Is Cuba irrelevant? Think again
(This commentary first appeared in the Sun-Sentinel. Progreso Weekly received permission from the author, Manuel Gomez, to republish.)
The issue of our Cuba policy has been quiet recently, but it remains a critical component of our overall hemispheric relationships, and it will undoubtedly erupt again in the upcoming senatorial races. In Florida, it will make noise as always, thanks to the extreme-right of my own Cuban American community, who will try to force Democratic candidates for senator to cower into a hostile Cuba policy, only to then see them vote for Republican incumbent Rick Scott anyway.
The debate will also be triggered by the demotion and likely resignation of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, who for decades has been the main obstacle to any rational approach to the island from his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. So, make no mistake, now is the time to abandon our failed Cuba policy and move to a policy of engagement, as President Barack Obama began to successfully do a few years ago.
Our embargo policy of more than 60 years has only managed to cause immense suffering to the 11 million people on the island, as well as encourage an uncontrolled Cuban migration that needlessly adds to our immigration challenges. All of this in the guise of an utterly failed “regime change” strategy — now seven decades old and counting — mostly catering to the extreme right of my community in Miami, which is a miniscule portion of the U.S. electorate. Yet multiple polls tell us that roughly 60% or more of the U.S. electorate favors a policy of engagement with Cuba, even in today’s Trumpian environment.
No serious expert thinks that Cuba poses a national security risk to the U.S. or any other country in our continent. In fact, Cuba played a very constructive role in bringing peace to a half century of warfare between the largest insurgent force and the government of Colombia and is now hosting further negotiations with another guerrilla group, all with the support of multiple Colombian administrations. Also, every other country in our continent has had full diplomatic and often trade relations with Cuba for decades, not to mention that all but two or three countries have voted for an end to the embargo for the last 30 years in the United Nations General Assembly.
The actions of the Cuban government hardly suggest the signs of a “terrorist” hemispheric role, which is another failed excuse for the embargo. If anything, regarding terrorism, we should worry much more about the very dangerous extremists that only days ago threw two Molotov cocktails at the Cuban embassy in the middle of Washington, D.C., and those who a couple of years ago sprayed it with several dozen rounds of rifle fire. This terrorism is happening in our country. The times when Cuba sponsored guerrilla groups in Latin American are long gone, and the accusation that Cuba “sponsors terrorism” is ludicrous.
Menendez will almost certainly be gone from the Senate soon, and he’s already stepped down from his chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee. President Joe Biden will thus be free move to a more constructive policy, following the Obama-Biden attempt of a few years ago. Multiple polls over the years tell us that he could attract 40-50% of the Cuban American vote — and, as we know, politics is a game of margins among multiple sectors of the electorate. Will Biden be reviled by the extreme right of the Cuban American community for doing so? Yes, of course, but they are never going to vote for him, no matter how “anti-Castro” he tries to sound.
Most importantly, Biden would thus embark on a new path that, above all, will be better for our country and will also be welcomed by Cubans on the island as well as a sizable sector of Cuban Americans, certainly in the Florida area where the strident right-wing is most effective in shutting down debate with fear. Most of all, it will be welcome everywhere else in our country.
