The one-sided relationship with Cuba

The one-sided relationship with Cuba
By Editorial Board October 1 at 8:21 PM

SINCE DEC. 17, President Obama has been engaged in a sweeping overhaul
of U.S.-Cuba relations at the heart of which are conciliatory gestures
by Washington; more travel by dollar-spending Americans to the
impoverished island; a pledge to deal with differences, including on
human rights, through diplomatic channels rather than confrontation; and
a presidential call for the end of the U.S. trade embargo. In calling
for "reform" in Cuba this week at the United Nations, Mr. Obama made no
use of such provocative terms as "liberty" or "democracy."

President Raúl Castro's regime, by contrast, "seems to have done little
beyond reopening its Washington embassy," as The Post's Karen De­Young
reported Wednesday. Mr. Castro's son-in-law, an army general, still
controls the dollar-earning tourist industry, the Internet largely
remains unavailable to ordinary Cubans, and, most important, dissidents
remain subject to arbitrary arrest and detention — including several
snatched off the streets for daring to approach Pope Francis during his
recent visit.

Mr. Castro has in fact appeared to pocket Mr. Obama's concessions — and
raise his demands. His speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday
read like one of his brother Fidel's old jeremiads from the 1960s,
complete with a call for Puerto Rican independence and condemnation of
alleged NATO encroachment on Russia. More pertinent for Mr. Obama's
normalization project, Mr. Castro cast bilateral reconciliation as a
long, complex, process which can only reach fruition once the United
States ends the "economic, commercial and financial blockade against
Cuba," and the "return" of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. These
conditions, as Mr. Castro knows, range from politically difficult
(lifting the embargo) to impossible (Guantanamo). The true practical
relevance of lifting the embargo, at a time when it already exempts food
and medicine, and travelers from the United States brought $3.5 billion
worth of goods to Cuba in their luggage during 2013, while Cuban
Americans sent $3.1 billion cash in remittances, was not seriously
discussed.

Nevertheless, Mr. Obama staged yet another photo opportunity and private
meeting with Mr. Castro at the U.N., after which Cuba's foreign
minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, was pleased to chide the U.S.
president for failing to use his executive powers even more aggressively
to circumvent the embargo law. Mr. Rodríguez said: "He has not done so.
I expect him to do so."

When it began, Mr. Obama billed his opening to the Castro regime as a
more effective means of bettering the lot of the island's impoverished
and repressed 11 million people. So far, it's raised their hopes, but
not their prospects. Perhaps it's time Mr. Obama started reciprocating
the Cubans' offer of advice and tell Mr. Castro more plainly what he
expects Havana to do, starting with allowing the Cuban people freedom of
speech, press and assembly. After all, Mr. Castro's executive powers,
accumulated over more than half a century, are much, much more extensive
than Mr. Obama's.

Source: The one-sided relationship with Cuba - The Washington Post -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-one-sided-relationship-with-cuba/2015/10/01/5ab43e1c-686f-11e5-9ef3-fde182507eac_story.html