Never really understood the wisdom of alienating an entire region of the planet for the sake of placating a couple hundred thousand people in south Florida, but that's pretty much been our default Latin America policy for my entire lifetime. It may be smart politics in an election year, but it's never been particularly coherent policy in any year---especially so now, in our glorious Homeland Security Era---and it really doesn't matter if the policy is being peddled by right-wing Republicans or Kenyan Marxist Democrats:
Under U.S. pressure, Cuba’s Raul Castro was not invited to this meeting, and many influential regional leaders, led by Rousseff and Santos, indicated that they would not attend another without Cuba.Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, declined to attend the summit in protest, and other leading leftists close to Cuba, including Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, did not show up.
Chavez, who usually thrives on the attention of regional forums, was also not present, because of illness.
But the issue still resonates throughout Latin America, evoking the Cold War-era political divide between left and right that Obama on Sunday said had ended.
“The fact of the matter is that Cuba, unlike the other countries participating, has not moved to democracy, is not respecting human rights,” Obama said. “I’m hoping the transition takes place.”
Transition to democracy. Respect for human rights. The jokes just write themselves.
One of these days we are going to regret pissing off so many of our little brown brothers. But I guess it's inevitable when you view millions of people primarily as assets to be exploited rather than as fellow citizens of the planet who'd like the freedom to choose their own forms of government, and their own forms of economic exchange.
Update: Also too, Friends in Freedom.
---Vitelius
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