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 Editorials | Opinions | February 2008 
Mexico's Coziness with Cuba Strikes Wrong Note
 Andres Oppenheimer - Miami Herald
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What irony! While left-of-center governments in Spain, Chile, Peru and other countries used the opportunity of Fidel Castro's formal resignation as Cuba's president to politely suggest that it may be time to allow a political opening on the island, the center-right government of Mexico seemed to go out of its way to please Cuba's military dictatorship.
I happened to be in Mexico when Castro announced his resignation as president of the Council of State and commander in chief, and I could hardly believe my eyes when I read the official communique issued by the government of President Felipe Calderón.
The statement described Castro as an "outstanding figure in the international scene," and added that Mexico "reiterates its will to continue advancing in the process of improvement of bilateral relations begun several months ago."
An "outstanding" international figure? Hmmm. Would Mexico have said the same about Spanish dictator Francisco Franco?
Ironically, senior Spanish, Chilean and Peruvian officials, among others, said that they hope this new era in Cuba's political life will bring about basic economic and democratic freedoms.
Why is Calderón, who until not long ago was a strong defender of democratic freedoms in Cuba, making such a U-turn? Why is he sending Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa to Cuba on March 13-14 for the first official bilateral talks in several years, with no known plans to meet with the democratic opposition? Among the possible reasons:
• Calderón's first priority is to pass a much-needed energy reform through Congress, and he needs the votes of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, with a long history of ties with Cuba.
• Calderón wants to recover the $400 million in Cuba's foreign debt to Mexico. The two countries announced a "historic" deal Feb. 17, whereby the Mexican government ended a six-year-long freeze of bilateral commercial relations, restructured Cuba's debt and announced new financing for Mexican exports to the island.
• Calderón may want to protect himself against Cuban-backed leftist rebels in Mexico. There are more than 3,000 coming every year and many of them stay. Many are believed to be Cuban agents who could help create trouble.
• Calderón may simply be trying to differentiate himself from his predecessor, Vicente Fox, a member of Calderón's center-right National Action Party, who fought publicly with Castro.
• None of the above, senior Mexican officials say. After Mexico's ties with Cuba plummeted during the Fox administration, Calderón wants to restore good relations with all countries in Latin America, so as to regain the country's status as a major political player in the region, they say.
Gerónimo Gutiérrez, Mexico's foreign ministry's head of Latin American affairs, told me that Mexico is seeking to "increase its presence, cooperation and dialogue with all of Latin America."
Asked whether Mexico is not stepping back from its previous commitment to the collective defense of democracy in the region, Gutiérrez said: "No, we're not stepping back. President Calderón's government promotes the values of democracy and human rights, but doesn't impose them."
Asked about the Mexican statement's reference to Castro as an "outstanding figure," Gutiérrez said that it is not a value judgment, but a matter of fact: Castro has been an important figure in recent world history.
Will Mexico's foreign minister meet with dissidents when she goes to Cuba, as her predecessor Rosario Green did in 1999, I asked. It hasn't been decided yet, but whatever Mexico does will be with previous notification to the Cuban government, he said.
My conclusion: There is nothing wrong with Mexico trying to restore its ties with Cuba in order to solve pressing immigration, trade or political issues. But it should do that by meeting both with the Cuban government and with the opposition, much as Cuban officials do when they visit Mexico.
In addition, Mexico - and Brazil, which is also turning its back to Cuban dissidents - are playing a dangerous game for their own political future.
Once they accept the idea that there is such a thing as a "good dictatorship" abroad, they create the precedent for anybody to argue that there can be a benevolent tyranny at home. That's bad for them, and bad for the region. |
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