The Time Is Ripe for a New Cuba Policy : Washington must ensure it has influence in Havana when the 69-year-old Castro is gone

Since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, eight U.S. Presidents have refused to open a political dialogue with him. It’s been 36 years of stonewalling, hoping for and sometimes plotting the downfall of the now aging revolutionary and Communist die-hard. Castro, 69, shows no sign of stepping aside, but, if he does, how much influence will Washington have in Havana? Isn’t it time for President Clinton to modify course and consider a new policy toward Cuba?

Clinton could benefit from his talks with Pope John Paul II, who is visiting the United States this week. This Pope, hardly a Communist sympathizer, has had a diplomatic and political exchange with Cuban authorities since 1992. The pontiff might tell the President that the Vatican is approaching Cuba with the same policies for peaceful transition from Communist power that proved successful in Eastern Europe.

The Pope, of course, is not the only source the President could profitably listen to on this subject. The Inter-American Dialogue, a respected group of foreign policy experts that includes former presidents like Oscar Arias of Costa Rica as well as former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eliot L. Richardson, has just issued a report urging the U.S. government to break the policy deadlock.

The time is ripe for change because there are important economic and political transitions taking place in Cuba now. The economy of the island has reached bottom and is beginning to turn, slowly, toward an open-market model. Foreign investment is now welcomed, and small enterprise is beginning to flourish.

While it is true that the Castro regime is still dictatorial and repressive internally, gone are the days when Cuba presented a threat to U.S. security.

The Clinton Administration should reject the efforts of those who remain frozen in a Cold War mentality, among them hard-liners like Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), who are calling for stronger economic pressure against Cuba. If it is passed, President Clinton should veto a Burton-Helms bill that presents an inflexible list of extraterritorial sanctions and other actions against countries that have trade and credit relations with Cuba. (Canada is one.) The bill (HR 927), which has been approved in the House and is expected to be considered in the Senate soon, could also hurt the chances for a peaceful transition of power in Cuba.

The time has come to consider a change in course. We cannot continue to stand alone in the world regarding Cuba. The United States should open a dialogue. Washington will need a presence in Havana when Castro disappears from the political map.