Critics of normalizing relations between the U.S. and Cuba will no doubt claim vindication after Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez’s graceless attack on this country at the historic reopening of the island nation’s embassy Monday in Washington, D.C.
According to The Associated Press, for its “excess craving for domination,” praised the “wise leadership of Fidel Castro,” whose “ideas we’ll always revere,” and demanded the return of Guantanamo Bay.
But nothing Rodriquez said is a surprise, and his comments hardly negate the importance of newly established diplomatic relations. Indeed, relations should have been restored at least 20 years ago. The U.S. has normal interactions with many countries that regularly criticize it. The whole idea of diplomacy, after all, is to work through differences.
Even so, Rodriguez’s words do provide Secretary of State John Kerry an excuse to deliver some equally stern words regarding Cuba’s deplorable record on human rights and freedom of conscience when he presides over a flag-raising ceremony at the U.S. embassy in Havana on Aug. 14.
As a State Department report released last month confirms, Cuba still uses “government threats, extrajudicial physical assault, intimidation, violent government-organized counter-protests against peaceful dissent, and harassment and detentions to prevent free expression and peaceful assembly.”
That about covers it.
Even with embassies now open, U.S.-Cuba relations still face a big hurdle in Congress, since only it can lift the economic embargo against Cuba. Meanwhile, most Republicans and some Democrats oppose such a move absent progress by Cuba on human rights.
This is a curious demand, however. Has anyone ever conditioned trade, say, with Saudi Arabia or most other nations with abysmal records on human rights on whether they loosen internal restrictions?
Then why impose a separate standard for Cuba?
It’s time to normalize economic interactions with Cuba along with political relations. The U.S. stands to gain, and so does the average Cuban.
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