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01/31/13 - The Hill (blog) - Hagel's views on Cuba are in sync with leading democracy
advocates

Chuck Hagel has long been an outspoken critic of U.S. policy toward Cuba.  Since
President Obama nominated him to serve as Pentagon chief, hardline defenders of the
status-quo have been quick to accuse the former Senator from Nebraska of supporting
legislation that would allegedly provide a lifeline to the Castro leadership.  One of
them, pro-embargo lobbyist Mauricio Claver-Carone, even serves on the board of an
outside group named Americans for Strong Defense, whose aim is to thwart Hagel's
nomination through paid TV attack ads.

However, as the Senate prepares to question Hagel on his position on Cuba, it should
be aware of an incredible irony: Hagel has been accused of being "soft on Castro" for
espousing views that are almost entirely in sync with those of the Island's leading
pro-democracy advocates.

For example, Hagel and Cuba's leading democracy advocates agree that U.S.
isolationist policies have only undermined our influence in the island and benefited
the Cuban government.  As Josh Rogin recently noted on Foreign Policy's The Cable
blog, Hagel "has said the trade embargo on Cuba 'isolates us, not Cuba,' and voted
several times to ease parts of it.  Hagel has also stated that 'if you start opening
trade with Castro and opening a dialogue and a relationship, I think that cuts
directly against his interests,' and doesn't believe such a move would merely
strengthen the power of Castro's regime.  'That's the same tired argument that
everybody uses.'"

It just so happens that in 2010, 74 of Cuba's leading pro-democracy advocates,
including acclaimed blogger Yoani Sanchez, former political prisoner and independent
economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, former hunger striker Dr. Guillermo Fariñas, and
founding members of the Ladies in White Gisela Delgado and Miriam Leiva, signed and
sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives that said, in part, "we are sure
that isolation does not foster relationships of respect and support for people and
groups around the world who are in favor of democratic changes in Cuba."

Yoani Sanchez, whom Senator Marco Rubio has (R-Fla.)  Recognized as one of Cuba's
"brave truth tellers" has repeatedly called for the U.S. embargo, most notably in
2011 when she said: "the five decade prolongation of the 'blockade' has allowed every
setback we've suffered to be explained as stemming from it, justified by its
effects.To make matters worse, the economic fence has helped to fuel the idea of a
place besieged, where dissent comes to be equated with an act of treason.  The
exterior blockade has strengthened the interior blockade."

Oscar Espinosa Chepe has also argued that Helms-Burton's blanket sanctions have only
served: "to give the Cuban government an alibi to declare Cuba a fortress under
siege, to justify repression and to (pass) the blame for the economic disaster in
Cuba."

They also share similar views on trade between the U.S. and Cuba.  As Hagel stated in
2008, "On Cuba, I've said that we have an outdated, unrealistic, irrelevant
policy...It's always been nonsensical to me about this argument, 'Well, it's a
communist country, it's a communist regime.'  What do people think Vietnam is?  Or
the People's Republic of China?  Both those countries are WTO members.  We trade with
them.  We have relations.  Great powers engage...Great powers are not afraid.  Great
powers trade.'"

The signatories of the Letter by the 74 would seem to agree: "we value the experience
of all the western countries, including the United States, who favored opening and
trade with all the countries of the former Eastern Europe."

Sanchez went further in a 2009 blog post by noting that "it is these [U.S.] trade
restrictions, so clumsy and anachronistic in my judgment, that can be used as
justification both for the setbacks in productivity and to repress those who think
differently."

Even Elizardo Sanchez, the head of the largest independent human rights organization
in Island, the Cuba Commission for Human Rights, has said that "the more American
citizens in the streets of Cuban cities, the better for the cause of a more open
society."

So it would seem that if defenders of the status-quo are going to attack Senator
Hagel for his positions on Cuba, they would also have to reconsider their support for
those "brave truth tellers" in the trenches who risk their lives on a daily basis for
the cause of a free Cuba.

Herrero is deputy executive director of the Cuba Study Group.  He lives in Miami,
Florida.

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Original Source / Fuente Original:
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/280107-hagels-view-on-cuba-are-in-sync-with-leading-democracy-advocates