What have we done to Cuba? In 1948, the U.S. backed a military coup that overthrew President Carlos Prio Socarrás and placed Fulgencio Batista in power — and built Fidel Castro. The 1954 coup d’état in Guatemala overthrew President Jacobo Arbenz — and built Che Guevara. We’re finding enemies in the reincarnations of our preventative, interventionist military policies.
You cannot blame the Cuban Revolution for the current state of Cuba because there would have been no Batista without our involvement in its foreign affairs.
John F. Kennedy ended up imposing an embargo against Cuba in February 1962 after Castro declared his belief in Marxist-Leninist ideologies, following in the footsteps of Guevara. Unfortunately, this embargo most likely strengthened Cuba’s communist sympathies, considering that government interference in the market is the main cause of both monopolization and poverty, and, as any quick read of The Communist Manifesto will tell you, Marx was not against capitalism, but corporatism.
If we had continued to freely trade with Cuba, the country wouldn’t be in the terrible condition it is now, and would be able to see the true benefits of laissez-faire.
The power of Castro’s regime had gripped nearly 90 percent of the Cuban economy, though, and the U.S. seemed to give up on its promotion of capitalism on the island. Luckily, we now have a great opportunity, and I hope we take advantage of it.
In an interview with American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg last week, Castro said that the Cuban model of economic communism doesn’t work anymore.
The comment shocked Castro’s closest followers, and was followed by an even more surprising revelation.
BBC reported earlier this week on the Cuban labor federation’s plan to lay off more than 1 million workers, half of them losing their jobs by March 2011. Are we really not going to take advantage of this opportunity and allow its private sector to ream the advantages of controlling the economy?
A 2006 paper published by the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Virginia, showed that Cuba’s self-employed workers earn three times the amount of money an average state-employed worker does.
The free market is already prospering in a few locations in the country, and we need to make sure Cuba has the capability to trade with us — otherwise it will find other countries to do business with.
President Barack Obama renewed the Cuban embargo on Sept. 2, but these recent reports should change his mind — although they shouldn’t be the only catalyst.
If any time is the right time to allow completely free trade with foreign countries, it is now.
We need prosperity, and doing business with the Cuban people is the way to make that happen.
The beginning of a new trade policy with Cuba ensures a bit more peace than we’ve had in the past.
We can all lay back in the dark beneath the stars, relax in a pool-side couch with friends, smoke a neatly-rolled Cuban cigar and celebrate the brand-new wealth inserting itself into our wallets overnight.
¡Vive y permite el comercio!
Reach Brian at brian.p.anderson
