By
Cory Spiller
Yesterday was the anniversary of one of the United States' worst decisions. It is also the anniversary of one of the Cuban people's greatest victories. On April 17th, 1961, 1,500 Cuban exiles trained and armed by U.S. intelligence came ashore at the Bay of Pigs on the southern shore of Cuba. The United States thought the Cubans would rise up against Castro and join the troops. They were wrong. Kennedy decided not to send in air support, and after 48 hours the rebels surrendered.
It has been 40 years since that day. Forty years that the United States has enforced a strict trade embargo against Cuba - denying them markets, medicine, and food. It has been 40 years too long, and it's time we opened up our markets, our hearts and our minds to Cuba.
The American propaganda machine has simplified our distaste for Cuba into one man, Fidel Castro. Cuba is a large, beautiful island with millions of people who have suffered because of the U.S. embargo. But that doesn't click with most Americans.
We don't seem to mind hurting Cuba because all we see is Castro - an old, bearded, cigar-smoking, uniformed communist dictator.
But Castro hasn't always been a communist; the United States turned him into one.
In 1959, when Castro's forces deposed the ruling dictator and nationalized foreign farms, sugar mills, and oil refineries, he turned to the United States for guidance and help. He got nothing. Castro needed to sell his country's main export, sugar, and he needed oil. If the United States wouldn't provide these resources on his terms he would have to call on the Soviet Union for help. Castro did not refer to his revolution as a Marxist-Leninist revolution until he was certain that the United States was an enemy.
Since the revolution, Cuba has made incredible improvements in health care, education and economic equality. Healthcare is written into the constitution as a basic human right. Castro initiated a literacy program in the 1960s and currently celebrates the highest levels of literacy in Latin America.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, Cuba lost its largest market. It has struggled to find friendly nations to do business with. And its efforts were severely hampered by the purely sinister passing of the Helms-Burton Act.
The Helms-Burton Act was signed by Clinton in 1996. Clinton, however, recently rescinded the act in the last moments of his presidency. The act not only reiterated the U.S. embargo on Cuba, but also stated that any nation or business that attempted to do business with the island would receive sanctions from the United States.
The United States is a dumb bully. This strategy didn't work in 1959 and it's not working now.
We have no right to tell other nations or businesses who they can do business with. What happened to our old slogan, "free markets mean free people"? If we open up our markets to the people of Cuba they will be healthier, wealthier, and freer.
The United States is acting as an arrogant older brother to Cubans, trying to tell them how to run their country. We shamelessly say we won't trade with Cuba until they have free elections. Cuba has elections, they have always had elections. But in their system there is only one party. It's really not that different from our system, except we have two parties.
Don't get me wrong - Castro is no saint. Although many of the human rights violations that have been reported by the United States have been horribly exaggerated, he has often oppressed artistic and dissident voices. For example, writers and homosexuals were considered criminal, and the fraction of the population diagnosed with AIDS was removed from society and quarantined in a prison-like hospital.
Needless to say, he is a flawed leader.
Castro turned 75 this year; he has outlasted nine U.S. presidents, and he's still going strong. After several attempts to assassinate him, the United States gave up and has been anxiously awaiting his death. Some speculate that when Castro dies Cuba will turn democratic.
I don't agree. He is a stubborn and authoritative dictator, but he has the support of the people. The United States will find that Cuba isn't interested in surrendering its revolution to become another territory of the United States. The United States must accept Cuba as a neighbor, and respect its wishes to live in a nation that does things differently than we do.
