Obama Rehabilitates the Castro Brothers

Obama Rehabilitates the Castro Brothers
The Organization of American States is now open to dictatorships.
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
April 5, 2015 5:56 p.m. ET

When President Obama travels to Panama for the 7th Summit of the
Americas later this week, expect to be inundated with platitudes about
the blossoming of democracy in the region. Don't believe it. Repression
is on the march in the Americas, and U.S. ambivalence is part of the
problem.

In the White House's lack of moral clarity, the region's bullies smell
weakness. One result is that a Caribbean backwater run by gangster
brothers now has the upper hand in setting the regional agenda.

If the U.S. president is humiliated in Panama City like he was in Port
of Spain in 2009, no one should be surprised. That's when Mr. Obama
tried to be one of the boys with Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, who thanked
him by presenting him a copy of the famous anti-American diatribe "The
Open Veins of Latin America."

Summits are a waste of time and money for real countries. But this one
will be useful for Cuba, which will be allowed to join the group for the
first time, and on its own terms. It's hard to put a finger on the
lowest point in Obama foreign policy, but its abject submissiveness
regarding this meeting in the U.S. backyard is a serious contender.

For years Cuba was not permitted at the table with the members of the
Organization of American States. In April 2001, participants at the
Americas summit in Quebec ratified an established policy of including
only freely elected democratic governments. In September 2001 the OAS
members signed the "Democratic Charter," requiring the suspension of
nondemocratic governments.

The charter had some meaning in its early years, thanks to U.S.
influence and the fact that the OAS would not be able to pay its bills
without Uncle Sugar. But it started unraveling when Mr. Obama took
office and began trying to appease Cuba and Venezuela. This year, not a
shred is left.

Being outcasts made Raúl and Fidel Castro feel disrespected. So they
pressured much of the rest of the region to say that if Cuba were again
left out, they would boycott the event. In December Mr. Obama folded.

It was a sign of how bad things are in the Americas. Authoritarian
governments now rule in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Venezuela, Ecuador,
Argentina and Bolivia. All employ, to varying degrees, at least some
elements of the Cuban model in which the executive consolidates power,
civil society is suppressed, and due process is passe.

Elections are rigged. Rulers expropriate at will. Media outlets that
dare to differ from the party line face legal burdens that can wipe them
out.

Democratic institutions in Brazil and Chile remain intact, but the
socialist leaders in both countries are great admirers of the Castros
and wouldn't dream of offending their hard-left constituencies. Colombia
is compromised by its peace talks in Havana with FARC narco-terrorists.

A handful of other countries might have defended the democracy principle
if they had some confidence in U.S. backing. But a feeble U.S.
diplomatic team is no match for Castro's foreign policy of exporting
terror. No one is going out on that limb with Mr. Obama in the White
House. So Cuba is in and Raúl will get his long-sought legitimacy from a
U.S. president.

Appeasement has brought new demands. Some governments say they will
raise a stink in Panama because the U.S. recently declared Venezuela a
threat to U.S. national security and sanctioned seven Venezuelan
officials. Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro says he has collected
more than six million signatures on a protest letter that he will hand
to Mr. Obama.

Mr. Obama expected that he would be a hero in Panama, the guy who
offered to open diplomatic relations with Cuba for the first time in a
half century. But Cuba has rebuffed him. Castro says he won't accept
normal relations until, among other things, Cuba is taken off the U.S.
list of state sponsors of terror and the U.S. returns Guantanamo.

Granting most of the Cuba demands would require approval from the U.S.
Congress. But pleasing Raúl will be an Obama priority. He might try to
take Havana off the list of terror sponsors unilaterally if he believes
he has veto-safe support in the event of a congressional challenge.

Here Cuban reality could interfere. The island is home to Basque
terrorists wanted in Spain and scores of fugitives from American justice
like Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted of the 1973 murder of a New
Jersey state trooper. The military dictatorship also arms and trains the
FARC. Cuba wants access to the U.S. banking system, but banks have to
consider the legal jeopardy they risk if they take on a client with a
history of financial support for terrorism and money laundering.

It will be hard even for Mr. Obama to be popular at the Panama summit
unless he decides to abandon the war on terror. Even then, it's unlikely.

Write to O'Grady@wsj.com

Source: Mary Anastasia O'Grady: Obama Rehabilitates the Castro Brothers
- WSJ -
http://www.wsj.com/articles/mary-anastasia-ogrady-obama-rehabilitates-the-castro-brothers-1428270994