Trying engagement with Fidel Castro is like playing poker with a compulsive cheater. He could play straight for a while to gain your confidence. Inevitably, though, he will return to his old tricks.
The European Union has officially thawed the diplomatic freeze imposed in response to the regime's sweeping crackdown on dissidents in 2003. But, let's face it. Castro is a dictator and, while he may restrain his thuggish urges for a while, no one can believe that he intends to play by civilized rules.
Castro doesn't respect human rights, doesn't permit democratic opening and never will do so in his lifetime.
It's a good thing that the EU conditioned this policy shift. Credit the Czech government and former President Vaclav Havel for insisting that the EU review the new policy in six months. The Czechs, who dislodged communism with the Velvet Revolution, understand the uphill battle against a Stalinist state. Many of them feel a moral commitment to support Cuba's battered dissidents. They know that such systems twist the truth to stay in power.
The EU should not forget the 75 dissidents — prisoners of conscience — who were summarily locked up during the 2003 crackdown. They were poets, librarians, labor leaders, democrats and human-rights activists sentenced to an average of 19 years for crimes that don't exist in any free country on Earth. They were condemned in kangaroo-court trials for offenses such as publishing articles abroad, gathering to discuss political views or publicly criticizing the head of state. They never should have been imprisoned in the first place.
If such activities were crimes here, this entire editorial board and most Miami Herald letters-writers would be in jail now. We know that and count our blessings.
Releasing political prisoners afterward does not correct the original injustice, nor does it guarantee the end of such injustice. Even when the regime released 14 dissidents in trying to get the EU to reengage, their freedom was conditioned on them not dissenting.
It's regrettable that the EU no longer invites Cuban dissidents to its embassies. We hope that EU diplomats keep their pledge to strengthen ties with Cuba's peaceful opposition and civil society. Supporting these legitimate democrats is critical to shaping Cuba's future.
The EU's diplomatic thaw mustn't diminish the international pressure on the regime to end its abuses and open up to democratic change. A discredited Castro wanted relief from that pressure, which is why the regime pushed Spain's Zapatero government to propose that the EU lift diplomatic sanctions on Cuba.
But Cuba's dictator hasn't changed. When it comes to legitimacy, Castro must be dealt out of the game.
- This editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Feb. 3