Much of the reporting about Cuba in the last couple of weeks has sounded like a fairy tale. Everyone lives happily ever after.
Gov. George Ryan travels on a peaceful mission to Cuba, tries to save the poor country from the wrath of the Yankee embargo and is feted, wined and dined, leaving the island with hints from Fidel Castro that Cuba might someday erect a statue to honor its friend, the governor of Illinois.
In more than four decades, there have been countless descriptions of Castro ranging from charming and eloquent to torturer and terrorist. But some descriptions of Castro the people of Illinois have been hearing and reading about are ridiculous, preposterous and misleading. One would think the old man is just an idiosyncratic, rambling ruler with an aura of mystery around him, who has spent his life smoking the finest cigars, drinking the finest rums, evolving to a vegetarian diet of brown rice, vegetables and water buffalo milk. And, especially, one who has been unjustly denied access to the world by the U.S.
Are we all that gullible?
Some people blame the U.S. embargo for the plight of Cuba’s people. An embargo which has, no doubt, isolated Cuba from the rest of the world. However, before the end of the Cold War, the Soviets sent millions of dollars a year in cash payments to the island, and people still lived on monthly rations. Where did all the money go? Certainly not to the people of Cuba.
The real question is why Ryan is so infatuated with Castro, who heads one of the world’s most repressive dictatorships? Castro leads a country that hasn’t held a free election in more than 43 years and is listed by the U.S. State Department as one of seven nations that sponsor terrorism.
While Castro, his military and Gov. Ryan’s 16-person delegation from Illinois were dining on seafood, meat, vegetables and desserts, monthly rations for ordinary Cubans include six eggs, 2 pounds of rice, 2 pounds of a soy mixture, 1 1/2 pound of lentils, a pint of cooking oil and a bar of soap every three months. Cubans survive on the hundreds of millions U.S. dollars their relatives send annually to buy everything else on the black market.
Forget, if you can, for a moment, the economic situation in Cuba.
Is it fair that for 43 years Castro has jailed, executed or exiled those who don’t agree with his policies? Last year’s Human Rights Watch World Report on Cuba’s human rights developments states that peaceful opponents of the government remain behind bars, are evicted, searched, threatened and undergo other forms of harassment. Criminals are arbitrarily put to death for homicide as well as numerous other crimes, including international drug trafficking and the corruption of minors. The government maintains a firm stance against independent journalism, regularly detaining reporters and sometimes prosecuting them. Is it fair that Cubans are not allowed to leave Cuba without an expensive exit permit or face prosecution for “illegal exit?”
If Ryan is looking to Cuba for business, he doesn’t have to go back too far to figure out that this small country is not a good credit risk. Last year, it was reported that France canceled a grain shipment of $160 million due to Cuba’s non-payment and that South Africa and Thailand stopped providing credits to the island. Eastern European governments have tried unsuccessfully to get payment on their Cuban debt. Cuba has one of the worst credit ratings in the world.
There’s nothing illegal about Midwest companies daydreaming about the day politics with Cuba are resolved. And thanks to the tiny loophole in the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, there’s nothing illegal about donating medicine and supplies to Cuba. But how is it possible for Gov. Ryan and his group to ignore the numbers and continue to lay the groundwork for trade with a smooth operator who has managed to start but not maintain business with other countries? Why take the chance that U.S. taxpayers might have to pick up the tab?
Born in Havana and coming to America at age 3, I was raised in South Florida’s anti-Castro land and worked as a journalist there for 15 years. I have reported too many stories to ignore from “rafters” who risked their lives crossing the Florida Straits to leave their island prison, and from Castro’s so-called friends who arrived regularly at Miami International Airport freed after serving 25- and 30-year prison sentences for disagreeing with his Marxist policies. This is not extremist thinking from a Cuban-American. This is common sense. Trying to do business with this shady character is bad business for our state as well as bad public relations. Gov. Ryan and his group are, at best, misguided.
