How the US can help Cuban dissidents overthrow brutal regime
Thousands of Cubans have defied government protest bans to express their disgust with ongoing repression, poverty, a ruling elite, electricity blackouts and a rise in COVID-19 cases. Totalitarian regimes don’t tolerate dissent, so the recent protests in Cuba are bringing new focus on this island just 90 miles off the coast of Florida — and on the tortured relationship of our country with the communist regime that controls every aspect of life there.
Protesters are enduring the familiar brutal response by the state’s feared security apparatus. The Cuban government’s response also has been to shut down social media and internet access, with the goal of preventing any further spreading of news about protests and any organized opposition. The government, using another familiar tactic, has been sending out counter demonstrators to confront protesters.
And then there’s the gold standard for Cuban repression: Blaming the unrest on U.S. economic sanctions made more onerous by the Trump administration after former President Barack Obama loosened restrictions.
The volatile relationship of the U.S. and Cuba ruptured after Fidel Castro and his revolutionary comrades overthrew a U.s.-backed dictator in 1959. When Castro declared himself a Marxist-leninist and established ties with the then-soviet Union, the die was seemingly forever cast: America would try to dislodge the communist rulers who in turn would build their security state on defending their nation from the capitalist colossus.
This battle nearly led the world into thermonuclear ruin in 1962 when the Soviets placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, aimed at the U.S. When the missiles and their infrastructure were discovered, it led to a showdown between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, which ultimately resulted in the Soviets backing down and removing all their missiles and nuclear warheads from Cuba. In documents unearthed in recent years, Castro bitterly opposed the removal, and as the world teetered on the edge of nuclear catastrophe was still urging Khrushchev to launch an attack on this country. Eventually, the Soviets, whose support propped up his government, got Castro to acquiesce.
That was nearly 60 years ago.
Fidel Castro is dead. The dictator’s brother, Raul Castro, followed him, but has stepped down and was succeeded by another brook-no-dissent leader, President Miguel Diaz-canel.
As this latest merciless crackdown proceeds, it’s hard to believe the regime can be overthrown.
Most Americans are probably unfamiliar with how a Stalinist internal state security apparatus can control life, which makes the dissidents, who usually end up dead or rotting in Cuban prisons, incredibly brave. Secret police, national police, shock troops and military squads are firmly in place to defend the “revolution” and to ensure Cubans contemplating counter-revolutionary thoughts keep these only to themselves.
Yet, last week’s protests somehow surmounted the seemingly airtight government control that employs spies in almost every aspect of daily life in Cuba, and rewards these rats for revealing the identities of “counter revolutionaries.”
“We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime,” President Joe Biden said.
That was the right note to sound, but his administration needs to rethink its policies on sanctions, which have given Fidel Castro and his successors an excuse for the many failures and deprivations of their oppressive system.
It’s absurd to blame the U.S. for the totalitarian Cuban system, but loosening sanctions offers the best opportunity to connect with Cubans through trade and travel. When such openings occur, authoritarian governments struggle to maintain control. The best way to stand with the Cuban people is to try a different approach, to allow the outside world in, to find a way to provide internet access outside of government control, and to continually express our support for the dissidents who dare to confront the regime.