Publish Day - Ink Blog - Cuba's gesture

Today's column deals with some unexpected fallout from Hurricane Katrina, namely Cuban leader Fidel Castro's offer to help the U.S.

What struck me about this issue was its potential to rise above the petty politics that have defined the U.S.-Cube relationship for well over a generation.
Sure, Castro's offer was dripping with political meaning. And only the most naive among us would think that Castro's intentions were completely altruistic. Like all political animals, he wouldn't say no to the public relations brownie points that such a move would return to him.

But the optimist in me once again kicked in. Somehow, I hoped, the locked-in positions of dead-set ideological and political foes would take a back seat to basic humanity.

I guess I'm the naive one, for the U.S. government has to-date shown no sign of even recognizing the gesture. But how does our planet evolve if we simply accept the here-and-now and refuse to dream for the impossible?

Click on the image to see it close-up. Here's the text:

Castro’s gesture muted by media

Published Tuesday, September 6, 2005

The London Free Press

Lost in the torrent of coverage surrounding the unfolding disaster in and around New Orleans was this snippet of news from Cuba: Fidel Castro offered to send over 1,000 doctors to help relief efforts.

Since the U.S. has no official ties to the communist country, it’s doubtful that U.S. President George W. Bush sent a thank you note to his nemesis-dictator. Yet the fact that the offer was tendered at all is enough of a signal that not all Cold Wars are inviolable.

This does little to change the fact that Mr. Castro was and remains no friend of freedom. His regime routinely jails journalists who dare to question the state’s iron rule over the impoverished nation. He stubbornly clings to communism long after its original sponsors behind the Iron Curtain gave up and admitted it was a doomed political ideology. And his people suffer while the rest of the world moves on.

But change must start with a single gesture. One hopes American leadership has the courage to appreciate the Cuban message.

-30-