Going old school with Fidel and Raul

This past December, when Raul Castrol announced plans to release 3,000 prisoners from Cuban jails, Alan Gross’s name was not on the list.

Despite the continuing heinous conduct of the Castro brothers, the Obama administration cut ties between the American Interest Section in Havana and Cuban dissidents. Then President Obama loosened U.S. sanctions.

The response of the Cuban government … continued human tights violations and a state visit from Iran’s president.

If a world leader wants to flip the bird at America, they go to Cuba. The brothers Castro give lessons on how to do it.

Which country should change?

Yesterday, in a column for US News and World Report, Mort Zuckerman opined that it is time for the United States to change its policy towards Cuba and called for further weakening of economic sanctions. This is the same Mort Zuckerman who two years ago called for tougher sanctions on Ahmadinejad.

But it isn’t America’s policy that must change, it’s Cuba’s. Zuckerman’s description of Raul Castro as a reformer is a farce and insulting to anyone who cherishes freedom and liberty.

Last year, Cuba experienced its highest number of political arrests in three decades. Raul Castro releasing a portion of the political prisoners he sent to jail in the previous year can hardly be considered reform. It is simply a ruse Raul learned from his big brother Fidel, who released prisoners to appease President Jimmy Carter in 1978. After Carter eased sanctions, the arrests started anew.

Try explaining Raul Castro’s “reforms” to the Ladies in White, an opposition group made up of female relatives of jailed Cuban dissidents. Their peaceful marches and protests are routinely met by violence from Raul Castro’s thugs. According to recent reports, attacks against the Ladies in White have increased since the Obama administration weakened sanctions. An attack this month was committed by a pro-government mob sent to a remote section of Cuba on state-owned buses.

Painting Raul Castro as a reformer is like labeling Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as pro-Israel.

If anyone is looking for a policy deserving of change, stand at the southernmost point in Key West, Florida and cast your gaze 90 miles south. An American policy demanding recognition of basic human rights and liberty trumps Fidel and Raul Castro’s policy of tyranny and repression every time.

Rick Robinson is the author of political thrillers which can be purchased on Amazon and at book stores everywhere. His latest novel, Manifest Destiny has won seven writing awards, including Best Fiction at the Paris Book Festival.