A large part of Cuba went dark Sunday night. The electricity was still off Monday morning and no explanation was made to the public that reached the United States.
Cuba’s weather has been calm. Power failed because Cuba’s infrastructure is ancient and inadequate. It can’t be brought up to snuff because the Cuban economy is too weak.
The United States can help its island neighbor. Not by sending money, but by sending tourists and opening up trade.
It is true that Cuba still clings to communism — a fact which makes it a curiosity as well as an ideological dinosaur. It is not true that it represents a threat to the United States. Its 11 million people live in poverty, which would be greatly relieved if it could regain its standing as a winter-time vacation destination for Americans and could once again sell sugar to the U.S. market.
Because of the large population of former Cubans in Florida, which remains virulently anti-Castro and clings to the impossible dream of regaining property lost in the revolution, the U.S. Congress has refused to drop the Cold War sanctions adopted decades ago when the U.S.S.R. shipped missiles to Cuba and caused an international crisis.
War was avoided because President John F. Kennedy stood firm and the Kremlin backed down.
That was 60 long years ago. And 27 years later the Berlin Wall was hammered down and the U.S.S.R. fell apart. The Communist threat evaporated. The only reason that U.S. policy toward Cuba did not evaporate along with the Soviet empire was Florida politics.
But Florida politics is changing. The generation of Cuban expatriates who fled Cuba is dying off. The succeeding generation is American through and through. A growing number of them want the U.S. to have normal relations with Cuba.
It is long past time for Congress and the president to move out of our 1962 mindset and treat our Cuban neighbors — like neighbors.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
