Our Hapless Man in Havana

For the last month, the Cuban government has detained an American contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), accusing him of secretly distributing laptops and other communications devices in Cuba and calling it espioniage. Unfortunately, the incident has occasioned the usual, tired debate about what the United States is doing in Cuba and why. What this incident really should spark is a close look at Cuba's retrograde political repression and the United States' policy paralysis when it comes to its island neighbor.

The very fact that Cuba arrested the USAID contractor for doing nothing more than handing out laptops says more about Cuban paranoia than U.S. policy. In what other country in the hemisphere would it be considered a crime for a foreigner to give out a cell phone, laptop, or any other modern tool of communication? Brazil? Argentina? Mexico? Venezuela? Of course not. In fact, Americans passing out free cell phones and computers in those countries are called, appropriately, humanitarians. Let's be clear: The Castro regime is isolating its citizens from not just news and information, but from modernity. It is one of a handful of governments on Earth still attempting such a comprehensive level of repression. Sadly, though journalists do report this simple fact, the surreal level of Cuban repression often takes a back seat to criticism of U.S. policy.

In these cases, U.S. articles often insinuate that Washington must be up to something sinister in Cuba when describing such events. Just last week, the hoary commentator on all things Cuba, Wayne Smith, lobbed a predictable partisan criticism. He argued that President Barack Obama's administration is continuing the policies of his predecessor, fomenting rebellion in the communist country while severely restricting trade with the island. (Never mind that the policy of providing assistance to independent civil society groups in Cuba started under Bill Clinton.)

But what's so sinister about a citizen receiving or having a laptop or a cell phone? Nothing -- unless the government is maintaining a chokehold on power by holding its citizens frozen in the past. Now, full disclosure here: I used to be the director for Latin America at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), where I proudly helped distribute basic communications tools to independent-minded citizens and groups inside Cuba. We provided simple things like pencils, paper, and reading materials -- and we're not talking about anti-Castro screeds. We supported the distribution of documents about internationally recognized human and labor rights.

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WALTERLX

2:08 PM ET

January 7, 2010

What's wrong with handing out high-tech gear in Cuba?

The first things that's wrong is that it is illegal under Cuban law. The agent who entered Cuba on a tourist visa could not have brought the satellite telephones and laptops in his luggage. Cuban customs would have prevented that on his arrival. Someone must have supplied them to him once inside the island. Who supplied these things to him?

Oh, and these aren't the cell phones that you and I normally have here in the United States to call friends and family. These are cell phones with an international capability which cost upwards of a thousand dollars a MONTH.
Here are some of the details:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs2824.html

Who is paying for this and what do they expect to receive for these services?

Under the terms of the Helms-Burton, Torricelli and other laws, US policy is to help organize the overthrow of the Cuban government and the social system which that government defends. And the US budgets tens of MILLIONS of US taxpayer dollars to pursue its "regime change" goals inside of Cuba.

It shouldn't come as any surprise to learn that the Cuban authorities don't take such activity lightly or lying down.

Sabatini claims that the US helped opponents of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, but that's utterly false. In fact the US helped Pinochet to impose his dictatorship and to maintain it through the years. But contrast, Washington is doing everything it can to overthrow the Cuban government.

In time we should expect to learn something more about what this agent was doing, who was funding him, and what he was distributing and to whom during his operations in Cuba.

Then we may be better able to answer the question of what's wrong with such activities.

ANDY CARDENAS

5:20 PM ET

CUBA

Could not have said it better myself--why is the anti-Cuba dribble always forefront with the MSM?

FRANK CALZON

10:49 PM ET

american detained in Cuba

So there are still folks willing to give the Castro dynasty the benefit of the doubt. Although Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel and other world leaders have called on the democratic world to press Havana to release political prisoners. Havana needs little excuse for its actions, the regime is as arbitrary as Stalin's was. Did anyone take notice when Havana executed two young black Cubans for stealing a boat and attempting to escape Cuba. When the regime sent its warplanes to murder Americans in the Florida Straits in the middle of the day who were flying small Cessnas looking for refugees. Why is it that Cuba ranks as one of the lowest countries in the world with access to Internet? Cubans get paid 15 or 20 dollars a month and there are not independent unions. The United States and the American people helped bring freedom do Poland and other nations who suffered under Communism. Many Americans helped South Africa and Chile get rid of their dictators. As far as getting a telephone or a laptop into Cuba it happens every day: there are thousands of tourists. Perhaps Cuban security detected the equipment at the airport and followed the American. A tourist does not require a special permit to bring a telephone into the country. Once the Castros are gone, will their admirers transfer their "solidarity" to North Korea? What is the purpose of having a US mission in Cuba, if American diplomats do not have prompt access to US citizens detained by the regime?
Frank Calzon

RKERG

9:21 PM ET

Obsession

Which country is more obsessed with a small island nation off their shore that has been giving them the finger for 50 years, China with Taiwan or America with Cuba?
Too bad that the two countries, who both seem unable to just move on when they are rejected, couldn't just work out a trade like the Major League Baseball teams do when they have a player that is unwilling to get with their program.
Whatya say, Cuba for Tawain? Seems like natural fit to me.

RICHARD CHEESEMAN

10:01 PM ET

Hypocritical propaganda

"In what other country in the hemisphere would it be considered a crime for a foreigner to give out a cell phone, laptop, or any other modern tool of communication?"

That's an easy question to answer: the USA.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act criminalises any unregistered agent of a foreign power (which this "contractor" certainly was) who "within the United States solicits, collects, disburses, or dispenses contributions, loans, money, or other things of value for or in the interest of such foreign principal."

In the US such a foreign agent would be liable to a sentence of 5 years in jail and a fine of $10,000.

Foreign Policy Magazine

Our Hapless Man in Havana

For a month, Cuba has detained a USAID contractor for passing out laptops. It's time for the U.S. to send over a whole lot more.

BY CHRISTOPHER SABATINI | JANUARY 7, 2010

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