Stephen Johnson of Shadow Government: Notes from the Loyal Opposition (a blog about U.S. foreign policy under the Obama administration, hosted by Foreign Policy magazine) proffers not extending a life safer to Cuba’s moribund regime:
Now facing a cash crunch on the heels of a disastrous sugar harvest, brother Raúl is consulting Fidel’s old playbook — releasing jailed dissidents, ramping up self-employment, and making nice to foreign businesses, which, by the way, must abide by Cuban policies of denying workers’ rights, in violation of International Labor Organization conventions. Meaningful reform? You be the judge.
[...]
Since they came to power in 1959, the Castro brothers’ goal has been the survival of their socialist dream. Adaptability has been the key to success, retreating at critical junctures without altering the regime’s basic structure. Such measures often looked like signs of change because we wanted to see them as such. On close inspection, they were skillful maneuvers to get through a crisis.
[...]
Tempting as it may be to view Cuba’s tactical retreats as reforms, they are stopgaps.
Johnson proposes the following “to sustain leverage over Cuba’s government on the cusp of transition”:
- denying financial support and credit until Cuba releases its captive labor force and pays creditors, and
- condition normal diplomatic and economic relations on respect for human rights and civil liberties such as freedom of expression, of assembly, movement, and access to due process of law.
Read the rest of his post here.