The focus seems to be on Cuba
By Yoe Suarez (**)
A free Cuba, once again aligned with the
West and an ally of Washington, would leave a much safer neighborhood for the
United States.

The phrase “America First” has been a recognizable rallying cry of the citizen and political movement that brought President Donald Trump to the White House twice. The America First Policy Institute believes that a foreign policy approach that prioritizes the United States is based on the idea that when the United States puts the security, prosperity, and general well-being of its people first, it is better positioned to lead the world and preserve peace and stability. In economic terms, to summarize, the U.S. was Cuba’s main trading partner between 1902 and 1958; sugar dominated bilateral trade; and U.S. investments had a structural weight in key sectors of the island’s economy.
This last element dispels the widespread
notion that an “America First” foreign policy would mean isolationism. The
operation to remove dictator Nicolás Maduro and the beginning of a transition
to democracy in Venezuela, or the weakening of the Iranian nuclear program, are
key to achieving a robust peace under U.S. hegemony.
Now, after these two international
successes, the focus seems to be on Cuba, the oldest totalitarian regime in the
West. Just 90 miles from the Florida Keys, Havana transformed the island from
one of the closest allies in Hispanic America into a hub of anti-American
propaganda in the heart of the continent since 1959.
Furthermore, the Castro regime made Cuba
available to terrorist groups from Europe, Central and South America, and even
some operating within the United States. On the other hand, it provided
diplomatic and military support to anti-American regimes in Africa and Asia.
It’s no wonder that it earned a place on the list of state sponsors of
terrorism in 1982, with brief interruptions during the Democratic
administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
A free Cuba, once again aligned with the
West and an ally of Washington, would leave a much safer neighborhood for the
United States. One without Chinese radar bases pointed at its territory, like
those denounced in the international press a few years ago.
To imagine this possible future, it is
helpful to understand what past relations between Cuba and the United States
were like. Yuleisy Mena, an adjunct professor at Florida International
University, recalls that the relationship, not only commercial but also guided
by geopolitical pragmatism, dates back to the 19th century. An example was the
Spanish-American War of 1898, which marked a period in which islanders and
Americans took up arms together.
“Many Americans wanted to help Cuba,
knowing the horrors committed by the Spanish military officer Valeriano Weyler
against the rural population; but also because many Cubans and Americans wanted
to rid themselves of the domination of European empires in the hemisphere —
something key to the Monroe Doctrine — and they also had an interest in Cuba
becoming a republic for pragmatic and ideological reasons,” Mena explained to
me.
During the republican period, Cuba was a
strategic ally in Latin America. That is, until 1959, when Cuba fully entered
the Cold War, but on the Soviet side. That tension has not yet subsided, and
Professor Mena believes that Castroism still poses a danger to the United
States, especially regarding espionage. “These individuals are present in
various industries and sectors of society,” she states, “and they can be of
Cuban or American origin; they simply have to sympathize with Marxism in its
political or cultural forms.”

Cubans have always risen to the challenge
On the other hand, there are always
risks for a post-Castro Cuba, based on understanding and evaluating the
available data. Professor Emeritus Octavio de la Suarée of William Paterson
University believes that “one of the ills that has always been attributed to
Cubans is the Hispanic legacy of caudillismo, that is, the figure of an
all-powerful leader.” That tradition, he recalls, stretches from the monarchy
to the dictatorships of Latin American strongmen after the successive
independence movements of the early 19th century, and on to the political
processes of the 21st century.
Suarée, who is also president of the
Cuban Academy of History in Exile, asserts that the communist indoctrination
received by the Cuban population from 1959 to the present “requires a good dose
of freedom and democracy, which cannot be learned overnight.” He fears that a
people “accustomed to the government thinking for them may not be prepared to
think for themselves.”
First, Suarée argues, it will be
necessary to educate the Cuban people about the meaning of freedom, human
rights, and democracy, and their importance, so they can vote consciously in
free elections and exercise the right that has been denied them for so long.
And that is also fundamental, he
asserts, to enjoying a good relationship with the United States. “We had a
history as an independent nation during the Republic (between 1902 and 1958),
and we could enjoy it again,” according to the Cuban-American historian. But to
achieve this, he believes it is essential to first build citizens who can
create and sustain it. “We have a lot to learn.”
“Let us remember that the United States
is great because it enjoys basic institutions established from its beginnings;
we never had them. Can we build them now?” he asks. “To be free, we need to
create a civic-minded and responsible Cuban citizen, one who knows how to
respect others, without mockery or boasting, a hard worker, dedicated, and
respectful. Is that possible?”
Optimistic, Suarée reflects that Cubans
have always risen to the challenge of adversity, fought hard, and triumphed.
“And they will do so again.” And in this New Cuba, “relations with the United
States will once again be cordial,” for the benefit of both nations and for the
security and peace of the Western Hemisphere.
(*) From The Washington Stand
(**) Yoe Suárez is a writer, producer, and journalist, exiled
from Cuba due to his investigative reporting about themes like torture,
political prisoners, government black lists, cybersurveillance, and freedom of
expression and conscience. He is the author of the books "Leviathan:
Political Police and Socialist Terror" and "El Soplo del Demonio:
Violence and Gangsterism in Havana."




