To promote a peaceful transition to a Cuba that respects human rights
and political and economic freedoms
How unconditional engagement with the Castro regime works in practice
U.S. policy makers over the years have repeatedly sought to unconditionally engage the Castro regime, while unilaterally loosening sanctions, and each time the results led to negative outcomes, and a cooling of relations until a new crowd made another good faith effort, ignored past failures and repeated the cycle leaving a mess.
The Wall Street Journal's Mary O'Grady revisited in her column what happened to Stephen Purvis, a British businessman, who moved together with his family to Cuba and "as a top executive at his firm, he worked with the regime on a variety of joint ventures, including resorts, hotels and factories. Over a decade, he writes, 'steadily our business grew into a respected company.'” This is what those who advocate a policy of engagement do not understand about the dictatorship in Cuba, and Mr. Purvis learned at a high cost that "Raúl [Castro] and a cadre of his military buddies worried about the status quo 'turning into something uncontrollable.' They decided to act by 'methodically eradicating anything that [was] a threat' including “every single high-ranking politician or business leader.' There were 'public purges' of a few but 'most were simply edited out' and 'replaced by military figures.'"
Learning this lesson cost Mr. Purvis 18 months of his freedom beginning in 2011 along with turmoil and terror for him and his family. Targeting businessmen and capitalists in a communist dictatorship should not be a surprise, but the treatment of workers is another matter.
British businessman Stephen Purvis jailed for 18 months in Cuba starting in 2011
Human Rights Watch in their World Report 2020 on "Cuba: Events of 2019" in the section on Labor Rights reported that "despite updating its Labor Code in 2014, Cuba continues to violate conventions of the International Labour Organization that it ratified, regarding freedom of association and collective bargaining. While Cuban law technically allows the formation of independent unions, in practice Cuba only permits one confederation of state-controlled unions, the Workers’ Central Union of Cuba."
On the humanitarian front the Cuban government engages in propaganda campaigns that pass for humanitarian ones, but the reality is problematic. Havana has been promoting the missions of Cuban medical doctors overseas, the regime's chief source of income, as a humanitarian gesture. International human rights organizations have reached a different conclusion.
Ms. Urmila Bhoola, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, along with Ms Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children, sent a letter on November 6, 2019 to the Cuban government regarding the regime's medical missions in which the special rapporteurs indicated that "according to the conditions of work reported could be elevated to forced labor, according to indicators established by the International Labor Organization. Forced labor constitutes a form of contemporary slavery."
On the same topic, Jose Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch, argued that “governments that accept Cuban assistance that includes the abusive conditions imposed by Cuba risk becoming complicit in human rights violations,” who added that “Cuba may not be willing to protect its health workers, but other governments should avoid furthering their exploitation.”
Meanwhile when independent members of the Cuban diaspora send tons of aid to the island in the midst of a humanitarian crisis it is "arbitrarily withheld by the authorities of the Cuban regime on the Island." Civil society and religious activists have sent letters to members of the United States Congress and to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to support efforts and raise awareness in order to obtain the release of the humanitarian aid sent to Cuba.
Conditional engagement using sanctions, public diplomacy, and recognizing Cuba's independent civil society worked when pursued with serious purpose during the Reagan Administration, and needs to be revisited.
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