Several days ago, President Obama took a number of unprecedented steps to "normalize" relations with Cuba. Unfortunately, as we have become accustomed to by now, the President apologized for decades of American sanctions, made every concession he could, and still walked away with a bad deal. His efforts were largely wasted because, at the end of the day, the Senate is the body that would have to actually "normalize" relations with Cuba by ending decades of embargoes and treaties designed to isolate the country that once allowed Soviet missiles to target our shores. That's probably not going to happen, so the President's actions were only symbolic.
Cuba was actually the "America" that Columbus discovered in 1492. Shortly thereafter it became a Spanish colony. In 1902, with significant help from the United States, Cuba declared independence from Spain. For five decades thereafter Cuba was the destination for wealthy world travelers and entertainers. The government was hopelessly corrupt, however, and in 1952 Fidel Castro and his brother, Raul, used a junta to attempt to overthrow the government. They were radical communists, violent and acting with few restraints. They were defeated and Castro was imprisoned until 1955. He was released and fled to Mexico where he became a close friend of Che Guevara. Che was also a violent, unrestrained revolutionary. When he returned to Cuba in 1959, he had broad support for his revolution. The government fled the country, along with a substantial number of loyalists, and Castro took over. He quickly purged all opposition from the island and consolidated his rule.
Initially, the United States did not oppose his regime. After all, he was a lawyer, educated in the United States, he loved baseball and American cars. How bad could be be? It didn't take long, however, for the U.S. government to figure out that Castro was insane. He acted irrationally and with slight regard for anything that wasn't directly related to his radical plans for the Cuban people. It became clear that Castro would have to be removed. An attempt was made in 1961 by the Kennedy administration in what became known as the Bay of Pigs. The invasion, made up of Cuban exiles, was intercepted on the beach and decimated.
Of course, just one year later, we faced the Cuban Missile Crisis. While the threat of Soviet missiles was eventually eliminated, the world faced the possibility of a war of unfathomable proportions because, in part, Castro wanted to guarantee his rule in Cuba by enlisting Soviet support.
Since consolidating power, Castro has (1) instituted forced labor camps for political opposition; (2) actively worked to identify so called "bourgeoisie" and place them in reeducation camps - or kill them; (3) criminalized unemployment by arresting anyone not seen working at a job; (4) "reeducated" homosexuals in forced medical rehabilitation camps; and otherwise arrested, tortured and executed some 30,000 other "dissidents" during his reign. In short, Fidel Castro and his brother are very bad men. There should be no mistake about that.
Of course, many Cubans over the years have fled to America, where they have worked extremely hard to build good lives for themselves and their families. They hate the Castros. Fidel and Raul are, to them, the devil incarnate; the torturers of the innocent, and executioners of their families. President Obama did not grow up in Cuba. These men and women did, and they know something about it.
American opposition to Castro has been justified. It has been justified since the beginning, and will continue to be justified for so long as Cubans live under this oppressive, violent regime. The Castros will all be dead soon. There is not one younger than 70. To believe now, as the regime is about to fall, that it was the appropriate time to forgive all past transgressions is beyond naive. It is radical. It is not just a little radical either. It is 60's Che Guevara radical. It is a young man in college with his "Che" T-Shirt on, angrily itching to show the world how backwards they all are for opposing such a great man. It can no longer be classified as naive. It is a belief system.
The funny thing is, I could see a president, after having opened up trade with dozens of other countries, after negotiating substantial treaties with other nations, or preserving American power overseas, I could see that president normalizing relations with Cuba. There would no doubt be a debate. How that president addressed the Castros in the process would also be an important indicator of whether we were conceding defeat or they were. But, to make it your single affirmative foreign policy legacy is just unfortunate. Coupling that with an apology for decades of sanctions, supported by hundreds of American leaders and every president over six decades, is simply misinformed. Then to do it now, as the Castro regime is about to die out, shows that in the President's mind, it just couldn't wait. It looks suspiciously like he wanted to apologize to Castro while he was still alive so he could appreciate it and savor his victory.
The President's Cuba legacy will be remarkable in history. There can be no doubt about that. When Cuba does finally open up - after Raul Castro dies - and Cubans flock to the United States, you can bet that very few will ever vote for the party that apologized for Castro. You can also bet that Cuba really won't be open before that time, even after the President's recent efforts.
I ordinarily would not be so hard on the President for taking this position. After all, I like Cuban cigars and rum as much as anyone else. I'd love to vacation in Cuba. I hear it's a pretty place. But, President Obama accidentally revealed something about his true motivations by a mistake he made in his speech. I find those motivations disturbing. In his apology, President Obama referenced the "legacy of colonialism." America, however, has never been a colonial power. That was old world Europe. America was, in fact, a European colony, as you may recall. But in President Obama's mind, America is a colonial power, which has, among other things, oppressed the people of Cuba. He is completely wrong on his history, however. First, as I mentioned, America did not colonize Cuba. Spain did. More importantly, however, America fought for Cuba's independence from Spain. Part of that became what was known as the "Spanish American War." The ship the Maine, of "remember the Maine" fame was sunk off the coast of Cuba in 1898. American then intervened on behalf of Cuban independence in 1902 - just four years later. It is doubtful that Cuba would have won its independence without American help. Independence. Not colonialism. Independence.
There is a deep misunderstanding of history at work here and, like most deep misunderstandings of the facts, it has led to yet another poor policy decision. The time to normalize relations with Cuba would have come anyway. Old men tend to die, even if they are dictators. They also tend to be replaced by younger leaders with different values. In the case of Cuba, there is a legacy of oppression that would soon be lifted without American intervention. Intervention in this case bolstered the dictatorial regime. Consequently, President Obama is now the one acting like the leader of a colonial power, interfering with the individual rights of the colonists.
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