Agreeing to Disagree - The Best Things (about Cuba) I've read (in Spanish) this week (II)

I've just read two provocative and well reasoned blog posts about the unfolding situation on the ground in Cuba, "Repression as a Means of Distraction" (by Alejandro Armengol, Blog Cuaderno de Cuba) and about the debate over lifting the travel ban, "Of Tourists and Suitcases" (by Frank Rodriguez, Blog de Emilio Echikawa).

While I don't share the totality of either argument, both reflections are highly recommended for their civil, rational tone, critical analysis, and original point of view. Also, both are notable since they openly differ with the latest actions and statements from Yoani Sanchez, Reinaldo Escobar, and their blogger movement, but do so in a spirit of clear sympathy and solidarity.

¡Qué Vengan Los Yuma!

Last Thursday, the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a much anticipated hearing on the topic, "Is It Time to Lift the Ban on Travel to Cuba?" (see the full 3-hour webcast). While this is not a new subject for Cuba-watchers, there are a pair of bills currently winding their way through the Congress that seek to do just that. Current prospects for the change aren't good, however, what with the pro-embargo lobby donating generously to the Democratic members of Congress and with Nancy Pelosi saying essentially, "Yeah, but now ain't the time...".

However, those who favor the openning managed to bring together a new and quite forceful group of speakers, including activist and dissident Miriam Leiva (who addressed the gathering from the U.S. Interest Section in Cuba) and blogger Yoani Sanchez (who sent in her own powerful and typically literary statement). Coverage of Sanchez's participation from the Miami/Nuevo Herald is here and here, with a quick summary of parallel events in Cuba and on her blog here.

Phil Peters has covered this ground comprehensively on his own blog, The Cuban Triangle and, in fact, was an invited speaker at the hearing.

I leave you with an excerpt from the statement of La Flaca Indomable, "In the suitcases - A reflection on the necessary liberalization of Americans' travel to Cuba":

"Eliminating these long obsolete travel restrictions would mean the end of the main elements with which official propaganda has repeatedly satanized American Administrations, and the anachronistic travel permit that we Cubans need to enter and leave our country would be even more ridiculous. Of the phrase spoken by Pope John Paul II that January 1998 in the Plaza of the Revolution - 'Let Cuba open itself to the world, and let the world open itself to Cuba' - only the first part would remain to be accomplished..."

"Clumsy and Anachronisitc" - Can I Get an Amen!?

For those pundits and politicians who have been trying to use the attack on Yoani Sanchez and her fellow bloggers last weekend as an argument against the Obama Administration's opening negotiations with Cuba, repealing the travel ban, or doing away with the "clumsy and anachronistic" embargo, here are three fresh quotes to consider:

The first is from Sanchez's latest blog post, "Made in the U.S.A.," the second from a Human Rights Watch report, "New Castro, Same Cuba," released today, and the third from an op-ed, "Lift the Ban," published in the Miami Herald yesterday by U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Representative Howard Berman (D-Calif.).

La Flaca
Made in the U.S.A.
"It is these trade restrictions, so clumsy and anachronistic in my judgment, that can be used as justification both for the setbacks in productivity and to repress those who think differently."

HRW
New Castro, Same Cuba
"Efforts by the US government to press for change by imposing a sweeping embargo have proven to be a costly and misguided failure. The embargo has inflicted severe hardship on the Cuban population as a whole, while doing nothing to improve the human rights situation in Cuba. Rather than isolating Cuba, the policy has isolated the United States, alienating Washington's potential allies on this issue."

Lugar and Berman
Lift the Ban - Let Americans Visit Cuba
"Isolation from outside visitors only strengthens the Castro regime. U.S. travelers' dollars ... could aid the underground economy and the small self-employed sector permitted by the state, strengthening an important foundation of independence from Cuba's authoritarian system... [O]ver the last five decades, it has become clear that isolation will not induce the Castro regime to take steps toward political liberalization. Conditionality is not leverage in this case. Our current approach has made any policy changes contingent on Havana, not U.S. interests, and it has left Washington an isolated bystander, watching events on the island unfold at a distance."