The international community ought to be ashamed of the way it keeps turning its back on the human rights atrocities being heaped on Cuban citizens. Instead, the United Nations general assembly keeps voting overwhelmingly to urge the United States to end its embargo. It did so again this month. Once again, Israel was the only nation brave enough to stand with the United States in opposing the resolution.
That is almost as ridiculous as the $100 billion lawsuit Cuba is threatening to file against the United States for compensation for the "damages" inflicted by the embargo, which started four decades ago. The suit probably will be filed in a Cuban court which, like everything else in the island nation, is tightly controlled by Fidel Castro. Already, a judge in Havana ruled the United States is liable for $181.1 billion in damages for deaths and injuries dating back to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.Talk about strange logic. These suits make as much sense as a kidnapper seeking damages from the police.
The State Department's "human rights report" documents clear evidence that Fidel Castro's regime remains as repressive as ever. Cubans are not allowed to express themselves freely. Routinely, police harass, threaten and arbitrarily arrest dissidents, doctors, lawyers, journalists and anyone else who is seen as a threat to the dictatorship. The government then subjects these prisoners to unfair trials. Despite the optimism generated by Castro's decision to allow Pope John Paul II to visit Cuba, freedoms and basic human rights remain elusive.
One need look no further than last week, when Castro began another crackdown in preparation for the ninth Ibero-American Summit, which is scheduled to begin on the island this week. A small group of brave patriots staged a rally against the government and found themselves beaten and incarcerated.
The United States has a long-held, bipartisan policy of maintaining the embargo until Castro begins showing significant signs of ending his despotic rule. Intelligent people may disagree on the merits of that policy. But for the world to castigate the United States while ignoring the abuses suffered by the Cuban people is unconscionable.