A Cuban-American progressive
By
Amaury Cruz Read Spanish Version
Dear
Senator Obama:
There
are many things Cuban-American progressive Democrats should like to
tell you about dealing with Cuba-related issues. The first is that as
most other Americans, we thirst for a leader who, to quote you, says
what he means and means what he says. You have said things that give
us hope for positive changes in U.S.-Cuba relations.
You
should listen to the progressive point of view. You are a
progressive. Why should you heed reactionaries? We know they will try
to ply you with huge campaign donations to advance their retrograde
and pernicious views. But you don’t need them to win the
presidency, nor should you associate with them and betray your
principles.
Cuba
issues are convenient constructs of the Republican propaganda machine
used to win elections, both local and national. If Cuba and the U.S.
had normal relations, the Republican machine would not have at its
disposal tens of millions of dollars that have been doled out to
organizations, academic institutions, and projects dominated by
Republicans and financing Republicans. Harebrained schemes like TV
and Radio Marti would not exist; neither would the sinecures they
provide. Cuban-Americans would not be debating how best to overthrow
a foreign government or assassinate its leader, focusing instead on
issues that affect all Latinos in the U.S. and that the Democratic
party is better able to address. Local, state and national office
seekers would not be able to manipulate a significant block of
single-issue voters through cheap stunts like drinking espresso in a
Little Havana restaurant once every four years and proclaiming they
will be the ones to liberate the island nation.
You
will find that almost all the media will be more or less obviously at
the service of the Republicans, and that includes the major English-
and Spanish language papers in Miami. In some cases, radio talk shows
and weeklies called periodiquitos
(little papers) will savage you. These media outlets are all
controlled by the Cuban-American extreme right thanks to a campaign
of intimidation and McCarthyism that has lasted over four decades and
has been made possible because of the continued hostility between the
two countries. You should not be afraid to confront them with logic
and reason. Their power arises simply from people’s ignorance and
fears.
You
should understand that older Cuban-American hard-line exiles, also
called los
históricos
(the historic ones) and others who have been bombarded by the
periodiquitos
and talk shows during decades are concerned only about one particular
type of change they want in Cuba. They couldn’t care less for the
type of fundamental change you represent. Some of your opponents also
will be unrepentant racists and will not hesitate to inject racism
into the political discourse through innuendo and code words.
None
of the históricos
and many others who have been brainwashed by the Republicans into
thinking that Kennedy, and therefore all Democrats, betrayed
Cuban-Americans at the Bay of Pigs, will vote for you no matter how
much you try to win them over. If you promise them to invade Cuba the
week after your inauguration, they will still not vote for you. They
will not believe anything you say. To them, you are already a
communist, a fifth columnist who somehow managed to infiltrate the
U.S. senate. Sound crazy? Welcome to South Florida.
I
don’t know if by blind luck or design your campaign has stumbled on
the idea that you must focus your courtship on younger Cuban-American
voters, rendering the históricos
history. Whichever it is, you are on the right track. Polls show
that more recent Cuban-American arrivals and younger people in
general increasingly favor normalization of relations with Cuba.
These people have not been motivated to vote in the past. You can
motivate them.
I
like that you have been able to turn around your opponents’ attacks
and have not hesitated to strike back quickly and correct the record,
with humor and creativity. You have broken the stereotype of the
wimpish Democratic politician. I congratulate you. You must keep it
up, even in the face of some who will tell you that you need to
pander to the Cuban-American right. Sadly, this would include some
Democratic representatives in Congress who have behaved shamefully
and betrayed the party and the nation. They too have spread the myth
of a monolithic Cuban-American voting block and sold out to the right
wingers and their fat wallets.
Much
like the issues of abortion and gay marriage, Cuba issues are a way
to divert attention from important problems facing America. Cuba
issues are used to spread fear and misinformation and for our
government to suppress fundamental rights of a free people: to
travel, to associate with and support one’s family and friends, and
to exchange and express ideas. Suppressing such rights and fostering
a climate of fear, where the government is seen as the protector of
our security, makes us more pliable. It has made a significant
segment of the Cuban-American community fanatical and easy to
manipulate through false promises and empty gestures, even at the
expense of the national interest and self-interest.
Among
other things, by redefining the concept of “family,” the Bush
administration in essence has cut off forever uncles, aunts, nephews,
and nieces from each other. And even fathers, mothers, sons and
daughters, can only be visited once every three years, no exceptions
of any kind permitted. Equally harmful, remittances to relatives are
limited to $300 every three months. What kind of family values are
these?
Were
it not for the sea or irrationality surrounding our Cuba policies,
which has inured people to its absurdities, most would realize these
travel and remittances regulations are cruel and demented. Nothing
like them applies to any other country in the world.
You
have done the right thing by promising to allow free travel and
remittances by Cuban-Americans. Your position represents a defense of
real family values.
But
there is more to doing the right thing when it comes to Cuba, and we
believe you have fallen a bit short. You should return to your
original position, prior to becoming a presidential candidate,
against the embargo. It is a patently failed policy, and only the
fanaticism of six Cuban-American members of Congress and specious
arguments keep it alive.
You
are right in your disposition to meet with Cuban leaders without
preconditions relative to Cuba’s political system or policies. To
impose preconditions is to perpetuate an arrogant and
holier-than-thou attitude that has seriously damaged American
diplomatic standing. After all, Cuba or any other country in the
world could ask us also to meet preconditions relative to our system
of government or policies: renounce torture and prosecute those
responsible for waterboarding at Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib;
end disparities in the prosecution and jailing of blacks and Latinos
in our criminal justice system; reform our electoral system so that
money is not determinative; and provide universal health care and
free higher education to all Americans, to name only a few. As anyone
with any sense can see, to demand preconditions can lead to
absurdities. You need to explain this to the American people.
You
also need to explain that our policy toward Cuba should not be regime
change through the pressure cooker theory: that, by making conditions
ever more intolerable for the Cuban people, they will rise up in
revolt and overthrow the government. I hope you will agree that this
theory is immoral and counterproductive. Our policy should be to help
the Cuban people and to defend our real national interests, not to
destroy a country in order to save it.
You
should reject the notion that preventing trade between our nations
hurts the Cuban government. The embargo hurts the Cuban people while
the Cuban government goes its merry way. You could point to the fact
that we trade with China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other
countries that are led by repressive regimes and that engagement was
a key element in bringing down the old Soviet empire, not an economic
embargo. You could point to the fact the overwhelming majority of
Cuban dissidents on the island oppose the embargo, and that the U.N.
has been condemning it every year for decades, nearly unanimously.
The
embargo, therefore, not only hurts the Cuban people and has been
ineffective in bringing about one iota of positive change; it is also
a source of aggravation for the U.S. in international fora,
particularly for its imperial, extra-national provisions. You could
add that our government has not been very successful at imposing our
political system on other countries through force or unilateral
pressure.
You
should emphasize our national interest is best served by normalizing
relations to open markets for American farmers and ranchers; allow
U.S. companies to compete with Chinese and European companies for
Cuba’s increasingly abundant oil and gas reserves; help combat
narcotrafficking; help re-unite families after decades of painful
separation; and offer a tremendous opportunity for American
enterprises to invest in all kinds of businesses and take advantage
of Cuba’s highly educated workforce, among other things.
We
know you can do it. Please don’t let us down.
Amaury
Cruz is a Cuban-American attorney and political activist from Miami.
