Engagement With Cuba Is Way to Undermine Communist Rule: View

Ever since Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959, the U.S. has sought to undermine his rule. It hasn’t worked. Perhaps officials in Washington should consider adapting the more successful strategy pursued to undermine communism in Eastern Europe.

The Castro regime has been a tragedy for the Cuban people. After taking over, Castro imposed a doctrinaire communist dictatorship that eliminated political freedoms and gave the state and the Communist Party almost complete control of the economy. Until 1991, Cuba was sustained by generous subsidies from the Soviet Union. In response to Castro’s alliance with the Soviets, his support for revolution throughout Latin America, and his denial of basic freedoms to the Cuban people, the U.S. imposed an embargo and severely limited Cubans’ contacts with Americans. During the 1960s, the U.S. also tried to assassinate Castro and sponsored an ill-planned invasion of the island by Cuban exiles.