PL
2007-04-11 09:41:38 UTC
Don't Lift the Cuba Travel Ban
By Jaime Suchlicki
FrontPageMagazine.com | April 11, 2007
There are a number of reasons the Cuba travel ban should not be lifted
at this time:
* American tourists will not bring democracy to Cuba. Over the past
decades hundreds of thousands of Canadian, European and Latin American
tourists have visited the island. Cuba is not more democratic today. If
anything, Cuba is more totalitarian, with the state and its control
apparatus having been strengthened as a result of the influx of tourist
dollars.
* The assumption that tourism or trade will lead to economic and
political change is not borne out by empirical studies. In Eastern
Europe, communism collapsed a decade after tourism peaked. No study of
Eastern Europe or the Soviet Union claims that tourism, trade or
investments had anything to do with the end of communism. A disastrous
economic system, competition with the West, successive leadership
changes with no legitimacy, anti-Soviet feeling in Eastern Europe and
the failed Soviet war in Afghanistan were among the reasons for change.
* There is no evidence to support the notion that engagement with a
totalitarian state will bring about its demise. Only academic ideologues
and those interested in economic gains cling to this notion. Their calls
for ending the embargo have little to do with democracy in Cuba or the
welfare of the Cuban people.
* The repeated statement that the embargo is the cause of Cuba's
economic problems is hollow. The reasons for the economic misery of the
Cubans are a failed political and economic system. Like the communist
systems of Eastern Europe, Cuba's system does not function, stifles
initiative and productivity and destroys human freedom and dignity.
* As occurred in the mid-1990s, an infusion of American tourist
dollars will provide the regime with a further disincentive to adopt
deeper economic reforms. Cuba's limited economic reforms were enacted in
the early 1990s, when the island's economic contraction was at its
worst. Once the economy began to stabilize by 1996 as a result of
foreign tourism and investments, and exile remittances, the earlier
reforms were halted or rescinded by Castro.
* The assumption that the Cuban leadership would allow U.S.
tourists or businesses to subvert the revolution and influence internal
developments is at best naïve.
* Money from American tourists would flow into businesses owned by
the Castro government thus strengthening state enterprises. The tourist
industry is controlled by the military and General Raul Castro, Fidel's
brother.
* American tourists will have limited contact with Cubans. Most
Cuban resorts are built in isolated areas, are off limits to the average
Cuban, and are controlled by Cuba's efficient security apparatus. Most
Americans don't speak Spanish, will have limited contact with ordinary
Cubans, and are not interested in visiting the island to subvert its
regime. Law 88 enacted in 1999 prohibits Cubans from receiving
publications from tourists.
* While providing the Castro government with much needed dollars,
the economic impact of tourism on the Cuban population would be limited.
Dollars will trickle down to the Cuban poor in only small quantities,
while state and foreign enterprises will benefit most.
* Tourist dollars would be spent on products, i.e., rum, tobacco,
etc., produced by state enterprises, and tourists would stay in hotels
owned partially or wholly by the Cuban government. The principal airline
shuffling tourists around the island, Gaviota, is owned and operated by
the Cuban military. Carlos Lage, the czar of the Cuban economy,
reiterated that the economic objective of the Cuban government is "to
strengthen state enterprises."
* Once American tourists begin to visit Cuba, Castro would restrict
travel by Cuban-Americans. For the Castro regime, Cuban-Americans
represent a far more subversive group because of their ability to speak
to friends and relatives on the island, and to influence their views on
the Castro regime and on the United States. Indeed, the return of Cuban
exiles in 1979-80 precipitated the mass exodus of Cubans from Mariel in
1980.
* Lifting the travel ban without any major concession from Cuba
would send the wrong message "to the enemies of the United States": that
a foreign leader can seize U.S. properties without compensation; allow
the use of his territory for the introduction of nuclear missiles aimed
at the United Sates; espouse terrorism and anti-U.S. causes throughout
the world; and eventually the United States will "forget and forgive,"
and reward him with tourism, investments and economic aid.
* Since the Ford/Carter era, U.S. policy toward Latin America has
emphasized democracy, human rights and constitutional government. Under
President Reagan the U.S. intervened in Grenada, under President Bush,
Sr. the U.S. intervened in Panama and under President Clinton the U.S.
landed marines in Haiti, all to restore democracy to those countries.
The U.S. has prevented military coups in the region and supported the
will of the people in free elections. While the U.S. policy has not been
uniformly applied throughout the world, it is U.S. policy in the region.
Cuba is part of Latin America. A normalization of relations with a
military dictatorship in Cuba will send the wrong message to the rest of
the continent.
* Supporting regimes and dictators that violate human rights and
abuse their population is an ill-advised policy that rewards and
encourages further abuses.
* A large influx of American tourists into Cuba would have a
dislocating effect on the economies of smaller Caribbean islands such as
Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and even
Florida, highly dependent on tourism for their well being. Careful
planning must take place, lest we create significant hardships and
social problems in these countries.
* Since tourism would become a two-way affair, with Cubans visiting
the United States in great numbers, it is likely that many would stay in
the United States as illegal immigrants, complicating another thorny
issue in American domestic politics.
* If the travel ban is lifted unilaterally now by the U.S., what
will the U.S. government have to negotiate with a future regime in Cuba
and to encourage changes in the island? Lifting the ban could be an
important bargaining chip with a future regime willing to provide
irreversible concessions in the area of political and economic freedoms.
* The travel ban and the embargo should be lifted as a result of
negotiations between the U.S. and a Cuban government willing to provide
meaningful political and economic concessions or when there is a
democratic government in place in the island.
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=27805
By Jaime Suchlicki
FrontPageMagazine.com | April 11, 2007
There are a number of reasons the Cuba travel ban should not be lifted
at this time:
* American tourists will not bring democracy to Cuba. Over the past
decades hundreds of thousands of Canadian, European and Latin American
tourists have visited the island. Cuba is not more democratic today. If
anything, Cuba is more totalitarian, with the state and its control
apparatus having been strengthened as a result of the influx of tourist
dollars.
* The assumption that tourism or trade will lead to economic and
political change is not borne out by empirical studies. In Eastern
Europe, communism collapsed a decade after tourism peaked. No study of
Eastern Europe or the Soviet Union claims that tourism, trade or
investments had anything to do with the end of communism. A disastrous
economic system, competition with the West, successive leadership
changes with no legitimacy, anti-Soviet feeling in Eastern Europe and
the failed Soviet war in Afghanistan were among the reasons for change.
* There is no evidence to support the notion that engagement with a
totalitarian state will bring about its demise. Only academic ideologues
and those interested in economic gains cling to this notion. Their calls
for ending the embargo have little to do with democracy in Cuba or the
welfare of the Cuban people.
* The repeated statement that the embargo is the cause of Cuba's
economic problems is hollow. The reasons for the economic misery of the
Cubans are a failed political and economic system. Like the communist
systems of Eastern Europe, Cuba's system does not function, stifles
initiative and productivity and destroys human freedom and dignity.
* As occurred in the mid-1990s, an infusion of American tourist
dollars will provide the regime with a further disincentive to adopt
deeper economic reforms. Cuba's limited economic reforms were enacted in
the early 1990s, when the island's economic contraction was at its
worst. Once the economy began to stabilize by 1996 as a result of
foreign tourism and investments, and exile remittances, the earlier
reforms were halted or rescinded by Castro.
* The assumption that the Cuban leadership would allow U.S.
tourists or businesses to subvert the revolution and influence internal
developments is at best naïve.
* Money from American tourists would flow into businesses owned by
the Castro government thus strengthening state enterprises. The tourist
industry is controlled by the military and General Raul Castro, Fidel's
brother.
* American tourists will have limited contact with Cubans. Most
Cuban resorts are built in isolated areas, are off limits to the average
Cuban, and are controlled by Cuba's efficient security apparatus. Most
Americans don't speak Spanish, will have limited contact with ordinary
Cubans, and are not interested in visiting the island to subvert its
regime. Law 88 enacted in 1999 prohibits Cubans from receiving
publications from tourists.
* While providing the Castro government with much needed dollars,
the economic impact of tourism on the Cuban population would be limited.
Dollars will trickle down to the Cuban poor in only small quantities,
while state and foreign enterprises will benefit most.
* Tourist dollars would be spent on products, i.e., rum, tobacco,
etc., produced by state enterprises, and tourists would stay in hotels
owned partially or wholly by the Cuban government. The principal airline
shuffling tourists around the island, Gaviota, is owned and operated by
the Cuban military. Carlos Lage, the czar of the Cuban economy,
reiterated that the economic objective of the Cuban government is "to
strengthen state enterprises."
* Once American tourists begin to visit Cuba, Castro would restrict
travel by Cuban-Americans. For the Castro regime, Cuban-Americans
represent a far more subversive group because of their ability to speak
to friends and relatives on the island, and to influence their views on
the Castro regime and on the United States. Indeed, the return of Cuban
exiles in 1979-80 precipitated the mass exodus of Cubans from Mariel in
1980.
* Lifting the travel ban without any major concession from Cuba
would send the wrong message "to the enemies of the United States": that
a foreign leader can seize U.S. properties without compensation; allow
the use of his territory for the introduction of nuclear missiles aimed
at the United Sates; espouse terrorism and anti-U.S. causes throughout
the world; and eventually the United States will "forget and forgive,"
and reward him with tourism, investments and economic aid.
* Since the Ford/Carter era, U.S. policy toward Latin America has
emphasized democracy, human rights and constitutional government. Under
President Reagan the U.S. intervened in Grenada, under President Bush,
Sr. the U.S. intervened in Panama and under President Clinton the U.S.
landed marines in Haiti, all to restore democracy to those countries.
The U.S. has prevented military coups in the region and supported the
will of the people in free elections. While the U.S. policy has not been
uniformly applied throughout the world, it is U.S. policy in the region.
Cuba is part of Latin America. A normalization of relations with a
military dictatorship in Cuba will send the wrong message to the rest of
the continent.
* Supporting regimes and dictators that violate human rights and
abuse their population is an ill-advised policy that rewards and
encourages further abuses.
* A large influx of American tourists into Cuba would have a
dislocating effect on the economies of smaller Caribbean islands such as
Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and even
Florida, highly dependent on tourism for their well being. Careful
planning must take place, lest we create significant hardships and
social problems in these countries.
* Since tourism would become a two-way affair, with Cubans visiting
the United States in great numbers, it is likely that many would stay in
the United States as illegal immigrants, complicating another thorny
issue in American domestic politics.
* If the travel ban is lifted unilaterally now by the U.S., what
will the U.S. government have to negotiate with a future regime in Cuba
and to encourage changes in the island? Lifting the ban could be an
important bargaining chip with a future regime willing to provide
irreversible concessions in the area of political and economic freedoms.
* The travel ban and the embargo should be lifted as a result of
negotiations between the U.S. and a Cuban government willing to provide
meaningful political and economic concessions or when there is a
democratic government in place in the island.
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=27805