Dr. Biscet on Sanctions

at 8:50 AM Monday, April 25, 2011


An excerpt from Jay Nordlinger's interview with Cuban pro-democracy leader Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet in the National Review:

It is natural to ask Biscet what he thinks of a contentious issue in the United States: the longstanding sanctions on the Cuban regime, known collectively as "the embargo." He says, "The embargo has helped the Cuban people both politically and morally." He wishes that all "free and civilized countries would boycott Cuba, the way they did racist South Africa." The world made South Africa a pariah state. The American embargo should be lifted, says Biscet, "when the embargo against the Cuban people's human rights," imposed by the dictatorship, "is lifted." He believes that "civilized countries" have given the dictatorship "life" and "oxygen" for the past 20 years — in other words, since the collapse of the Soviet Union. When he says "civilized countries," does he mean Western Europe, which has supplied much cash to Havana? "I mean civilized countries in Europe, Latin America, and North America" (which is to say, Canada and Mexico).