Castro Beyond Cuba

Sadly, one of the legacies of the Bush administration is we've pretty much lost the opportunity to nudge Cuba back onto the path of free market reform after Castro. This article appeared in a Yahoo newsfeed:

A U.S. commission is preparing to advise President George W. Bush on how to inject democracy into a post-Castro Cuba, but critics say Washington's 40 years of isolating the island may limit its chances of heading off a communist succession.

Bush should have been thinking about this before his decision to make Guantanimo Bay a perpetual prison for enemy combatants. The report on the post Castro world should have been on Bush's desk in term 1 of his presidency.

As it stands, South America has taken a decided leap to the left. Castro is able to secure Communism in Cuba for another generation by creating a fiecely anti-American alliance with Hugo Chavez.

Personally, I believe that the ongoing embargo has done more harm than good. As with the embargo of Saddam Hussein, Iran, and North Korea, these long standing generational embargos tend to solidify the political base of the dictators.

For example, if we had restored trade relations with Iran, we would have something other than military cards to play in the current nuclear crisis. Sadly, any report on post Castro Cuba received by Bush in his lame duck term is too late. Our best hope is that Castro will live on for another four years and do his tragic death scene during the next presidential term.