When James Cason was named last year as the senior U.S. diplomat in Cuba, he said he planned to be "creative, active and vigorous" in the job. The chief result of his vigorous creativity is that dozens of political activists and journalists have been imprisoned for outrageously long terms after being convicted of conspiring with Mr. Cason to overthrow the regime of President Fidel Castro.
Meantime, there is no sign of any fundamental change in U.S. policy toward Cuba. So the question is: Why did Washington's man in Havana goad the Castro regime into launching what may well be its harshest crackdown on peaceful dissent? And what does the Bush administration plan next?
Mr. Cason arrived in Cuba in September and immediately cranked up the pace of U.S. contacts with independent journalists and dissidents opposed to Mr. Castro's Communist government. He crisscrossed the island, seeking out activists and holding meetings with them. He let opposition journalists use computers at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana. He not only frequently invited dissidents to his residence, but ostentatiously showed up at their meetings and spoke publicly in their support.
In February, after being elected to a sixth term as president, Mr. Castro lashed out, calling Mr. Cason's actions "shameless and defiant provocation." He threatened to close the U.S. mission and boot its chief off his island. Then, as the world was transfixed with events in Iraq, his agents swooped down on the dissidents. Beginning March 18, they rounded up nearly 80 of them and clapped them in jail. The prisoners went on trial last week; at least half of them have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 27 years.
I don't want any misunderstanding here. The man responsible for the crackdown on dissidents is Mr. Castro. No matter what you think of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, or what you think of Cuba's health-care and school systems, there can be no justification for jailing a man for 25 years because he wrote a pamphlet or made a radio broadcast or had lunch with a U.S. diplomat.
On Cuban soil, at the Guantanamo Bay naval base, the United States is holding more than 600 prisoners captured in the "war on terrorism." Some have been released without charge after more than a year of periodic interrogation. All are denied minimal standards of due process. It is wrong and unconscionable. It is also wrong and unconscionable for Cuba to round up these peaceful protesters, conduct sham two-day trials in which they had no prospect of a meaningful defense, and sentence them to long terms in a harsh prison system.
No one should be surprised about the Cuban crackdown least of all in Washington. But if it was foreseen by U.S. strategists, what's the plan? Remember, this is the Bush administration. The same folks who are bombing the bejesus out of Baghdad to deliver democracy to the Arab world. The same ones who vow never again to betray opponents of a tyrannical regime the way Iraqi foes of Saddam Hussein were hung out to dry by the U.S.-led coalition in 1991.
I can't believe the U.S. government plans to seriously ratchet up pressure on Mr. Castro at the same time as it is heavily engaged halfway around the world. Nevertheless, its own "national security strategy" speaks of American ideals as a "lifeline to lonely defenders of liberty" and of fighting not only terrorists but also tyrants.
I asked a couple of people in Washington about this, people who follow U.S.-Cuba matters closely. They were careful to say Mr. Castro bears the blame for what has happened, but they believe Mr. Cason's actions played into his hands.
"United States policy has given Castro an excuse, albeit illegitimate, to in effect decapitate the dissident movement in Cuba," said Brian Alexander, executive director of the Cuba Policy Foundation. Dan Erickson, Cuba program director at the Inter-American Dialogue, reminded me that Mr. Castro has a long history of choosing moments in which to exploit the many weaknesses and contradictions in U.S. Cuba policy. "The United States is playing checkers, and Castro is playing chess," he said. "And once again, he's several moves ahead."
What will the Bushites do now to back up Mr. Cason's new friends? Please, no more military action. But since domestic politics preclude dropping the embargo, the options for peaceful pressure are severely limited. Cutting off money transfers to Cuba would impose further hardship on long-suffering Cubans and enrage their relatives in exile. There seems little point in further tightening travel restrictions.
Perhaps the jailed dissidents know what Washington is up to. At any rate, they've got plenty of time to think about it. .
