December 17th, 2014. For Cubans, that date will be remembered in the same way that East Germans remember November 9th, 1989, the day the Berlin Wall fell. The Cuban Revolution is dead, and democracy is inevitably on the horizon.
Earlier this week, after 18 months of negotiations, President Obama and President Raúl Castro agreed to formally restore full diplomatic relations between their two nations, ending decades of hostility and ushering in an opportunity for cooperation between the two Cold-War enemies. As Obama framed it, it’s time for a “new approach.”
The deal, mediated by Canada and facilitated by Pope Francis, did much more than just broker the release of political prisoners and call for the establishment of an American embassy in Havana. The president has signaled that the United States will take steps to ease restrictions on both travel and commerce between the United States and its neighbor 90 miles to the south.
For all intents and purposes, the revolution born in the Sierra Maestra, has failed. The revolution that promised to liberate Cubans “for the cause of the destruction of imperialism and the victory of world revolution,” as Castro famously stated, died the moment its leadership was willing to make amends with the “empire.”
Without its anti-Americanism, Cuba is nothing more than a backwards island of restricted rights, food shortages and human rights abuses. It loses its symbolic significance for tyrants across the globe.
This is certainly a blow for leaders like Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro who depend on the myth of the Cuban Revolution to maintain power.
But while today’s historic agreement should be celebrated, it is, like the fall of the Wall, still a symbolic first step in the right direction. There is still work to be done if the Castro regime is to end and democracy is to extinguish the remaining embers of the revolution of 1959.
For starters, Congress must immediately and without hesitation lift the economic embargo on the Cuban people.
Although Republicans like Marco Rubio argue that their goals are “freedom and democracy in Cuba” and that the embargo gives them “leverage,” it should be noted that the best way to build open societies abroad is through economic engagement and free-trade.
Really, if the last fifty years have shown us anything, it’s that economic sanctions against Cuba have not only failed, but they have also offered the Cuban leadership a means by which to justify its abuses and explain away the country’s economic failure.
If the embargo were lifted, travel sanctions eliminated, and an American embassy built in Havana, then there is every reason to believe that American curiosity and entrepreneurship would drive wealth and opportunity to the island. This is a clear recipe for a Cuban Spring.
Although the United States has never really been the best neighbor to Latin America, President Obama’s action towards Cuba could hasten a new era of positive engagement through commerce and cooperation. Politicians cannot rewrite history, but they can forge a foreign policy that promotes free markets and democracy through friendly and evenly balanced relations.
The importance of a democratic Cuba for the future of Latin America cannot be stressed enough. As we watch Cuba take its first steps towards democracy and totalitarian regimes begin to crumble in Venezuela, Ecuador and Argentina, we should feel hopeful that socialism is on its last legs in our region.
Regarding the Cuban Revolution, Cuban singer, Silvio Rodriguez, once wrote “at the end of this journey a path begins, another good path to follow.”
Whether or not he knew it, the path that he was singing about is one towards democracy and freedom.