Respecting Human Rights in Cuba Would Mean Ending the Embargo, Total Freedom to Travel and Shutting Down Gitmo

Posted by Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports at 6:00 AM on April 14, 2009.

A big story unfolding Monday was the announcement that Obama has directed his administration "to allow unlimited travel and money transfers by Cuban Americans to family in Cuba." This comes as little surprise given that Obama pledged bluntly to do so while on the campaign trail (which was hardy a bold move given that it has wide support among Miami Cubans).

As I have pointed out before, while this is definitely a step in the right direction, Obama’s move to ease some travel restrictions (not all U.S. citizens will be allowed, only those with family in Cuba) are being framed with anti-Cuba rhetoric and do not do anything to address the decades-long economic blockade of Cuba. Actual change in U.S.-policy toward Cuba would decriminalize travel to Cuba by any U.S. citizen or resident and allow Cuba to do business and trade freely and openly with whomever it chooses. Moreover, respecting human rights in Cuba would also include shutting down the U.S. gulag at Guantanamo and giving that territory back to Cuba.

Consider this: A recent report in the Wall Street Journal cites a senior U.S. official, revealing, "President Obama doesn’t intend to call for lifting of the trade embargo against Cuba, which would require congressional action, nor is any specific diplomatic outreach contemplated." This point was also made clear by Vice President Joe Biden last month on a visit to Latin America when asked if Obama would lift the blockade. Biden responded bluntly, "No."

There was a point in Barack Obama’s political career when he advocated for a dramatically different approach to U.S.-Cuba policy than most politicians with a decent shot at winning the White House. In January 2004, Obama said it was time "to end the embargo with Cuba," and said, "It's time for us to acknowledge that that particular policy has failed." After it became clear that Obama might well be within arm’s reach of the presidency, he began to use harder line rhetoric and, as most politicians do, he pandered to the right-wing Cuban-American mafia in Florida (which, by the way, decreasingly represents the views of most Cuban-Americans). "I will maintain the embargo," he declared on the campaign trail last year in front of the ultra-right-wing Cuban American National Foundation. While Obama has said he supports "eventual normalization" of U.S.-Cuba relations, his bottom line is this: "Make no mistake -- the embargo must remain, and I strongly oppose any aid to the Castro regime."

Here is another Obama comment, delivered to right-wing Cubans when he was on the campaign trail, to reflect on. As you read this, remember that the U.S. still runs that gulag in Guantanamo, which one could argue represents the area in Cuba where the most heinous human rights abuses have been perpetrated in recent years:

"Never, in my lifetime, have the people of Cuba known freedom. Never, in the lives of two generations of Cubans, have the people of Cuba known democracy," he said then. "This is the terrible and tragic status quo that we have known for half a century -- of elections that are anything but free or fair; of dissidents locked away in dark prison cells for the crime of speaking the truth. I won’t stand for this injustice, you won’t stand for this injustice, and together we will stand up for freedom in Cuba."

Tagged as: barack obama, cuba, fidel castro, joe biden, cuba embargo

Jeremy Scahill is the author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.