Obama threw Cuba a lifeline. Biden shouldn’t do the same thing. It didn’t work | Opinion

Since President Obama’s goodwill outreach to the Castro regime, every indicator of freedom reveals the enhanced repression of the Cuban people by the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). At the same time, the Castro regime has been bolstering Nicolas Maduro’s corrupt regime in Venezuela.

I do not question Obama’s good intentions in reaching out to the Cuban government. He did it in the spirit of hope and in goodwill. But the results have been unilateral, providing a lifeline that principally has benefited and rescued the Communist Party, led by Raul Castro, and its ruling elite.

According to the latest report from Amnesty International: A year after President Miguel Díaz-Canel took office [in 2019], the authorities continued to employ long-standing mechanisms of control to silence critical voices. The Cuban authorities continued to arbitrarily detain and imprison independent artists and journalists, and members of the political opposition.

According to the latest report from Freedom House: Political parties other than the PCC are illegal. The Council of State has full control over the courts, whose rulings typically conform to the interests of the PCC.

According to the latest report from Human Rights Watch: Despite updating its Labor Code in 2014, Cuba continues to violate conventions of the International Labour Organization that it ratified, specifically regarding freedom of association and collective bargaining.

In May, security forces cracked down on a protest in Havana promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and detained several activists, media reported.

Cuba has also been indispensable to the Maduro regime in Venezuela. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies: Cuba is an integral element of the system of social control and repression that the Maduro regime uses to stay in power. Cubans continue to provide intelligence support and monitor domestic and internal military activities, primarily through the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence. To protect the regime, these security forces imprison and torture political dissidents and civilians protesters.

Cuba exerts significant influence on the Maduro regime’s security apparatus and has arguably done more than any other state to secure Maduro’s grasp on power.

With the total collapse of the economy of its petro-satellite ally in Venezuela, the Castro regime needs U.S. commerce now more than ever. But, absent the rule of law and freedom for the Cuban people, our commerce with the Castro regime serves principally to enrich the Communist ruling class and secure its political monopoly over every aspect of life. Cubans receive merely the trickle-down crumbs of any infusion of commerce from the United States, while remaining impoverished by a corrupt political system and deprived of basic freedoms.

Any change in U.S. policy should be conditioned on, at least, these changes on the island, including: allowing freedom of association and collective bargaining by the Cuban people; allowing U.S. companies to directly hire and pay Cuban citizens as independent employees; allowing the Cuban people to directly receive remittances from the United States without the Cuban government benefiting financially; establishing a judiciary independent from the PCC; and allowing political parties besides just the PCC.

All of these steps would benefit the Cuban people. If the Castro regime is convinced about its popularity and its competence to run the country, then it should not feel threatened by any of these reforms. There is no reason why the Cuban people should not have these basic rights.

President-elect Joe Biden needs to learn the facts about what the Castro regime has done since Obama’s well-intended outreach. Wishful thinking and unilateral initiatives without reciprocity and freedom for the Cuban people will not make for a competent foreign-policy strategy.

They merely would rescue a family dictatorship now in its 61st year.

Roberto Martinez is a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 3:46 PM.