COMMENTARY As the U.S. cuts off oil to Cuba, Havana's communist regime and Miami's exile leadership remain locked in a zero-sum mindset that risks greater humanitarian catastrophe on the island.
You could call the current moment in Cuba a tale of two press conferences 鈥� two callous press conferences 鈥� one here in Miami on Jan. 29 and the other on Feb. 5 in Havana.
The message in Havana: ordinary Cubans must accept more pain.
The message from Miami: ordinary Cubans must accept more pain.
Together, they project how little both the Cuban communist regime and the Cuban exile leadership seem to be taking into account just how much worse the average Cuban person stands to suffer in the months ahead 鈥� as 67 years of disastrous Cuban dictatorship may come to an end.
READ MORE: Now, as always, Cuban politics matter more than Cuban people
Let鈥檚 start with last week鈥檚 presser, when Cuban President Miguel D铆az-Canel, a dazed look on his face, put his delusional spin on the reality that the U.S. has him and his government painted into a corner tighter than a sidewalk in Old Havana.
The Trump administration has effectively blockaded oil shipments to Cuba 鈥� including the Venezuelan crude that had kept the island鈥檚 wrecked economy afloat, but which Washington now controls after last month鈥檚 U.S. military capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicol谩s Maduro.
No one knows for sure how many months of fuel Cuba has left in the meantime 鈥� or how long its regime can hold on as a result. But, while that revolution has escaped staggering crises in the past, its demise now could actually be less a question of if than of when.
We expect a Marxist dictatorship to make its citizens take on more suffering so it can survive. But America鈥檚 message shouldn鈥檛 be that heartless.
Even so, last week D铆az-Canel revealed that 鈥渨hen鈥� could last long enough to reduce the 9 million people remaining in Cuba to something like an apocalypse survivors鈥� existence.
鈥淲e鈥檒l overcome this tough time,鈥� the Cuban presidente said, 鈥渨ith creative resistance.鈥�
Legendary resourcefulness
It was an absurd remark, because days-long blackouts are common across Cuba today, and even staples like chicken are harder to find than Pheasant Under Glass. Cubanos don鈥檛 have any more 鈥渃reative resistance鈥� 鈥� or resolver, as their legendary resourcefulness is called 鈥� left to summon.
They perhaps might if the regime dropped its dogmatic madness and, say, took the handcuffs off the island鈥檚 fledgling but promising private sector, or conceded a human right or two.
But, per the old saying about Cuba鈥檚 leadership, it never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity 鈥� as when former President Barack Obama opened the door to improved U.S.-Cuba relations a decade ago, and the regime all but slammed it back in his face.
That was really smart, comandantes 鈥� because now President Donald Trump, right or wrong, has slammed it back in yours.
D铆az-Canel did offer "dialogue" with Trump. But he also made it clear the regime will relinquish its Marxist grip on power later than sooner 鈥� later than Trump鈥檚 administration is forecasting, anyway 鈥� while ordering Cuba鈥檚 people to 鈥渃reatively鈥� tighten their belts around their starved rib cages.
Which is precisely why the press conference in Miami the week before felt equally cold-blooded.
At that gathering, Republican Miami Congressmen Carlos Gimenez and Mario Diaz-Balart called on the Trump administration to cut off not just oil to Cuba but U.S. flights and cash remittances there, in order to hasten the regime鈥檚 collapse.
This on top of the 64-year-old U.S economic embargo against Cuba.
The oil blockade seems to have taken care of the halt to flights, since Cuba can no longer reliably refuel them.
But blocking the billions of dollars in remittances that more than half of the island鈥檚 population receive from the diaspora 鈥� and which usually mean the difference between living and subsisting 鈥� is an inordinately cruel demand under the present circumstances.
鈥淭he regime is a cancer,鈥� said Gimenez, an exile who claims he鈥檚 never sent "one penny" into communist Cuba, 鈥渁nd the way you cure cancer, sometimes the cure is painful, but it works.鈥�
Gimenez complains the regime takes a cut of the remittances. But, especially now, that fee seems hardly large enough to keep the regime robust and therefore justify withholding the money from Cuban families 鈥� who don鈥檛 deserve to be treated like a cancer themselves, Congressman.
Too many Miami exiles share Gimenez鈥檚 鈥� and the regime鈥檚 鈥� zero-sum zealotry when it comes to Cuba politics. That mindset risks an even greater humanitarian catastrophe on the island.
It鈥檚 what we expect from a Marxist dictatorship.
But America鈥檚 message shouldn鈥檛 be that heartless.
