Posted on 04/09/2003 1:42:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Cuban government's crackdown on dissidents, sentencing dozens of people to long terms in jail on subversion charges, is a fresh obstacle to those who are seeking an end to the US embargo on Cuba.
President Fidel Castro's heavy handed repression saw some 79 dissidents, including journalists, economists and political reform activists, sentenced in trials running from Thursday to Monday, in the biggest crackdown on Cuba's opposition in years.
But the move is a direct result of growing provocation from the head of the US Interests Section in Havana James Cason, analysts say, pointing the finger at the policy of US President George W. Bush toward the communist island.
The measures by Castro's regime have raised international concerns. And those who advocate an end to the 40-year US embargo on Cuba say their job has been made more difficult.
Brian Alexander, director of the Cuban Policy Foundation, said the arrests and moves to secure jail terms for the dissidents will have a negative effect "on the ability to move forward in the bilateral relationship by easing the embargo" -- at least "from short to mid-term."
While, according to Alexander, "lawmakers aren't clear about what's going on" the question also on people's lips is, "Is the charm offensive over? Is Castro now looking to provide some sort of crisis with the US?
"And if Castro is, it'll be very hard to put priorities on rights to trade and rights to travel," added Alexander, whose organization wants an end to the embargo.
"The worst time imaginable for (Castro) to undertake these actions is probably right now," said Alexander. "The momentum in the US for a change in Cuba policy is stronger than it's ever been ... and Castro's signal or message to all those who are working to ease relations with Cuba is to smack them in the face."
Daniel Erikson, head of the Cuba program at the InterAmerican Dialogue, said: "for those who promote opening up relations between the US and Cuba in Congress, these arrests have made their case more difficult to make."
However, Julia Sweig, an expert on Cuban affairs at the Council on Foreign Relations, believes that proponents of an end to the embargo "will probably use the crackdown as an argument to reinforce their case -- which is 'the best way to promote openness is with an open relationship, not with a provocative relationship.'"
From the moment Cason took up his post last September he opened the doors of the US Interests Section -- and his own home -- to Cuba's tolerated though illegal dissidents.
Cason also met with dissidents at various places around the country -- further provoking Castro's anger. The Cuban leader has lashed out at Cason, calling him "a bully with diplomatic immunity."
"The group of people that's running policy toward Cuba are ideologically committed to ending the regime, and I think would like nothing better than to see even the nominal cooperative relationship we have evaporate," said Sweig.
Castro's response has been to send "a message internally to the Americans," said Sweig.
"The message is that 'if you force us, if you rub in our face the fact that you're helping to organize these dissidents, we're going to have to crack down on them, but if you pull back a little bit we'll allow them to function.'"
According to Erikson, both the US and Cuban governments are interested in increasing hostilities: the United States, to boost areas of its own national politics, notably in favor of the anti-Castro community in Miami, and Castro, because he is fearful of losing power.
"It's like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde approach to the US in its relation," said Erikson. Both governments "are interested in creating a level of hostility: in the US for political domestic consumption, on the Cuban side there is ambivalence on the embargo.
"On the one hand they are in desperate economic straits to have American tourists visit and Americans coming to invest would be a godsend; but on the other hand, it would be a real threat to the control the government has on the island."
Despite deteriorating bilateral relations, commercial ties are apparently at their strongest in 40 years.
US exporters last year sent 138 million dollars' worth of goods to Cuba, thanks to legislation passed in 2000 allowing food and medicines to be sold to Cuba under certain conditions.
The Last Straw? White House lashes Cuba over dissident crackdown*** WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House pointed an accusing finger at Cuba's latest crackdown on dissidents, calling it proof President Fidel Castro's government remains a "totalitarian blight" on the region.
"We are not going to reverse our policy of helping the dissidents," pledged national security spokesman Michael Anton, who said US President George W. Bush was "deeply concerned" about Castro's heavy-handed tactics.
In the widest crackdown on opposition to the Castro government in years, dozens of dissidents, including journalists, economists and political reformers, were sentenced to lengthy prison terms this week.
"The Castro regime's arrest, prosecution and sentencing of these brave and peaceful activists are repugnant reminders that the regime remains a totalitarian blight in an otherwise peaceful and democratic hemisphere," said Anton.
The US House of Representatives meanwhile unanimously approved a resolution condemning the arrests of 79 Cuban dissidents and the harsh sentences handed down to dozens of them.
The measure passed by 414 "yes" votes and 10 abstentions, said the office of Florida Republican Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who co-sponsored it.
"The House of Representatives sent a clear message today in support of the Cuban people's right to be free and in opposition to the brutal tyranny that oppresses Cuba," said Diaz-Balart, a Cuban-American and hardline Fidel Castro opponent.
"Today's vote honors the Cuban people as well as the American people," he said. ***
And what is Erikson's agenda here? Smearing the US, equating it to Castro at best? Excrement flingers were born and proven in Hitler's Nazi propaganda. Any reason to push socialism and destroy the US.
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