Jorge Mas Canosa

The death of Jorge Mas Canosa (Nov. 24) has led many to proudly credit him as being the single most important influence on U.S. policy toward Cuba. Mas Canosa and his Cuban American National Foundation were instrumental in the establishment of Radio and TV Marti, the passage of the Cuba Democracy Act in 1992 and passage of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996.

Radio and TV Marti are multimillion-dollar money pits that beam anti-Castro messages to the island despite the fact that few Cubans listen to Radio Marti and no Cuban ever sees TV Marti because the Cuban government jams its frequency. The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 has had a disastrous effect on the health and nutrition of the Cuban people, compelling a bipartisan bloc of Congress members to suggest exempting food and medicine from the U.S. embargo. And Helms-Burton, arguably the biggest failure in Cuba policy since the 1960s, has isolated the U.S., not Cuba, from the rest of the world.

Clearly, a fair share of the credit for the animosity between the U.S. and Cuba must be laid at the feet of Fidel Castro. But in his efforts to oust Castro, Mas Canosa propelled U.S. policy in a direction that significantly hurts the Cuban people, gives Castro a hefty excuse for staying in power and allows for only minimal communication between the United States and Cuba.

MICHAEL O’HEANEY

Cuba Program Director

Global Exchange, San Francisco