Power Politics

Power Politics

I'm not big on political arguments, although I'm never without an opinion. On Cuba vs. US matters, I try to stay silent, but a good friend of ours, Sasha, who has a thought provoking public radio talk show called "Sound off With Sasha" in Naples, FL, told us she was going to have a show on US Cuban policy, and I was asked to phone in my comments or questions. The primary guest on the show was a former US State Department official, who did his best to describe and justify US policy towards Cuba.

Now I do want to say that despite little tweaks to travel rules for US citizens, US policy towards Cuba was set in the early 1960's and has changed little since then. Mainly it consists of an embargo (Cubans call it a blockade) on US products going to Cuba, severe restrictions on travel to Cuba, and other rules, all designed to deny the Cuban government's access to US currency and US products.

Is it successful? Well that depends upon whom you ask. Actually the Cuban government blames the embargo (el bloqueo) for nearly every problem Cuba has, so I judge they would tell you it is successful. The US government clearly thinks it is working or it would have been scrapped a long time ago. Ask the Cuban people, and they believe our embargo is the reason they must lead a life without many amenities like electronics, appliances, special foods, etc. The US man in the street probably doesn't know if it works or not as he has never been there and doesn't know anyone who has. So no wonder there isn't a popular push to end the embargo, everyone either thinks it's working or doesn't know.

What's my opinion? Well, I think it really only hurts the Cuban people by providing an excuse for not fixing anything that adversely affects them, while hardly influencing the Cuban government. Cuba can get hard currencies in other ways. For example, it has developed a thriving, profitable tourist business with most countries except the US, which has outpaced their former best exported product, sugar--as that industry has declined.

So I listened to this Washington insider on Sasha's program go on for the better part of an hour on the benefits of our Cuban policy, really feeling he was justifying the unjustifiable treatment of the Cuban people. Finally it came to be time for listener participation, and I was the second caller holding on the phone.

When my turn came, Sasha asked for my comment, and I asked, "Exactly what benefit does current US policy toward Cuba have for the American people?" I figured that ought to pin him down pretty well. But he was far slipperier than I had imagined. He said, "Well that's a rhetorical question (which it wasn't) and went on to talk about something else. In my mind, my bright question designed to put right 60 years of bad policy lingered ignored until its echoes in my head finally faded away. Mostly it was my ego that was bruised, but I got over it, and I'm still a big fan of "Sound Off With Sasha."

I learned that day that you can't easily get a politician to defend a bad policy. They're too skilled in ducking tough questions and changing the subject. I've decided, therefore, to stick to helping Cuban animals who actually suffer a little less than the Cuban people from the embargo. Maybe there's a little good in the fact that most politicians don't think much about animals.

Les Inglis