Help from Washington needed for success

[Jimmy2]

Help from Washington needed for success

By Frank Calzon. Sun-Sentinel

When the U.S. told Havana recently that it will cutback the number of visas issued to Cubans to 10,724 from 20,000, the regime responded as it usually does. It generated a propaganda circus covering up the issues and complaints leading to the United States' diplomatic protest.Havana is good at manipulating the world's media. While The Washington Post.com headlined its Reuters story, "U.S. says Cuba obstructing consular work," most of the world's headlines reflected Havana's spin: "Cuba accuses US over entry visas"; "Cuba says U.S. issuing visas too slowly" are representative of the coverage.

A review of the episode presents a different story, and the fault does not necessarily lie within the media. Here is what happened:

oThe U.S. informed the Cuban authorities that it would be reducing the number of visas allocated for Cubans. Havana, predictably went ballistic and blasted the U.S. News wires and international media reported Havana's charges.

oThe State Department, which is clearly in the right, was suddenly playing defense. The Administration has informed Congress that Havana is not carrying out its obligations under the migration accord: the Castros severely limit the ability of the U.S. mission to carry out consular and other functions in Cuba by denying visas to American diplomats and regularly harassing those assigned to Cuba. Havana also fails to honor the understanding that American diplomats would be allowed to visit Cubans returned by the U.S. Coast Guard to make sure they are not being punished for trying to escape.

So it is important to ask: Why can't the U.S. State Department get the facts out to the American public and the world, before Havana spins them in a self-serving way. Even as the Department carries out President Bush's policy, some diplomats remain so concerned about not giving offense or "antagonizing" Havana despite the regime's clear breaches of established protocol. But no amount of looking the other way will make the Castro brothers change their hostility toward America.

Cuban officials have broken into the U.S. diplomatic pouch, but the U.S. filed no official protest. Efforts to intimidate American diplomats have included breaking the windshields of their cars, puncturing their tires, burgling their homes, blackmail attempts and scattering excrement inside one diplomat's locked apartment. In one incident, a cat was taken from the locked home of a diplomat, hammered to death and left on the diplomat's doorstep.

U.S. officials need to vigorously counter Castro's propaganda with the facts. Unfortunately some argue that to defend the United States plays into the propaganda strategy of America's enemies so it is better to "take the attack" and wait for a better day. But that allows Castro's apologists around the world to pickup his refrain and blame the United States for "failing to meet its obligations" and "triggering" a new crisis with Havana.

In this instance, immediately after notifying Havana, the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba should have called a press conference to announce and explain the cutbacks.

The Castro brothers have a lifetime of anti-Americanism. They are miffed because the Congress won't this year lift the embargo and President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently denounced in Brussels, Prague, Panama, and Madrid the brutalities of the regime. It is not an easy task to deal with Cuba's anti American ruthless dictators and cohorts in Caracas and elsewhere, but President Bush's Cuba policy, to have a chance to succeed, requires the full hearted support of U.S. representatives on the front line in Havana. Anything less is a disservice to the nation they represent.