More than a half century after Fidel Castro imposed his suffocating brand of socialism in Cuba, the U.S. government is still pretending that restricting trade and travel to the island will somehow promote Cuban freedom.
But at least the Obama administration is slowly opening the door to greater access by Americans, in tacit recognition of an utterly failed policy over 11 administrations, even if it still isn’t willing to lift restrictions altogether.
We happen to think Washington should restrict travel to another country only when Americans’ physical safety is at risk, not as a form of economic punishment. Such punishment is rarely effective, as the experience with Cuba shows all too well.
Travel to Cuba has been tightly controlled for decades, and all but banned for much of the period. But a thaw began during the Clinton administration, which allowed so-called people-to-people contacts that involved tours with an educational, religious or other approved focus.
Yet even that modest relaxation of travel standards was rolled back in 2004 under President George W. Bush.
Now the Obama administration has released rules that allow travel along Clinton-era lines, although with even fewer restrictions. The Associated Press reported recently that Treasury Department guidelines say that people-to-people tours must guarantee a “full-time schedule of educational activities that will result in meaningful interaction” with Cubans, but there will no requirement to file an itinerary ahead of time.
If there is no need to file itineraries, however — and no apparent intention to monitor activities by tour groups — then we’re inching closer than ever to full-blown freedom for U.S. travelers.
So why not simply drop the fig leaf and let tourists be tourists? Why should Americans only be allowed in Cuba if they keep to a “full-time schedule of educational activities”? Does anyone still seriously think that such restrictions have a positive influence in nudging the Cuban regime, now led by Fidel’s brother Raul, into liberalizing its economy, protecting civil liberties and establishing the rule of law? (Come to think of it, since when isn’t a simple stroll through a foreign city or village educational in its own right?)
The Cuban government reportedly believes as many as 500,000 Americans could visit the island under the new rules — second only to Canada in terms of tourists.
When loosening travel restrictions was proposed in January, the head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., responded by saying it “will not help foster a pro-democracy environment in Cuba. These changes will not aid in ushering in respect for human rights. And they certainly will not help the Cuban people free themselves from the tyranny that engulfs them.”
She’s probably right. But keeping the restrictions in place wouldn’t promote those goals, either. We’ve got 52 years of evidence to clinch the case.
