Bush Administration Squanders Opportunity to Open Dialogue with Cuba
in a thoroughly predictable manner, the Bush administration has rebuffed Prince Regent Raul's latest attempt to open a dialogue with the U.S.:
The State Department on Monday rejected an offer of talks with Raul Castro, Cuba's acting president, saying it saw no point in a dialogue with what it called the Caribbean island's "dictator-in-waiting."
Rather, the U.S. should recognize that the embargo has failed to bring freedom to Cubans, and try a different approach. An implicit recognition of Raul's conditions for dialogue (mainly no criticism from the US as to how Cuba treats its internal opposition) may be too far to go, but certainly a response more limited in scope but open to dialogue with Cuba might have been the first step.
Once that first step is taken, who knows where the dialogue may lead? Such a dialogue will by necessity involve the highest levels of government in Cuba, from which ranks the successor of Raul Castro will inevitably come (Raul, you may recall, is 75, a heavy drinker, and has heart problems). What an advantage for the US to be engaged in conversations with the next leader of Cuba!
Sadly, this will not happen under the Bush administration. Its short, curt "no thanks," can not but harden even further the positions on both sides.
Or to put it more bluntly, in the words of The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson,
[T]he Bush administration has been even more idiotic than its predecessors in its policies toward Cuba, which means that the United States is perfectly positioned to have little or no influence over what kind of Cuba finally evolves.
yup...
The State Department on Monday rejected an offer of talks with Raul Castro, Cuba's acting president, saying it saw no point in a dialogue with what it called the Caribbean island's "dictator-in-waiting."
"The dialogue that should be taking place is not between Raul Castro and any group outside or any country outside of Cuba. It's the regime, with the Cuban people, talking about a transition to a democratic form of governance in that country," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
SourceRather, the U.S. should recognize that the embargo has failed to bring freedom to Cubans, and try a different approach. An implicit recognition of Raul's conditions for dialogue (mainly no criticism from the US as to how Cuba treats its internal opposition) may be too far to go, but certainly a response more limited in scope but open to dialogue with Cuba might have been the first step.
Once that first step is taken, who knows where the dialogue may lead? Such a dialogue will by necessity involve the highest levels of government in Cuba, from which ranks the successor of Raul Castro will inevitably come (Raul, you may recall, is 75, a heavy drinker, and has heart problems). What an advantage for the US to be engaged in conversations with the next leader of Cuba!
Sadly, this will not happen under the Bush administration. Its short, curt "no thanks," can not but harden even further the positions on both sides.
Or to put it more bluntly, in the words of The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson,
[T]he Bush administration has been even more idiotic than its predecessors in its policies toward Cuba, which means that the United States is perfectly positioned to have little or no influence over what kind of Cuba finally evolves.
yup...
posted by Yimboro | 4:56 PM
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