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The announced resignation of Fidel Castro as president of Cuba represents the end of an era, and an opportunity for the United States to change its failed politics-driven policy toward the island. With Castro's resignation, Cuba will change and have the chance to chart a new course for itself, under new leadership. It's now imperative that we, in this country, do the same.
There's no winning with the current policy. But change could bring a lift of the travel ban, a flurry of humanitarian aid, the sale of much-needed food, medicines, and other goods, as well as an exchange of ideas and culture that might thaw its frozen-over civil society. We gain so much by tossing away our 1960s-tinted glasses. With fresh eyes, we can look anew at our neighbor 90 miles south as a place where regular Americans enjoy enormous popularity and the ability to influence events towards a more open and democratic society. Our embargo has failed, and so we can test the effectiveness of active contacts between our people in bringing about positive results.
Raúl Castro, the likely successor, has made promising overtures to our government, gestures this administration outright ignores. He has opened up unprecedented dialogue with his people, allowing a praiseworthy amount of discussion and dissent. At 76, Raúl is not quite of the younger generation, but he does represent new leadership. We cannot secure a foothold of influence in Cuba's imminent transition if we refuse to speak to anyone in its government. We currently have no one's ear – worse yet, we choose to petulantly insult and threaten, when we do – and that is too dangerous a position in which to find ourselves.
Respect must be mutual. A disregard for Cuba's sovereignty weakens our moral high ground and provides opponents of progress with the fodder to obfuscate our argument. We cannot pick and choose their leaders for them, but we can provide assistance as evidence of our friendship and concern for the people and for the future of the country. That need not require that we set aside our dearly held principles, either. Everything can be raised and addressed – human rights, the freeing of political prisoners, the return of certain appropriated property. We can and we must deal with them, but we first need to be willing to dialogue.
The obstacles of the past should play no part in the construction of our futures. We have to get beyond that tragic incident in 1996, when U.S. civilian planes were shot down near Cuba. That day in late February represents one of the saddest days in U.S.-Cuba relations: Americans were killed, and so, too, were the hopes of progressives making headway towards normalization. Up until that very setback, the Clinton administration was on the cusp of a breakthrough to a new policy of engagement that by now would have influenced change as the Cuban people recognized what they were missing under their leadership.
New and forward thinking in Miami now yearns for that breakthrough. A younger generation – unborn during Castro's revolution, thoroughly American but intent on visiting what family remains in Cuba – has grown weary of the restrictions and embargos of the past. Polls find that majorities of Cuban Americans approve the sale of medicines (70 percent), the sale of foods (62 percent), unrestricted travel (55 percent), and a revocation of President Bush's stringent 2003 policy (64 percent). The embargo now garners the lowest percentage of approval since it began decades ago.
Our standing in the world has taken a critical blow, thanks to our stubborn inability to amend failed policy. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has exploited our position to weaken our credibility among other countries in the hemisphere. We have shunned our allies in the Caribbean, like the great Michael Manley of Jamaica, simply because he was friendly with Cuba. We allow China to increase its influence in the world and exploit oil discovered on the island nation's shores. We will likely one day need these countries – including Cuba – to be on our side, but a policy and politics of obstinate silence cuts against that interest.
Cubans and Americans have had a love affair for decades. The affinity between the two peoples has developed naturally, from our shared musical influences to our predilection for baseball. There is very little that keeps us apart – namely, the American and Cuban governments. In a way, they have colluded in an age-old battle of wills that does no good to either side. But Cuba's government has signaled a changing of the guard that should encourage us to review and change a policy that has failed towards one that will have the promise of success.
This is not the time for dancing in the streets. It is a time for a sober and contemplative shift in our thinking.
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