Editorial: How Joe Biden and Illinois should deal with post-Castro Cuba

Protests are not uncommon in Cuba, but the July 11 protests that brought thousands to the streets of Havana and other cities across the Caribbean island — as well as sympathy marches in Chicago and Miami, among other U.S. cities — signaled something significantly new.

After surviving 62 years of communist rule — and a dozen United States presidents — the masses on the street give new life to an old question: What happens when the Castros are no longer in charge?

Would the island’s failing status as an outpost of the Cold War follow the pattern of the old Soviet Union and fall apart? Or would the new regime perhaps follow the state-capitalist ways of China, loosening the government’s grip on economic enterprise while trying to hold a lid on free speech and other democratic principles?

Similarly vexing questions face President Joe Biden. He struck the right tone by immediately standing with the Cuban people “and their clarion call for freedom and relief” from the pandemic and decades of repression and economic shortages, made worse by the authoritarian Castro regime.

As much as the president already has on his plate these days, the United States must be unwavering in its pressure on the regime for freedom, human rights and economic opportunity, which would come from normalized relations.

That push has historic significance for Illinois, whose then-Gov. George Ryan in 1999 became first U.S. governor to visit Cuba since President Dwight Eisenhower cut off relations in response to the Havana government’s seizure of property owned by U.S. businesses.

President Barack Obama later issued a half-dozen policy directives toward normalizing U.S. trade with the island and creating new markets, particularly for Illinois agricultural products, filling a gap left by the regime’s notoriously poor agricultural policies.

But President Donald Trump reversed that effort, abandoned engagement with Cuba and reimposed tighter sanctions that remain today. Major Illinois companies and industries and the Illinois-Cuba Working Group continue to hope for restored trade, which would benefit both countries and, one hopes, soften the Havana regime’s self-defeating hostility to capitalism.

One thing appears to be certain in the shouts and songs of the thousands who turned out on the streets: An unconstrained yearning to push back tyranny and repression that have held Cuba suspended in a crumbling version of the 1950s while the rest of the world has moved on.

As Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican and child of Cuban immigrants, described it, “The only country on this planet where Cubans are not successful is Cuba. And they’re tired of it.”

Unfortunately, opening doors to economic freedom runs counter to the obviously failed vision of Fidel Castro. After Fidel’s death in 2016 and his brother Raul Castro’s retirement in April, the rise of their hand-picked successor in the autocratic regime, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, revives old questions about Cuba’s future even as it raises new ones.

Reality has intruded on Cuba’s long-held pride in its education and health care systems, which often have been the envy of the underdeveloped world. COVID-19 has broadsided the island, tragically exposing its much-vaunted health care system to be two-tiered: fine for those who can afford it or have good political connections, but a disaster for those who don’t.

The pandemic also has cut off cruise ships, a major income source, and other tourism as food shortages have left even those who have ration cards with little to ration.

And, as much as such bad news could be suppressed by the regime in the past, another innovation has shifted the balance. As we have seen elsewhere, street protests and other discontent is fueled by social networks, constrained but not totally eliminated by the regime’s censorship.

After the nationwide protests erupted, the Cuban government followed a practice that has become common in authoritarian states: They blocked access to major social media platforms.

On July 21, a State Department official confirmed that the Biden administration is working with “the private sector and Congress” to find ways to restore access. White House press secretary Jen Psaki called it a priority for the president.

Such a move would appear to be in accord with this country’s history of broadcast news and entertainment programs like Radio Free Europe and, in Cuba, Radio Marti, to offset the communist government’s propaganda.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose state has more Cuban Americans than any other, has been promoting ideas with the White House that include high-power Wi-Fi hot spots in hot air balloons, satellites, and the Guantanamo Bay military base or the U.S. embassy in Havana to broaden internet access.

However, as appealing as such ideas may sound, they also face technical and diplomatic hurdles that may put off such ventures to the distant future. For now, the United States needs to take a firm stance in favor of freedom that avoids the many mistakes of earlier presidents in its Cuba dealings.

After all, Fidel Castro learned the value of using the embargo and other U.S. interventions as aggressive as the failed Bay of Pigs invasion to make this country his scapegoat for all of Cuba’s troubles, including many of his own making.

Today a new generation of Cubans is eager to take charge. But, while America and other allies can offer assistance, sometimes the best way for America to help Cuba is to get out of the way as much as possible and help Cubans help themselves.

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