Cuba pulls the exodus card to push Biden to the bargaining table. Don’t fall for it | Opinion
By land and sea, the Cuban regime is unearthing its exodus playbook and opening venues for discontented Cubans to leave the pressure-cooker island, now under more brutal repression than usual following historic protests.
The latest ploy is an arrangement with the Cuba-friendly, strongman-led government of Nicaragua, which has lifted visa requirements for Cubans. The regime announced the relaxation on national media for viral effect — and the results are thousands of U.S.-bound Cubans trekking through Central America without legal passage on their way to the U.S. southern border.
A steady stream of Cubans also has been arriving in South Florida on rickety vessels, mostly single men so far and from interior provinces, an indication that the free-to-leave order has reached all corners of Cuba.
This, despite the messaging campaign by the U.S. Embassy in Havana not to risk lives at sea.
And get this: Al Jazeera reports that large numbers of Cubans are seeking shelter in Greece and Italy, flying as far as Russia to then find a way into Europe.
“The issue came to light on October 28 when some 130 Cubans tried to fly from the island of Zakynthos, in the Ionian Sea, to Milan, in northern Italy,” and authorities began to see “one Cuban passport after another,” the news agency reported Tuesday.
So it’s not just opposition leaders being offered by the regime the deal of the century — leave the country or serve substantial prison time.
Now, the entire country can leave, and not only for the U.S. border.
Maybe that “review” of U.S-Cuba policy the Biden administration keeps promising will be pushed up the ladder of priorities at the State Department now?
Because that’s another thing Cuba wants: to push Biden to the negotiation table, to stop his administration’s efforts to call attention to Cuba’s unrelenting rights abuses and engage the international community, and to stop Biden’s calls for change and democracy.
In Spanish, it’s called chantaje. In any language, it’s blackmail.
Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken — whose pinned tweet ends with “we stand with the Cuban people in their fight for fundamental freedoms” — are in for a ride. Their commitment to a free Cuba will be tested.
Threat of exodus an old ruse
It’s well worth remembering that Cuba’s move is an old ruse to rid the island of dissidents and bring the American government du jour to its knees.
If the current situation were a book, the pages would be yellowed, the spine frayed and torn from so much use:
▪ Camarioca Boatlift, 1965, under President Lyndon B. Johnson, which led to the Freedom Flights that brought 250,000 Cubans, myself included.
▪ The Mariel Boatlift, 1980, under President Jimmy Carter, which brought 125,000 Cubans in a matter of five months, including criminals and mental patients Fidel Castro placed among the refugees.
▪ The rafters exodus, the so-called balseros of 1994, under President Bill Clinton, which brought 35,000 people.
▪ The multi-country trek to the southern border that began under President Barack Obama, slowed only somewhat under Donald Trump, and continues to this day.
See a pattern? All Democratic administrations, most engaged at the time in negotiations to reach out to the Castro brothers to bring about reform and change to Cuba’s dictatorship before the relief valve of immigration was opened.
All of the exoduses also came at a crucial moment in the history of the dictatorship and during periods of dire economic strife, as now, coupled with political crackdowns on the people. All reined in different waves of growing dissent inside Cuba and the migration provided additional economic stimulus by way of growing remittances from the new exiles.
Stay course on change, President Biden
Oftentimes, Cuba’s unleashing of an exodus coincides with political strife in the United States, as was the case with Mariel, when Carter was in the midst of the Iran hostage crisis, the most profound of his administration, although the chaos surrounding Mariel seemed a close second.
And now, politically speaking, what better weapon than the threat of mass migration to the United States to fuel American anger, especially useful in the atmosphere of today’s hyper-partisanship?
Don’t fall for any of it, President Biden.
Stay the course on regime change fueled by the will of Cubans, be that desire represented by dissident leaders forced into temporary exile or those bravely speaking from inside. Stay the course on fair, humane immigration policy that respects the right to request political asylum, but doesn’t make a sham of border security.
Stay the course to properly staff the U.S. Embassy in Havana to facilitate engagement with civil society and eventually resume consular services. Diplomacy, and in particular that foothold in Cuba, should never be abandoned. Because that’s what the Cuban regime wants — darkness to operate, crushing international human rights standards.
It’s sad to see Cubans once more voting with their feet and abandoning the island.
Leaving is a gift to the loathed regime. It ensures the dictatorship’s permanence.
This story was originally published December 1, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
