[Marxism] No to Castro, yes to Cuba

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Excellent column which should be widely circulated as it surely
represents a large and growing segment of the Cuban-American
community in the United States. The Miami Militants don't speak
for these people who don't need a weatherman to know which way
the wind blows. He's for full-scale normalization of relations.
I don't agree with the motivations he presents, of course, but
as to the policy conclusion of normalization, he's correct.)
===============================================================

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-vidal2dec02,1,3090854
.story
No to Castro, yes to Cuba
By Guillermo Vidal

December 2, 2005


TODAY MARKS the 49th anniversary of Fidel Castro's return to Cuba,
following his exile in Mexico. With his small band of guerrilleros,
Castro launched a successful revolution against dictator Fulgencio
Batista, a victory celebrated throughout the island nation. Only
three years later, however, hundreds of thousands of disillusioned
Cubans began to flee Castro's rule and enter lives of exile
themselves.

These expatriated Cubans ? the vast majority of them choosing
sanctuary in the U.S. ? loathed Castro, the communist government he
created and the subsequent seizure of private property and suspension
of political freedoms. Their rage has been the main ingredient in the
complex recipe that has defined U.S. policy toward Cuba.

However justified this bitterness toward Castro may be, we must
acknowledge that these policies have only brought suffering to the
Cuban people, and that they must be ended. I have shared this anger
and sense of betrayal toward Castro. In the first days following the
rebels' victory in 1959, my father lifted me high so I could touch
Castro's hand as he and his soldiers paraded through Camagüey, my
hometown.

But by the fall of 1961, my parents ? who had become targets of the
revolutionaries simply because they owned several businesses ? lived
in such fear for their lives and the lives of their children that
they made the wrenching decision to send my two brothers and me,
unaccompanied, to the U.S. as part of Operation Peter Pan. We were
placed in an orphanage in Pueblo, Colo., where we lived until 1964,
when my parents escaped Cuba and found us.

But for the next two decades, we experienced the emotional, cultural
and financial difficulties of immigrating to a foreign land. The loss
of the economic and social status that had sustained my parents in
Cuba inflicted in them a psychological wound that would never heal.
In fact, my father's dying request of his sons was for us to return
to Cuba and reclaim the properties that had been stolen from him and
his family.

Yet in spite of my family's suffering, I recognize that it is time to
let go of that rancor and to join with other Americans in insisting
that this great country reestablish a relationship with Cuba.

To determine what to do next, the U.S. must acknowledge the failure
of its current policies toward Cuba, and especially the decades-old
economic embargo that bars U.S. trade with Cuba and travel to the
country. If the original intent was to free the Cuban people from
communism, then Castro's 46 years in power prove that these
strategies have failed.

Castro's revolution has not only survived, it has been emboldened.
When I returned to Cuba in 2001 after a 40-year absence, I witnessed
how the people perceive Castro as the living symbol of an indomitable
national spirit that refuses to yield to a foreign government. Even
though the communist economic system that he implemented has been a
dismal failure, most Cubans blame the U.S. for their financial
troubles.

There are those in the U.S. who believe that Cuba's return to
democracy depends solely on retaining our current policies until
Castro and his minions are ousted. But this mind-set denies the
virtual certainty that Cubans will never agree to a new government,
especially one established by the U.S.

A far better strategy for the U.S. would be to open our borders to
bilateral trade, tourism and the exchange of ideas with Cuba. Because
Cubans have little access to information other than what they get
through the state-owned media, unlocking our doors to Cuba will lead
the way to new ideas and will expand the United States' influence.

Normalizing our relations would also help hurry along the
establishment of a free-market economy. On my visit, I witnessed
Cubans eagerly plunging into the few opportunities they have been
given ? small restaurants operated by families in their own homes,
artisans selling their wares to tourists.

The U.S. would benefit by establishing new markets for our goods. 
The two governments can co-invest in tourism, as have some European
nations.

My family and I have succeeded in creating good lives for ourselves
as U.S. citizens, as have many Cubans who have come here since 1959.
The time has come for Cuban Americans to move beyond our anger and
work toward giving the people still living in our former homeland a
chance at a better life.

GUILLERMO VIDAL is a public official and civil engineer living in
Denver.



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