Sen. Jeff Flake, a conservative Republican from Arizona, has long been an advocate of normalizing relations with Cuba.
I interviewed him in 2007 for the website Real Clear Politics when he was a congressman; at the time, Flake was a lonely voice in the House Republican Caucus hoping to end the Cuban travel ban. "I don't have a lot of Cuban-Americans in my district or farmers affected by the trade embargo," he told me. "This is an issue of freedom for me. My constituents should be able to travel wherever they want unless there is a compelling national security reason."
And there was no such compelling reason for Cuba, he insisted. "We can travel to China, so why not Cuba?"
This week, Senator Flake traveled to Cuba with President Obama on Air Force One as part of a large, bipartisan congressional delegation. Accompanying the elected officials were American business leaders looking for investment opportunities on the economically underdeveloped and pristine Caribbean island.
Not all Republicans agree with Flake. The two most prominent critics are Cuban-American Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, who argue that normalization should not take place so long as the Castro regime remains in power. But the 50-year old unilateral American policy of isolating Cuba has failed, and the regime uses the trade embargo as the excuse for all its problems. If anything, engaging with Cuba and the Cuban people - a gradual process that the Obama administration began several years ago - is more likely to bring about positive change.
In an interview from Havana with Breitbart News, Flake likened Obama's initiative to Ronald Reagan's opening to the Soviet Union and said, "I don't think we need to have any respect for the system. I certainly don't, it's a failed communist socialist system. But the policies that we have now are benefiting the Cuban people and I think will lead to a hastier transition to democracy than what we had."
Obama's trip was historic. In the first visit to Cuba by an American president since Calvin Coolidge, the images of Air Force One landing in Havana and the Cuban honor guard playing "The Star Spangled Banner" were striking. But what may have more lasting impact are the words that were spoken and broadcast live to the Cuban people. These included the befuddled and incoherent response of the aging, unelected President Raul Castro to a free press posing tough questions about political prisoners. And then there was President Obama's powerful speech the next day: intellectually honest about both Cuba and the United States, he explained the value of democracy and free markets and spoke truth to power as Castro watched in silence.
The American visit was no propaganda coup for the communist regime. Obama not only acknowledged Cuban dissidents in his public statements but met with them in person, including leaders of the often harassed opposition groups Ladies in White and Patriotic Union of Cuba. Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the latter group, told The New York Times that, "This posture (Obama) has taken, the solidarity he has shown, will help us a lot. He is already helping us."
Partisan critics have attacked Obama for attending the exhibition baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cuba's national team, instead of returning to the U.S. after the horrific terrorist attacks in Brussels. In an interview with ESPN, Obama suggested that altering the diplomatic schedule would have given the terrorists a victory. "They cannot defeat America....What they can do is scare and make people afraid. And disrupt our daily lives and divide us. And as long as we don't allow that to happen, we're going to be OK."
I spent a week in Cuba in the spring of 2006 when Fidel Castro was still in charge. I saw the beauty of the country, its people, and its untapped potential - as well as the repression of the communist regime. Cuba has moved forward since then, with Raul loosening the vise of state power ever so slightly. Thanks to President Obama's approach of engagement instead of isolation, I am confident that Cuba will make significant progress in the coming years in both political and economic freedom.
