Posted on 02/21/2005 4:49:26 PM PST by wagglebee
With the European Union agreeing on January 31 to lift the sanctions that it imposed on Cuba in 2003 after Fidel Castro imprisoned 75 political dissidents, European officials will be resuming their visits to the island.
Spain's government pushed for the policy switch that critics have labeled a victory for appeasement. Cuban dissidents and exiles, Spanish opposition parties, human rights organizations and former Czech President Vaclav Havel have denounced the new policy as an abomination.
Still, in foreign affairs as complicated as those involving Cuba, there are rarely any clear-cut victories. Madrid's proposal triggered a welcome and enlightening debate on the nature of Castro's rule and EU responsibility vis a vis Cuba. Havel's principled stand provided new perspectives on the issues, and the actual change was less than Castro expected.
Dissidents Not Invited
If Spanish President Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero believed that the EU – following its traditional deference to Madrid on Cuba matters – would go along without raising any eyebrows, he was sorely disappointed. It took months of meetings among the EU's Latin American experts, a heated debate among European governments and a gathering of foreign ministers to achieve consensus for a policy change.
Let us review the changes:
* The EU will no longer invite the dissidents to National Day celebrations (invitations were suspended last December), but it also vowed to "develop more intense relations with [Cuba's] peaceful political opposition through more regular dialogue."
* High-level diplomatic contacts will resume with the Castro regime, but the EU restrictions denying Castro tens of millions of euros in foreign aid are still in force.
* The new policy will be revisited in July.
* The change places Madrid and Havana under the glare of international scrutiny. Will Madrid be able to extract concessions from Castro with its newly acquired leverage, in light of a new call by the EU for the "urgent" and "unconditional" release of all Cuban political prisoners?
The Czechs believe that the new policy restores the situation to what it was before the sanctions were imposed, i.e., each nation deciding on its own whom to invite to its embassy in Havana. Others suggest the existence of a "gentlemen's agreement" to proceed in concert. If that were the case, Prague responds, the Czech government would have vetoed the accord.
The debate is heating up. The European Parliament opposes making concessions to Castro. European newspapers are critical of the new arrangement. Havel has called on Europeans to defend their democratic values and not to side with dictators. And Spanish public opinion is divided. The Zapatero government has put itself in the unenviable position of having to insist that it has not yielded to Castro's blackmail and that supporters of democracy will see tangible results from the new policy.
In a few weeks, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, where European democracies have always voted to condemn Castro's human rights record.
Cuban dissidents have announced that they will gather in Havana on May 20, Cuba's Independence Day. Will the regime permit the meeting? Will it round them up and jail them? In either eventuality, what will be the position of Madrid and the EU?
Castro Insults Bush
It is sometimes necessary to repeat the obvious: There is no substitute for U.S. leadership. President Bush has reaffirmed clearly America's commitment to freedom around the world. Castro's pejorative response was to say that Bush looks "deranged."
Castro also angrily accused Europeans of treating Havana "as if we were condemned to a death sentence" and said: "[The world is] observing our behavior, Cuba doesn't need the United States, it doesn't need Europe. Cuba doesn't need any assistance."
Castro's disregard of human rights and callous indifference to the plight of the Cubans suggest that, aside from occasional diplomatic gestures, there will be no offers of assistance.
It should've been cleaned up a long time ago.
Just a hunch...but we may see some kind of revolution in Cuba sooner than expected. Food rationing is now at an all time low. The country is being quartered off and travel restrictions are tightening for Cubans with in the country.
Open hostilities are becoming more common and the fear factor of the secrest police is evaporating.
Will it be a blood bath? Time will tell I guess but the rage many exiles have here towards the Castro regime cannot be underestimated.
Ratherbiased only has a week left with his current job, so you never know.
I hope it straightens itself out. Castro's been an eyesore for a long, long time.
That can't be removed with an assassination. You would need the people on the streets overpowering the security forces that protect the elite.
Cut-Throat can't die soon enough.
Good point! Osama bin Laden, for instance, will never understand how his less-than-subtle pre-election videotape backfired on his pet candidate, Kerry.
If Castro had the wit to start praising Bush to the international media, every conservative in the U.S. alone, would go bananas.:)
Arafat finally died, proving that while the good die young, evil SOB's eventually do die too. Castro's days are numbered.
"Castro's pejorative response was to say that Bush looks "deranged."
I would have been greatly offended if a murdering communist dictator had spoken kindly of my President.
Where are you getting that I said U.S.-friendly Cuba? I said I hope it cleans itself up. More for the sake of starving Cubans than anything else.
Oh oh sorry... I was just arguing against the interventionist argument, which is often made, one u did not make.
I agree though, it is something we should all hope for.
Castro's pejorative response was to say that Bush looks "deranged."
Well when it comes to deranged, he is an expert.
"Will Madrid be able to extract concessions from Castro?"
We all know the answer to that one, don't we?
Why is this fossil still running Cuba? He's only popular in Hollywood.
Ranks right up there with:
The Pope is Catholic and Rabbie Boteach is Jewish.
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