Alma Guillermoprieto writes in The New Yorker about the latest news from Cuba:
Nearly fifty years on, it is hard to argue that it was ever the desire of the Cuban people to blow up their leader with an exploding cigar or to welcome a proxy invasion.
U.S. policy did not encourage a mass revolt against Fidel, even during the years when hundreds of thousands of desperate Cubans risked their lives to flee the island.
Today, even his most vehement opposition within Cuba has few illusions that Washington might take an informed, enlightened, non-interventionist, and generous approach to Cuba in the coming transition. And yet there are signs of hope, beginning with Raúl Castro’s repeated calls for a conversation with Washington.
At the start of last Thursday’s Democratic debate, Barack Obama offered to meet with the Cuban leadership without preconditions—a break with the past that his rivals would do well to consider.
Imagine that the next President of the United States declares that the embargo will continue until Cubans overthrow their current government.
Now imagine that the next President offers non-intervention in Cuba’s internal affairs, significant financial assistance for hurricane disaster relief and health care, and helpful mediation in the difficult dialogue that is sure to come between the Florida exile community and the islanders.
Which is likely to lead to greater stability in Cuba, and earn America greater good will?