[NYTr] A change of heart for The Herald

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Progreso Weekly - Nov 8, 2007
http://progreso-weekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=227&Itemid=1

A change of heart for The Herald

By Emilio Paz

First, the good news. The Miami Herald has come out officially in favor
of an end to the travel and remittance restrictions imposed by
Washington on Cuba.

In an editorial Wednesday (Nov. 7), titled "More remittances, travel
for a free Cuba," the newspaper states: "The U.S. government should
lift harsh restrictions on travel and remittances to the island to
encourage more people-to-people contacts and support for Cubans pushing
for democracy."

Farther on, the editorial explains: "More family travel and cultural
and academic exchanges would open a world of information and supportive
contacts for Cubans on the island. More remittances would help sustain
political prisoners as well as Cuban democrats stripped of jobs."

Now, the bad news. The Herald makes this bid for all the wrong reasons.

It talks of "fissures" in the government, exemplified by a statement
ascribed to Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, to the effect that
Cuba is ready to resign its sovereignty and join "a grand bloc of Latin
American and Caribbean nations."

That's twisting the truth. Pérez Roque simply said that Cuba is a proud
member of the Latin American-Caribbean community. He did not say that
Cuba was willing to abandon its national individuality and become just
another victim of Washington's hegemonistic intentions. His statement
does not -- as The Herald said -- "contradict years of nationalistic
fervor." On the contrary; it reaffirms them.

Then, the editorial comes up with a whopper. "President Bush was
correct in his recent speech on Cuba to encourage Cubans in the
military, police and government to strive for reconciliation and
democratic change," it says.

"Encourage" Cuba's army, police and government to "strive for
reconciliation"? What Bush did was to incite those institutions to
revolt and create such an unstable, violent situation that the United
States could be excused for taking over the island as a protectorate.

"When Cubans rise up [...] you've got to make a choice," he told them.
If you choose to overthrow the government, he hinted, "there is a place
for you in the free Cuba." A place for you as well-paid puppets of the
Bush administration, no doubt.

Another whopper comes next. Bush "should take the advice of experts
like Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa, [...] and most Cuban dissidents,
including hard-liner Martha Beatriz Roque. All push for more openings,
travel and contact with Cuba."

While it is true that many dissidents have expressed a desire for an
end to the restrictions, Ms. Roque is not one of them. In statements to
the foreign press, she has repeatedly urged Bush to continue to squeeze
the Cuban people until the government collapses. Of course, she can
afford to say that, since she is bankrolled and managed by the Bush
administration through the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.

And I don't remember ever hearing Havel or Walesa say that they would
like the blockade to end. Of course, a reopening of Cuba's trade with
the Czech Republic and Poland would be to everyone's benefit.

The Herald's editorial closes by saying that "after Fidel Castro dies,
Cubans will have a chance to shape their destiny. Opening up to Cuba
now will encourage a transition to freedom."

Wrong again. Cubans are shaping their destiny at this very moment, as
they go through the national election process. A transition has
proceeded successfully, even as Fidel Castro has turned over his
principal duties to his brother Raúl and other national leaders. It is
a transition within socialism, not to the "freedom" (read "Plattist
neoliberalism") that Bush would like to impose on the island.

The editorial's subtitle is revealing: "U.S. can break the isolation
imposed on the Cuban people." But who imposed that isolation? Sorry,
Herald. Your proposal is good, but your intentions and reasoning are
not.

Emilio Paz lives in Miami.