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Cruelties of a dictator
Our opinion: Rlease
of a few inmates part of Castro's charade
The
Miami Herald editorial, Nov. 30, 2004.
Of course, we welcome the release of political
prisoners in Cuba. We join with their families
in welcoming them back from their unjust
imprisonment. We wish we believed that this
means a change in the way Fidel Castro will
deal with free speech and dissent. It won't.
Of all his traits, intolerance and cynicism
are at the top of the list. He squelches
dissent and plays with people's lives. On
Monday, Castro released a handful of political
prisoners. They were among the 75 Cubans
that Castro sent to jail last year in an
island-wide crackdown on dissent. Their
insistence on behaving like free men and
women -- writing essays critical of the
regime, distributing banned books such as
Orwell's Animal Farm -- became so annoying
that he packed them all off to jail after
kangaroo-court proceedings. Sentences averaged
19 years.
Today, however, it has suddenly become
useful for Castro to release some of these
prisoners. With his economy deteriorating
and fewer U.S. dollars coming in, Castro
must mend fences with European leaders who
were offended by last year's jailings. This
is particularly true for Spain, a large
investment presence on the island whose
government has gone from conservative to
socialist. The release of a few dissidents
is intended to mollify the Europeans.
No one will be fooled by this charade.
The question is whether this gesture will
be taken as enough of a sign of good faith
to change European attitudes.
The releases were similar to the conditional
freedom of six other dissidents, released
in June and in poor health. They were sent
home under an ''extra-penal license,'' meaning
their convictions remain in effect and they
could be returned to prison at any time.
European leaders should welcome the releases,
but also demand that all political prisoners
be set free before resuming normal relations
with Cuba.
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