By Frank Calzon in The Lincoln Journal Star:
Taking exception to Cuban 'opportunity'
The stated premise of your editorial (Loosen trade with Cuba, 9/29/2010) that "recent moves by Fidel and Raul Castro present a new opportunity" is simply wrong and, I fear, leading you to recommend policy changes that offer no relief from poverty to the Cuban people and will leave American taxpayers holding a worthless Cuban IOU.
It is correct that the Cuban government has announced it will "lay off a half a million workers," about 10 percent of Cuba's workforce. It does not follow that this means "a move toward the free market system."
In 2002, Fidel Castro announced the closing of 71 of the country's 156 sugar mills, leaving thousands of workers unemployed. Like the new layoff, the old layoff was a move toward greater misery, poverty and despair for workers and families.
Closing the mills also was the demise of an industry that had fueled Cuba's economy and development since the 18th century and a testament to the cruelty of the tight control the Castro communist government exerts over the island's economy.
The 178 "self-employment" jobs open to Cubans include: animal caretaker, barber, baby sitter, servicing carts pulled by animals for children's use, clown, re-filler of cigarette lighters, repairman of wicker products, salesman of paper flowers, future teller, collector of grasses for animal feed, mattress repairman, doorman, peeler of natural fruits, pet-hair cutter, servants, umbrellas repairman, and exhibitor of trained dogs.
Cuba is a beggar state, dependent on the remittances of exiles to prevent widespread hunger. The Castro Regime imposes high taxes on those remittances, ignoring President Barack Obama's request to reduce those taxes and rejecting proposals to normalize postal service. Re-establishing postal service would help millions of desperate Cubans, but the regime awards its supporters with private freight concessions and takes a cut of their profits.
Here is the historic record: By 1962, the Castro government had assumed control of all major economic activity in Cuba and had confiscated about $1 billion in American-owned properties. By 1968, virtually every vestige of pre-Castro free-enterprise had been eliminated, including fruit stands and barber shops.
Even by communist standards the Cuban government has exercised an unparalleled level of economic control. Today, Cuba is broke. Its government has no clue as to how to deal with the most serious economic crisis in the island's history, except to freeze the bank accounts of foreign investors "due to a liquidity crisis" and urge American tourists to visit and rescue it.
The biggest economic reform it could muster is to allow "Paladares" to increase seating to 20 from 12. Paladares are restaurants in the home of the cook. This is a far cry from the economic activity allowed by the also repressive Vietnamese and Chinese communist regimes.
In 2007, America sold Havana $437.5 million dollars in foodstuffs. In 2008, the number was $710 million. Unlike exporters from other nations, the U.S. exporters got paid because the United States requires that any trade with Cuba be made on a "cash and carry" basis. The United States cannot extend credit to Havana without also providing export insurance and guarantees that force American taxpayers to pick up the tab when Cuba defaults. Havana already owes billions to European nations.
Counterintuitive as it may sound, it simply is not in the best interests of this country to lift sanctions unilaterally. With U.S. dollars flowing into its coffers, the Cuban government most likely will strengthen its repressive, domestic security forces, halt any pretense of economic reform, and increase its worldwide anti-American campaigns. That's been the history of Castro's Cuba, and it is why Cuba remains on the State Department's list of state-supporters of international terrorism.
Those who believe that "increased economic contact with Cuba cannot help but increase the desire among Cubans for freedom of speech and other political rights" should know that that desire already is strong. What pro-democracy advocates in Cuba need is support and solidarity with the United States in keeping pressure on the Castro government to reform. Have you ever heard anyone trading with Havana, call on the Castro regime to reform its economy? Hold free elections? Uphold human rights? What you hear from those now trading with Havana is silence.
Change will come to Havana. When it does, U.S. policy, no doubt, will facilitate a successful transition to democracy and market economics. For now, let's help the Cuban people by denying subsidies to their oppressors.
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