Miami Herald opinion: New Cuba policy . . . another fine mess

[Mika]

New Cuba policy . . . another fine mess
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/948696.html

OUR OPINION: Half step masks failure to deal with substantive issues

Congress took a step toward improving U.S. policy on Cuba last week, which is good, but lawmakers sure went about it in a sneaky way. The substance of the change will be welcomed by most exile families who want to visit their relatives on the island more often. However, the legislative maneuvering that produced the change allows members of Congress to hide their political intent behind the veil of process. The result is contrived and confusing, a half-baked Cuba policy that demands clarification.

Trips once a year

Instead of tackling Cuba policy head-on, the legislation approved by Congress last week prohibits the enforcement of the old travel standards imposed by President George W. Bush in 2004, which restricted family visits to once every three years. The change ordered by Congress left the old policy on the books but prohibited the Treasury Department from enforcing the law. This is a way of legalizing an activity that -- according to the letter of the law -- is unlawful. This is subterfuge, not policy.

The upshot, by week's end, was that the Treasury Department was obliged to issue new guidelines disavowing the 2004 Bush standard. The new rules allow yearly trips by Cuban Americans, with the possibility of traveling again during the same year on a case-by-case basis.

This is a more humane standard that improves on the old rules, which did nothing to advance the cause of freedom and democracy in Cuba but produced a lot of misery and pain in the Cuban exile community. Toughening the rules, as Mr. Bush did in 2004, was a political gesture signaling his sympathy with hard-liners, but there was no noticeable effect on the Cuban government. It did little to weaken the grip of the Castro brothers on the Cuban people.

Congress produced last week's change by tucking the Cuba provisions into a huge spending bill, ensuring that they would escape the usual legislative scrutiny in committee and on the floor of the House and Senate. ''The crudest process I can imagine,'' an outraged Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said. Not only do the changes fail to deal with the substance of the provisions, but there was no chance for House and Senate members to debate the substance of the changes.

The mischief doesn't end there. The most contentious changes involve wording that affects the sale of food and medicine to Cuba, and how the Cuban government pays for it -- in advance, as current law states, or with greater flexibility that the Cuban government prefers.

The new rules won't be clear until the Treasury Department issues a new ''general license'' for Americans who want to travel to Cuba to sell medical and agricultural goods to the Cuban government. Secretary Tim Geithner assured Sen. Menendez and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. -- both of whom oppose any loophole that effectively weakens the trade embargo against Cuba -- that the new wording will have little or no effect on trade policy with Cuba. Maybe so, but wouldn't it better to simply write a law that makes matters clear instead of leaving it up to the interpretation of the executive branch?

A campaign promise

Clearly, President Obama has to step in and straighten this out. In an Other Views column published in this newspaper on Aug. 21, 2007, he wrote, ``I will grant Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island.''

That's a far cry from where we are today -- once a year visits with no declared change in the remittance structure.

This was not what Mr. Obama promised when he was a candidate. Not only do we have in place a confusing overall policy, but Mr. Obama has failed to follow through on the commitments he made.