Fidel Castro celebrated his 79th birthday yesterday.For over forty years, the United States has held firm to a position that President Castro must be removed from power. To that end, we have tried embargoes, propaganda, and at least one minor assault. And yet, there he is, solidly in power and unlikely to leave before he dies.
Perhaps the time has come for a new objective.
Believe it or not, Fidel Castro won't live forever. He is still very active, but eventually he, like everyone else, will have to "shuffle off this mortal coil." What will happen in Cuba when Castro is gone? Who will take over? What sort of government, socially, economically, and politically, will they end up with? And how will they get there?
The truth is that, while we can't influence internal Cuban affairs very much now, we can take steps that will greatly influence what happens there down the road. But in order to influence Cuban events in in future, we must first be involved in Cuban events now.
The only way we can get involved in Cuba (short of invading yet another country that is no threat to us) is by lifting the trade and travel restrictions that have, over four decades, proven to be a complete failure. Grain shipments and cultural exchanges with the Soviet Union contributed to its demise far more than any military action. The same can be true in Cuba.
Allow Americans to travel directly to Cuba and import Cuban products. Lift the limits on how much Cuban exiles can send to their families left behind. Restrict automatic asylum for Cuban refugees. Engage the Cuban people, and let them see, all by themselves, just how wonderful, prosperous, and yes, liberating, an open society is. We won't need to preach to them, we won't need to coerce them, we certainly won't need to invade them, and we won't even need to spend nearly as much money proselytizing.
We must spent more time just letting people in other societies see that, despite its shortcomings, our open political and economic system is invigorating, lively, and generally delightful. We must spend less time trying to force our system down other people's throats. And we can start this new policy with one of our closest neighbors.
"You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." "Lead by example." "Tend to your knitting, and let me tend to mine." These platitudes exist for a reason. The so-called "common sense" that these expressions show is often lost in Washington. It is never too soon to introduce common sense into politics. Beginning in a small way, by opening up to Cuba in order to secure their future, should be fairly painless, even for entrenched politicians.
Let's give Fidel Castro a birthday present that he would probably rather not have.
Copyright 2005, Dan Jacoby
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