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In Cuba, Carter Got It Right
(David Corn, Alternet.org, May 17, 2002)
Jimmy Carter got it right. During his trip to Cuba, when he was permitted to deliver a speech on national television, he was critical of both the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba and Fidel Castro's anti-democratic regime. Albeit, as a good guest, he was, in tone, a bit tougher on the former than the latter. But Carter did call for radical change on each front -- the United States should end the embargo; Cuba should introduce political freedoms and democracy. . . . Wisely, he did not link the two. Carter skirted the Gordian knot of U.S.-Cuba policy, in which each side has indicated it will not change its ways until the other side does. Carter suggested that both the U.S. government and Castro were wrong to point to the other's misguided policies in order to defend their own failings. The embargo does not justify Cuba's denial of basic freedoms; Cuba's repressive political and human rights practices does not justify the U.S. embargo. But Carter, in his best Sunday school manner, did say that "because the United States is the most powerful nation, we should take the first step."

posted by LoZo 9:45 AM