ONE OF THE FIRST people I met during a week's stay in Havana last year was the economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a once-ardent communist who had turned against Fidel Castro's dictatorial system. For daring to criticize Cuba's disastrous policies, Chepe and his wife Miriam had been severely punished. . . Chepe was one of nearly 80 Cuban dissidents seized in mass arrests across the island last week. After a summary trial on Monday he was convicted on trumped-up charges of ''working with a foreign power to undermine the government.'' His punishment was 20 years in prison.
Every few years Castro unleashes a brutal crackdown, sweeping scores of innocent victims -- dissidents and democrats guilty of nothing more than thinking for themselves -- into his dungeons. It isn't something he does because he has been insufficiently exposed to commerce and tourism, or because he resents the US embargo, or because Jimmy Carter and other credulous liberals haven't lavished him with his usual quota of flattery.
He does it because he is a ruthless tyrant who craves power more than anything else. For 44 years he has let nothing weaken his stranglehold on Cuba, and neither concessions nor sanctions nor international condemnation will change his behavior now. The only one way to reform a totalitarian despot like Castro is to topple his regime. Peacefully if possible, by force if necessary.
After seeing the events unfold yesterday in Iraq, I can hardly understand why we let Castro continue his wrath. The world may yell, but the shouting will quiet to a murmur once the extent of the repression is revealed. That government has stolen the property of United States citizens. It has continued to oppress the relatives of United States Citizens. It’s only 90 miles from our border. It’s a beautiful land that could once again become a beautiful country.
UPDATE:US ambassador in Dominican Republic says Iraq an example for Cuba
UPDATE#2: Cuba sentences last of 75 dissidents in crackdown
UPDATE #3 The Wall Street Journal Weighs In
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