The Varela Project

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I can’t believe I’m saying this, but: David Brooks’ criticism Kerry’s remarks on the Varela Project is dead on.* The project has gathered 30,000 signatures on a petition to hold a referendum on whether to hold free elections. Castro has jailed many of its supporters.

Kerry told a Miami Herald reporter that it “has gotten a lot of people in trouble . . . and it brought down the hammer in a way that I think wound up being counterproductive.”

I don’t know very much about Cuba; I only learned the details of the Varela project because of this controversy. I do know blaming the victim when I see it. It’s especially bizarre from a candidate who fully supports the embargo–which to my inexpert eyes has proved, if not counterproductive, totally non-productive. But pushing for repeal or relaxation of the embargo could get Kerry “into trouble” in Florida.** Just as opposing the Iraq war would have gotten him into trouble. Just as opposing a constitutional amendment to take away people’s marriage licenses in his home state would have gotten him into trouble. Just as showing leadership now, instead of strategically lying low, could get him into trouble.

He has my vote; there’s no question. (Even if I believed that the Bush administration were a bunch of starry eyed defenders of freedom–and I so, so don’t–I’d have to vote for Kerry on grounds of competence alone.) There’s also no question that Kerry is capable of great courage. But he seems to have misplaced it lately, and I find myself really missing Howie, Johnny, and Wesley. If the rumors about Gephardt as the VP pick prove true, despite the American Prospect’s worthy efforts, I’ll miss them even more.

See Randy Paul, Kevin Drum, and Tacitus for more.

See also William Butler Yeats (first stanza, last two lines).

*Except that last paragraph, which is an oversimplification at best of Carter, Reagan, Bush and Bush. For one thing, I don’t like telling dissidents not to rock the boat, but it’s definitely preferable to telling them “arise and we shall come to your aid!” and then failing to do so. I’m thinking specifically of the 1991 Shi’ite rebellion in Iraq, but I’m sure there are other examples.
**You’d think this remark would get him into trouble too, but Cuban exile politics is a strange thing and I couldn’t venture a guess. According to this New Yorker article, some of the hard liners in the leadership of the exile community actively oppose> giving support to dissidents in Cuba, preferring to “shun those still living under Castro (and not in jail). None of the ultra hard-liners would visit Cuba, or associate with anyone who did.”

7 thoughts on “The Varela Project”

  3. Great courage?? John Kerry is just a man. I’m sure he’s not a coward, but I’ve never seen any display of great courage. Audacity maybe. And laying low instead of showing leadership is a strategy?? What’ll we call it, the great snake strategy. I’ll vote for the man providing leadership and great courage now, regardless of the political risk – President George W. Bush.

  4. The silver star. (Not only that, but the rest is controversial and might fall under “courage” rather than “great courage”.)

  5. The silver star. (Not only that, but the rest is controversial and might fall under “courage” rather than “great courage”.)

  6. “Great courage” wouldn’t do you any good if you didn’t believe in the cause. Castro was probably pretty courageous in his day, and I think he would be the least likely to push for democracy. I would rather elect a coward who believes in democracy than someone with great courage and misplaced ideals.

  7. Katherine,
    Here’s some of what the hard-liners in the exile community said about Payá when he visited Miami in January 2003:

    But not everyone was receptive. Some callers to Spanish-language radio denounced Payá as ”an agent of Fidel.” Others questioned why Castro’s communist government would allow Payá to travel if he was truly a threat to the state.
    Andres Lopez, 61, ripped Payá while shopping at Walgreens in Biscayne Shores near North Miami.
    ”I, like many Cubans, do not trust him,” Lopez said. “He has been too soft on people who have been murderous and assassins, and you can’t work with Fidel. I am one who believes there are only two sides — against Castro or with Castro.”
    America Pruneda, who left Cuba in 1960, also expressed distrust for Payá as she walked out of Versailles Restaurant in Miami after lunch Tuesday.
    ”I think he comes with an agenda a bit in favor of Fidel,” she said. “I’d like to see a free Cuba, but not like this. I’ve waited 42 years in exile. I’ll wait a bit longer for someone with the right ideology.”

    Here’s what Payá said about Bush’s new policy towards Cuba:

    “Oswaldo Payá, the leader of the Project Varela movement, told me from a relative’s house in Havana that the new U.S. measures will ‘complicate’ the internal opposition’s struggle. The movement has gathered more than 30,000 signatures on the island demanding a referendum within the island’s communist constitution on whether Cubans should be allowed to have basic freedoms.
    “Payá did not want to get into details of the new U.S. measures, which also include $18 million for Radio and TV Martí [2 notoriously wasteful projects RP] broadcasts to the island and some financial aid for dissidents’ families. But he said that ‘this new package of [U.S.] measures once again shifts the center of attention toward a confrontation between the Cuban government and the United States. Now there will be an avalanche of news in the government media about this new confrontation stemming from the latest U.S.
    measures. It’s Cuba versus the United States, all over again.’
    “My position is that the only thing we expect from the United States and the rest of the world is political and moral support,” said Payá. ‘Those who led this [Cuba Commission report] looked into their own needs, rather than those of Cuba and the peaceful opposition
    movement.'”

    As Oppenheimer notes, Kerry is calling for more international support for bringing freedom to Cuba and as I have commented constantly (and as Payá also notes) as long as this is perceived as a US-Cuba dispute, it’s to Castro’s advantage. I think that Kerry can be persuaded to revisit the Varela Project. I don’t think that Bush can garner international support for much of anything, let alone for bringing freedom to Cuba. Kerry can do a much better job of that.

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