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Posted by Alexander (Guest) - Wednesday, October 29 2003, 21:24:59 (EST)
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Though normally inclined to follow their president’s lead on foreign policy, many congressional Republicans have now broken ranks on Cuba. By a wide margin, the Senate joined the House of Representatives on Thursday in voting to ease travel restrictions to Cuba, just two weeks after President George W. Bush vowed to toughen sanctions on the government of Fidel Castro and enforce them more energetically. The renegade Republicans apparently think that Bush’s approach is dictated less by a coherent vision than by electoral concerns involving anti-Castro Republican voters in Florida.
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This congressional resolve is commendable. Four decades of sanctions have allowed Castro to portray himself, both at home and abroad, as a victim of Yankee imperialism. Castro would probably be as disappointed as his adversaries in Florida to see the sanctions lifted.
.
That is one reason he has a knack for provoking a backlash anytime there is a chance of a change in the status quo, which may be the best of all worlds for Castro. The dollars sent home from Florida relatives and the money spent by European tourists have kept the rickety Cuban economy afloat since the Soviet collapse. At the same time, sanctions imposed by the United States have kept democratizing influences at bay and provided the regime with a justification for its authoritarian ways.
.
The proper response to such outrages as the Castro regime’s roundup of dissidents and writers earlier this year is to seek to overwhelm the island with American influence — corporate and cultural — and with tourists and other private visitors. Though normally inclined to follow their president’s lead on foreign policy, many congressional Republicans have now broken ranks on Cuba. By a wide margin, the Senate joined the House of Representatives on Thursday in voting to ease travel restrictions to Cuba, just two weeks after President George W. Bush vowed to toughen sanctions on the government of Fidel Castro and enforce them more energetically. The renegade Republicans apparently think that Bush’s approach is dictated less by a coherent vision than by electoral concerns involving anti-Castro Republican voters in Florida.
.
This congressional resolve is commendable. Four decades of sanctions have allowed Castro to portray himself, both at home and abroad, as a victim of Yankee imperialism. Castro would probably be as disappointed as his adversaries in Florida to see the sanctions lifted.
.
That is one reason he has a knack for provoking a backlash anytime there is a chance of a change in the status quo, which may be the best of all worlds for Castro. The dollars sent home from Florida relatives and the money spent by European tourists have kept the rickety Cuban economy afloat since the Soviet collapse. At the same time, sanctions imposed by the United States have kept democratizing influences at bay and provided the regime with a justification for its authoritarian ways.
.
The proper response to such outrages as the Castro regime’s roundup of dissidents and writers earlier this year is to seek to overwhelm the island with American influence — corporate and cultural — and with tourists and other private visitors. Though normally inclined to follow their president’s lead on foreign policy, many congressional Republicans have now broken ranks on Cuba. By a wide margin, the Senate joined the House of Representatives on Thursday in voting to ease travel restrictions to Cuba, just two weeks after President George W. Bush vowed to toughen sanctions on the government of Fidel Castro and enforce them more energetically. The renegade Republicans apparently think that Bush’s approach is dictated less by a coherent vision than by electoral concerns involving anti-Castro Republican voters in Florida.
.
This congressional resolve is commendable. Four decades of sanctions have allowed Castro to portray himself, both at home and abroad, as a victim of Yankee imperialism. Castro would probably be as disappointed as his adversaries in Florida to see the sanctions lifted.
.
That is one reason he has a knack for provoking a backlash anytime there is a chance of a change in the status quo, which may be the best of all worlds for Castro. The dollars sent home from Florida relatives and the money spent by European tourists have kept the rickety Cuban economy afloat since the Soviet collapse. At the same time, sanctions imposed by the United States have kept democratizing influences at bay and provided the regime with a justification for its authoritarian ways.
.
The proper response to such outrages as the Castro regime’s roundup of dissidents and writers earlier this year is to seek to overwhelm the island with American influence — corporate and cultural — and with tourists and other private visitors.

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