Glimmer of Change in Cuba

Pope John Paul II’s visit to Cuba keeps bearing fruit. On Thursday the Cuban government, bowing to the pontiff’s wishes, announced it will free some 200 prisoners held on political and other charges. The Vatican celebrated the decision by terming it “a concrete prospect of hope for the future of this noble nation.”

The future that the Catholic Church envisions for Cuba embraces freedom of association and religion, and the engagement of the Vatican in Cuba’s destiny should lower the walls of isolationism. Congress should watch and listen. There is change in Havana, and a wise policy would track it.

For almost 40 years Washington has maintained an embargo against trade with Fidel Castro’s Cuba, seeking to pinch the quality of life on the island to the point where Castro’s pillars of control would wobble. Economic pressures on the nation, coupled with Castro’s own catastrophic Communist policies, have done deep harm to the Cuban people. But the policy intended to overthrow Castro remains a failure.

Compare that with the pope’s short trip to Cuba, less than a week long, which sent waves of fresh air over the island. America and the world watched as the pope lectured the dictator on political freedoms in the Plaza de la Revolucion itself.

In the aftermath of the pope’s visit, the island’s churches have remained open and the pastoral work of the Roman Catholic Church has been strengthened.

It may be argued that no power other that the pope has the moral strength to bring change to Cuba, but that should not deter the U.S. Congress and the Clinton administration from taking a proactive stance that could lower resistance to change on both sides of the Florida Straits. America’s foreign policy should no longer be held hostage by the Cuban American lobby in Miami.

Congress should watch closely what’s happening across the straits. Isolation is a poor long-term policy. Castro may go away but Cuba and the Cubans will not. Opportunities may be in the wind.