Why boycotting Cuba makes sense

Why boycotting Cuba makes sense
By Richard Cohen August 5 at 10:01 AM

I have an idea. Instead of merely lifting the U.S. embargo on Cuba,
let's impose another. By all means, Washington should end its
54-year-old failed effort to strangle the Castro regime. But what the
government couldn't do, others should attempt: Liberals (and others)
should boycott Cuba.

I am old enough to remember when liberals would not visit Spain so long
as fascist dictator Francisco Franco remained in power. I concede that
this boycott did not hasten Franco's departure — he died in office — but
it was, after all, a worthy statement of principle. At least it
recognized that Franco was a bad guy.

The same should hold for Cuba. The embargo has been a failure, but so,
too, has been the Castro regime. It has turned the island into an
economic basket case — all those cute DeSotos and aging Chevys — and it
continues to rule repressively. Cuba has but one political party — the
Communist one — and no freedom of the press. Why some people continue to
swoon over it should stump me, but it doesn't. They insist on thinking
that any enemy of the United States is a friend of theirs.

Human Rights Watch, which keeps an eye on Cuba, reports that while some
things have changed in Cuba, the Castro regime still arrests dissidents.
Instead of endless jail sentences, it now favors shorter periods of
detention. Sometimes, all it takes for detention is the intention to
join a peaceful march of protest.

Yes, yes, it's true that I have not said a word about to travel to China
or other authoritarian nations, but then the Chinese government was
never extolled as the innocent victim of U.S. policy. The same holds for
most of the Middle East. "See the pyramids along the Nile," as the old
Patsy Cline song goes, "watch the sunrise from a tropic isle." But
remember, darling, all the while, Egypt ain't no democracy.

For too long, Cuba has played the victim. Yes, the United States has
economically boycotted it, but other nations have not — and still the
economy stinks. Yes, the United States had worked to undermine the
regime, but that's hardly a justification for one-party rule, no freedom
of the press and arbitrary arrests. When Israel justifies an outrage by
claiming it's under constant siege, its critics bellow their contempt.
But when Cuba does it, it engenders sympathy.


So rather than rush to visit Cuba, Americans of Conscience — a group I
have just formed in my head — ought to hold off a bit and wait for some
genuine reforms, such as permitting a free press. As I said, just an idea.

Richard Cohen writes a weekly political column for The Washington Post.

Source: Why boycotting Cuba makes sense - The Washington Post -
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