Reply #20: OUCH!!!

[Say_What]

Man, did Birns hit this on the head.

On edit: I'll be interested to read how North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) weighs in as well.

From the article:

The ancient U.S. embargo against Cuba has not isolated Havana as much as it has shaken confidence throughout the region that Washington is capable of providing responsible and mature leadership. Although it later turned out to be illusory, the hope was that even a tiny softening of relations between Havana and Washington could have been sparked by several long overdue personnel moves within the State Department; such as the appointment of Thomas Shannon to succeed a widely reviled ideologue, Roger Noriega, who himself had taken over after the forced departure of Otto Reich, as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs. These should have marked the end of the hard-line anti-Castro duo, whose brashness and authoritarian manner have done so much damage to U.S. regional ties. But sadly, their replacements like Shannon, would-be theatrical empresario Michael Parmley, who otherwise is the head of the U.S. interest section in Havana, where he faithfully endeavors to out trump his comedic predecessor, James Cason, now U.S. ambassador to Paraguay, in the latter’s efforts to provoke confrontations between Cuban dissenters and the government, and professional Cuba basher Caleb McCarry, have been vending the same old snake oil.

The Bush administration needs to take inventory of how destructive its current regional policy is when it comes to advancing authentic U.S. hemispheric interests. It has in the past allowed right wing elements of the Miami exile community to exercise a virtual veto power over U.S.-Cuba relations, while showering its exile front groups and their pet projects with hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds, despite the disgracefully negligible results they have achieved. Breaking that linkage will be necessary if any fundamental shift to a rational policy of advancing well thought-out U.S. national interest is to occur.

Whatever Fidel Castro’s personal fate, recent events should serve as a wake-up call to the Bush administration: the embargo must end, because it has proven to be too costly, too ineffective, and too damaging to fundamental links with a Latin America for which Washington is fast losing its awe and thunder.