island has been impacted.
Many of Cuba’s 11 million people could be facing enormous
hardship.
They are not the ones to blame for 50 years of Cold
War hostility. There’s no point for either Washington or Havana to
cling to a half century of animosity simply to drive home a
point.
Yes, Cuba’s dilapidated state is the direct result of
50 years of economic mismanagement by the Castro regime. Cubans have
no choice but to live under Raul and Fidel, but they shouldn’t be
left to face Gustav and Ike on their own, too.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-editafcubapnsep09,0,5850329.story
Copyright
© 2008, South
Florida Sun-Sentinel
