Obama, Cuba, and Complacency Toward Evil
Obama, Cuba, and Complacency Toward Evil
Before the United States agrees to lift more sanctions toward Cuba, Havana must allow for greater political and economic freedoms.
Sanctions are not uncommon when dealing with tyrants, as we have seen recently in the discussions weighing what to do about North Korea and Iran. The United States levied sanctions against Libya after its terrorists downed a PAM AM flight over Scotland in 1996; the world imposed sanctions on the white supremacist government in South Africa in 1986; many governments in 2003 placed sanctions on the brutal military regime in Burma. Most recently, the United States and many other governments put sanctions on the “interim” government in Honduras that seized power in a coup but held elections on November 29.
Of equal interest is the answer Burmese dissident and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi reportedly gave to British and American diplomats who asked her opinion about proposals to lift sanctions against the military dictatorship ruling her country: “In exchange for what?”
That is certainly one of the questions that President Obama should be asking those in his administration and the Congress who continue to propose lifting more of the U.S. sanctions on Cuba’s Castros Dynasty.
Obama has already lifted U.S. sanctions on travel to Cuba and the remittances family members send to relatives in Cuba. When he did, the President asked President Raul Castro to respond by reducing Havana’s high taxes on remittances and by releasing Cuba’s political prisoners. The Cuban general said “no.” Now, the White House says that “the ball is in Havana’s court.” The President is still waiting, and so are we.
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