[Marxism] Cuba policy as a U.S. domestic political issue

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This posting is primarily in response to that of Joaquin Bustelo:
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-September/035941.html
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Yes, Joaquin, Cuba is VERY MUCH a domestic issue in the United States. 
One really has to be blind not to see this, especially after all the 
damage caused by the recent hurricanes, both in Cuba and in the U.S.

When a tree falls in the forest, it DOES make a noise, even if there
is no one there to hear the noise. What could be more clear? Is there
some kind of Great Wall of China which both separates and counterposes
"domestic" and "foreign" policy today? Don't we live in a globalized
world today? Don't the billions spent on the US wars and occupations
of Iraq and Afghanistan stand in opposition to the solution of long-
neglected domestic social, economic and infrastructural necessities,
as we have recently seen in the aftermath of the hurricanes? Isn't
there something people in the United States can learn from Cuba's
ability to stand up to and save lives in the face of hurricanes
while people in the United States are pretty much left to their
own devices? And there's a good deal more we might want to ponder:

It's entirely within the realm of the possible that we will soon be
having an October Surprise, which may have originated in nature, but
which is rooted in Washington's relentless efforts to starve Cubans
into submission, while luring others with guaranteed permission to
enter the United States, a privilege denied to immigrants from all
other countries on earth. 

Among the bases for this conclusion is the considerable possibility
that there may well be the beginning of another rafter crisis when
and if some Cubans on the island become impatient with the herculean
efforts by the Cuban government, together with its allies, to provide
food, clothing and shelter for the people of the island. Not long ago
Myriam Marquez, an irreconcilable opponent of "the Castro regime", and
who recently replaced Ana Menendez, the Cuban liberal, in the pages of
the MIAMI HERALD, pointed out this threat very clearly, writing:

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    MIAMI HERALD
    Cubans caught in the eye of political storm
    Posted on Sat, Sep. 13, 2008
    ---------------------------
    [excerpt]
    "Already religious charities are scrambling to assemble
    shipments for Cuba and Haiti. They know from past
    assistance efforts that Cuba's militant regime has the
    structure -- beginning with those spying block committees
    -- to get basic aid, food and medicine to the masses
    quickly.

    "What's another option? Starve the Cubans until they
    somehow, after five decades of revolutionary propaganda,
    rise up and free themselves using scraps of lumber and
    metal from their demolished homes as their weapons?

    "Think U.S. national security. If this war of words
    escalates and aid to Cuba from other countries likely 
    falls short, we can expect another rafter crisis."
   
    FULL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/91568          
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Below is a commentary by the former chief of staff to Colin Powell, 
Lawrence Wilkerson, who has become somewhat of a campaigner for a
normalization of relations with Cuba. Wilkerson, too, sees clearly
the threat of another rafter crisis. Wilkerson does seem to grasp
the simple fact that if you can't "do the right thing" because it's
"the right thing to do", you might just do it out of fear that an
even worse thing might befall you if you fail to do the right thing.
Wilkerson's comments have resonated widely, all over the Internet.

It's unfortunate that so staunch a campaigner for Senator Obama as
Joaquin is, that he can't seem to appreciate the effort which his
chosen candidate has made to differentiate himself from the McCain
campaign on this one issue. Obama's campaign makes precious little
in the way of differentiation on other issues, such as Afghanistan
where Obama favors an escalation of the US intervention and the US
attempted occupation of that country. But at least on this one 
point, Obama is marginally better than McCain, which is why most
Cuban-Americans who want a more normal relationship with their
country of origin are supporting Obama's presidential bid.

Nevertheless, even if no one is there to hear it, when a tree falls
in the forest, it DOES make a noise. It is possible to run from the
Cuba issue, but the Cuba issue won't go away. 

Anyway, it's not MY fault that Cuba can't be discussed on Marxmail.
No one stops Joaquin from discussing Cuba policy. He is totally free
to discuss it in any way he likes, including a better way than I do.
Instead, Joaquin seems more interested in arguing about how important
Cuba is NOT in the United States. Well, that's his free choice, too.

Glad to see that Shane Mage, with whom I so often disagree, sees
that there's no Great Wall of China between "domestic" policy and
"foreign" policy when it comes to the United States of America in
this presidential election year.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California

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Our newest Cuban dilemma
Devastated by 4 hurricanes, it could unleash a mass migration in weeks
By LAWRENCE WILKERSON and PATRICK DOHERTY Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Sept. 20, 2008, 10:05AM

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6012631.html

If you live in southeast Texas, Hurricane Ike will be remembered for its
destruction. But history may remember the ninth named storm of the 2008 season
for swinging the 2008 presidential campaign.

That's because Ike devastated a little island off Florida named Cuba. In fact,
Cuba sustained damage from four hurricanes: Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike. Gustav
hit the western end of Cuba as a Category 4 storm. Ike entered the east of Cuba
as a strong Category 3, then shredded the full length of the island for three
days. There were reports of walls of water 50 feet high hitting the north shore.

In a country of more than 11 million people, 2.7 million evacuated their homes
when Ike came through. Today, 444,000 homes in Cuba are damaged, meaning up to
2.2 million Cubans are living dangerously or wondering when it will be safe to
go home.

Food supplies on the island are nearly exhausted. The crops and livestock for
domestic consumption and cash crops like tobacco and sugar cane, necessary for
the hard currency to import food â are devastated. The island's electrical 
grid
is severely damaged and in some places nonexistent. Communication towers are
down across the country. Roads are blocked with rubble from collapsed buildings,
trees or just washed away. Schools, hospitals and clinics have suffered
extensive damage or are non-functioning.

And it will only get worse. With at least $5 billion of damage done to a nation
where the average monthly salary is $17, the economy will not be able to support
the Cuban population for quite some time. Even the Cuban military is on short
rations, with perhaps a week left. With food shelves empty, hoarding and black
market price gouging will quickly squeeze all families, displaced or not, with
little to no income and no subsistence agriculture to fall back on. As the vast
majority of Cubans become malnourished and post-disaster diseases increase in
prevalence, the political situation is likely to become much more volatile
within Cuba.

All this could occur within the next six weeks. Faced with a displaced, hungry
and frustrated population, Havana could do what it has done in the past: allow a
mass migration to head north. In 1980, responding to unrest triggered by
economic downturn, Havana launched the Mariel boatlift that brought 125,000
Cuban immigrants over a five-month period to South Florida. In 1994, facing
another economic catastrophe, the Castro government allowed at least 35,000
Cubans to leave the island â an episode that cost the U.S. Treasury more than
$500 million.

The U.S. government is now offering Cuba a $1.5 million package of temporary
shelter for 10,000 families and household items for 8,000 with an additional
$3.5 million conditional on the survey of a U.S. disaster assessment team. In
contrast, Haiti, which was hit by three storms, has already received $19 million
in aid from the U.S. government. Even Burma, which has a military dictatorship
more repressive than Cuba's and was ravaged by Cyclone Fargis, received $50
million in aid.

Indeed, an increase in funding for traditional humanitarian items is not what
Cuba needs or wants from the United States. Their government believes that there
would be no prospect of a crisis if the U.S. economic embargo were not blocking
them from purchasing the needed supplies on the open market. Cuba can get food
from other countries in the region. Rather, Cuba's infrastructure needs repair.
The country needs electrical components like poles, cable and transformers. The
Cubans need heavy-duty construction equipment and materials. The only market
that can respond fast enough is the United States.

Without those supplies, the boats could very well sail before November.
Americans with family in Cuba will be furious with the Bush administration for
placing politics over saving lives. Cuban refugees who make it onto U.S. soil
will benefit from the wet-foot/dry-foot policy that other Latino immigrants â 
a
key demographic this cycle â view with considerable hostility. South Florida 
is
already reeling from the domestic economic recession, and a new load of
low-skilled immigrants will put downward pressures on wages and exclusion will
risk increased levels of criminal activity. At a minimum, CNN will be showing
pictures of thousands of malnourished and water-logged Cubans being picked up on
the high seas and then sent to the notorious U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo,
only to be repatriated to a growing catastrophe.

It is now time to lift the embargo, let Cuba buy what it needs and move on. The
U.S. policy of isolation to bring about regime change has failed to achieve its
goals for 50 years. Fidel Castro has grown old and retired.

Cuba is no longer sponsoring revolution overseas but exporting doctors and
nurses instead. And by giving Havana a ready-made excuse for economic failure,
the embargo has the perverse effect of supporting the Castro regime rather than
weakening it.

The Bush administration is between a rock and a hard place. If it continues with
business as usual, Havana may very well decide the outcome of the U.S.
elections. If it moves to end the embargo and Cuba purchases the supplies it
needs to rebuild, it will have prevented the disaster that it foresaw, but Cuba
will cease to be an electoral goldmine for the GOP.

America needs to put politics aside. It is time to do the right thing. Protect
the lives of innocent Cubans, protect our electoral process, end a 50-year-old
failed policy and be good Samaritans after all.

Wilkerson was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Doherty
participated in the humanitarian operation in Kosovo and the Balkans. They are
chairman and director, respectively, of the U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative at the
New America Foundation, in Washington, D.C. (www.newamerica.net.)




=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
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