I don't always agree with Roger Cohen. First of all he's a Chelsea fan and I pull for Arsenal
. I still believe he was seriously wrong regarding the Iraq War.
I do largely agree with his cover story in Sunday's New York Times Magazine about the future of Cuba and Cuban-US relations on the cusp of a new administration. Viewpoints of individual Cubans are represented as well as Cuban exiles, some of whom favor the hard-line position that has failed, some of whom don't, veterans of Cuban policy in the US as well as Cuban government officials. A few comments I liked:
Wayne Smith, who ran the U.S. Interests Section under the Carter administration, has
observed that “Cuba seems to have the same effect on American
administrations that the full moon used to have on werewolves.” There
is something about this proximate island, so beautiful yet so remote,
so failed yet so stubborn, that militates against the exercise of U.S.
reason.
[...]
“I say, ‘Lift the embargo unilaterally, put the onus on Cuba,’ ”
[Bay of Pigs veteran Alfredo] Durán told me. “If we negotiate, what do we want from them? They have
very little to give.”
As he spoke, a little ruckus erupted
outside between Republicans and Democrats. Durán smiled: “You know, the
only place Cuba still arouses passions is right outside this
restaurant. Yet U.S. policy toward Cuba is stuck with old issues in
Florida rather than logical strategy.”
[...]
“We’re always asking for the kindness of strangers,” [Aspiring artist Javier] Aguirre retorted. “This is not communism or capitalism, it’s a Cuban mess.”
[...]
“Revolution was supposed to mean equal opportunity for all, but it has
become a word the Castro brothers own,” she [Giselle Palacios, daughter of dissident Hector Palacios] said. “Young Cubans don’t
believe in the Castros’ version of revolution. They don’t believe in a
world where the Internet is forbidden and your whole world is Cuba with
the rest blocked out.”
This goes to the heart of the matter and why I detest the cult of the personality, regardless of the political leanings:
“You know,” [Dissident blogger Yoani] Sánchez said, “when a nation gets on its knees before a
man, it’s all over. When a man decides how much rice I eat a month, or
whether or not I can leave a country, that country is sick. This man is
human. He commits errors. How can he have such power? Like a lot of
people of my generation, I have willed myself to stop thinking about
him, as a therapy. I think there will be relief when Fidel dies. We
will breathe out. The mystical and symbolic weight of his presence is
very heavy, for his opponents and even for his supporters. It’s hard to
right his errors while he’s still there.”
I have said time and again, what brings progress to Latin America are institutions that are established and respected by all citizens. This is what makes a nation, not a common language, not mere geography, not race, not religion, not one man or woman and their sibling(s), but laws and rules respected by all.
Greg Weeks has a little more on what Obama faces.
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