Bush calls Castro's bluff

President Bush yesterday called the bluff of an aging dictator, promising to ease trade and travel restrictions on Cuba if next year's elections for the island's so-called legislature are "certifiably free and fair" and if Cuba adopts market-based reforms. In doing so, Mr. Bush outlined a bold strategy, abandoning the conventional deference to or isolation of Cuba for an innovative, conditional engagement. Mr. Bush also put the ball squarely in Fidel Castro's court by calling on the dictator to follow the democratic laws of his own creation and promising rewards for compliance. During former President Jimmy Carter's visit to Cuba last week, Mr. Castro said numerous times that Cuba enjoys democracy. Mr. Bush has given him the opportunity to prove it.

This is right out of Henry Kissinger's play book. Kissinger gave the Soviet Union Eastern Europe as its "Sphere of influence." and in return the Soviets allowed the free flow of information and radio and almost complete free travel in their sphere of influence. At the time I thought Henry Kissinger had lost his mind. Mr. Kissinger knew exactly what he was doing. His concept was the match that started the fires of freedom in Eastern Europe and even the old Soviet Union. In conjuction with the military buildup under our great President Ronald Reagan the destruction of the old Soviet Union was sealed. If Castro does what the Soviets did in the 70s, Cuba will be a free and democratic society within ten years.

I wish to drink a rum and coke one day in Havana and to be able to call it by its true name, Cuba Libri.

But Mr. Castro has grown rather partial to his fiefdom and might be less than inclined to loosen his grip on despotic power. For this reason, Mr. Bush also articulated his vision for reaching out to Cubans by easing restrictions on humanitarian assistance and directly funding non-governmental and religious organizations that give humanitarian assistance and help build civil society in Cuba.

Fomenting Freedom - Circumventing Castro to reach the Cuban people***Engaging Cuba, in fact, has the unavoidable consequence of propping up the Communist dictatorship. European money that flooded in starting in the early 1990's after the fall of the Soviet Union was vital to the survival of the regime, and it gave Castro a financial shot in the arm.

European cash almost solely lines Castro's pockets because of the way the dictator has fashioned the terms of engagement. Foreign companies must establish joint ventures with the Cuban government, with a cut of the profits going to Castro. But the despot nets more cash from the labor arrangement: Workers are not employed by foreign companies; they are rented.

Companies pay Castro's machine approximately $1,000 per month per worker, in hard cash. The regime, in turn, shells out less than $20 - per month - to each worker, in pesos. In other words, 98 percent of all wages paid by foreign companies in Cuba are funneled straight to Castro.

Because Castro has been denied American cash from such joint ventures and for several other reasons, the embargo has worked, even if it hasn't dethroned him. The embargo has put Castro in a box, and has robbed him of resources to fund his extracurricular activities. As a senior administration official noted, "If Castro has to spend $40 million on food, that's $40 million he's not spending to develop biological weapons."

Despite the morally despicable conditions for joint ventures, a large number of Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are pressing for engagement with Castro. In fairness, many simply don't understand that the communist dictatorship relies on foreign cash for its very existence, but ignorance should not be an excuse for ignorant policy.

Bush's speech may pave the way for expunging Congress's blissful ignorance, and likely will be cheered on Capitol Hill in the long run.***

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