Kerry turns his back on democracy in Cuba.

[robcon]

I think this is a first. Senator Kerry calls the Varela Project "counterproductive." For the first time I am ashamed to be supporting John Kerry...

Kerry's Cruel Realism
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: June 19, 2004

"Sometimes in the unscripted moments of a campaign, when the handlers are away, a candidate shows his true nature. Earlier this month, Andres Oppenheimer of The Miami Herald asked John Kerry what he thought of something called the Varela Project. Kerry said it was "counterproductive." It's necessary to try other approaches, he added.

The Varela Project happens to be one of the most inspiring democracy movements in the world today. It is being led by a Cuban dissident named Oswaldo Payá, who has spent his life trying to topple Castro's regime. Payá realized early on that the dictatorship would never be overthrown by a direct Bay of Pigs-style military assault, but it could be undermined by a peaceful grass-roots movement of Christian democrats, modeling themselves on Martin Luther King Jr....

As a young man, Payá founded a magazine called People of God, but it was shut down. He criticized the Soviet Union and was thrown into a work camp. He was given a chance to escape Cuba, but refused.

Then in the mid-1990's, he and other dissidents exploited a loophole in the Cuban Constitution that allows ordinary citizens to propose legislation if they can gather 10,000 signatures on a petition. They began a petition drive to call for a national plebiscite on five basic human rights: free speech, free elections, freedom to worship, freedom to start businesses, and the freeing of political prisoners.

This drive, the Varela Project, quickly amassed the 10,000 signatures, and more. Jimmy Carter lauded the project on Cuban television. The European Union gave Payá its Sakharov Prize for human rights.

Then came Castro's crackdown. Though it didn't dare touch Payá, the regime arrested 75 other dissidents and sentenced each of them to up to 28 years in jail. This week Payá issued a desperate call for international attention and solidarity because the hunt for dissidents continues.

John Kerry's view? As he told Oppenheimer, the Varela Project "has gotten a lot of people in trouble . . . and it brought down the hammer in a way that I think wound up being counterproductive."

Imagine if you are a Cuban political prisoner rotting in a jail, and you learn that the leader of the oldest democratic party in the world thinks you're being counterproductive. Kerry's comment is a harpoon directed at the morale of Cuba's dissidents...."

[Forkboy]

1. I predict this thread will be large by tomorrow night

:)

BTW,Kerry is a dildo sometimes.

[codegreen]

2. as if that's all Kerry has/had to say about the issue...

that's alot of conclusion to draw from one interrupted sentance probably taken out of context by a freep like Brooks.
when Kerry has a chance to explain this and give a full answer unedited by a desperate freep editorialist, then i think we can decide wether to condemn Kerry for having said... GASP... a sentance that the writer was compelled to put a 'space ... space' into, (also not revealing the beginning of the sentence, of course)

pathetic crank reporting from a snivelling hack like Brooks, quoting only two parts of one sentence by our candidate. of course this is the full story, of course.

[codegreen]

3. here is the original Oppenheimer article with the still fragmented quote

a somewhat fuller, and far less jaded, picture:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/andres_oppenheimer/8848591.htm

btw, i've tried finding Kerry's June Cuba policy, the one the Miami Herald article says was unvieled in the telephone interview, but can't find it.

it looks like it was posted here
http://www.cubacentral.com/article.asp?ID=292
but the page is down.

[silverweb]

4. I strongly doubt this is the whole story.

Each movement has its own way of wanting to approach things. Just because Kerry doesn't feel the Varela Project is the best way doesn't mean he's "turned his back" on democracy in Cuba.

[tkmorris]

6. It isn't the whole story

Not even close actually.

The story behind the Varela Project, what it's aims are, it's legal status, those arrested who were involved in it and their basis for arrest, and the goals of it's founder Oswaldo Paya, are not entirely as stated in the US press. I'm not defending the Castro government on this mind you, just stating that all is not as it is being reported. But that isn't Kerry's point I don't think.

It seems to me that Kerry believes that the path to change in Cuba lies in easing sanctions and restrictions. Assimilation if you will, much like what has been occuring in Vietnam and China. Open em up to us, and then let the lure of freedom and democracy do it's thing. The Varela Project sort of forced Castros hand, ensuring that whatever easing of tensions had been occuring of late with the US was flash-frozen. It never had any chance of success is what he seems to be saying, and in this I believe he is right. Castro is not enjoying total support within Cuba but he is popular enough that there is little to no danger of a people's revolt against him, without which Varela will not succeed.

[silverweb]

14. Succinctly put.

Thank you!

:)

[Syrinx]

5. since when are David Brook's idiotic opinions "late breaking news?"

[brainoverload]

7. thank you

for pointing that out - David Brooks makes Fox News truly seem fair and balanced (and truthful for that matter).

[pop goes the weasel]

8. US support for the Varela Project

is counter-productive. Not surprisingly, as soon as the US started offering funding and organizational "skills" to the project, the Cuban government cracked down on them as a foreign-funded organization seeking to subvert Cuba's sovereignty. Has Cuba over-reacted? Yes, but imagine what would happen to any US dissident group receiving the promise of aid from a stated enemy of the United States government. Our government stirred up a hornets' nest and is pretending that it is shocked. I tend to think this was purposeful.

[struggle4progress]

13. I generally agree. Moreover, and unfortunately,

the Bushistas have completely destroyed US credibility: no matter how much we might like to lecture the wholeworld on human rights, our top human rights concern today simply must be straightening out our own ugly gulag; until the situation is remedied, our sermons will be treated with derision.

Those really interested in Cuban human rights should not study Rove's mouthpiece David Brooks, but rather the technical reports from a nonpartisan source, such as
http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=americas&c=cuba

[H2O Man]

9. Yikes!

Are we supposed to take a right-wing bush-supporters concerns that Kerry is not as "pro-democracy" as george w. serious?

[Vogon_Glory]

10. People Can Change Their Minds...

I'm also disappointed--for now. Let's see what John Kerry will do later on.

For now, we know that the squeeze-the-average-Cuban restrictions on remittances, the wannabe-commandos playing soldier in the Everglades, and the never-ending embargo are all failures in bringing about positive change in Cuba.

To date, I think that the exile right wing's vision of a post-Castro Cuba would resemble the bleak Russian joke concerning Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union: "After the fall of Communism, we learned that everything the capitalists said about Communism was true. We also learned that everything the Communists said about capitalism was also true."

I think that the Cuban people deserve better than a Fidelista-style dictatorship or a "neo-liberal" kleptocracy dominated by out-of-touch right-wingers who had been busy living in their exile bubble for nearly forty five years.

[Simeon Salus]

11. This thread title amplifies Brooks' manipulation

and with due respect to original intent, the poster has far exceeded DU rules about quoting more than four paragraphs.

I don't know the truth of Kerry's position, and I'd like to know his campaign would respond to this matter at an appropriate time. My understanding of Kerry's postion on Cuba is certainly not better illuminated by reading either Oppenheimer or Brooks.

Mr. Brooks' current position seems naive and disconnected: those less than enthusiastic about the Varela Project must therefore also oppose democracy in Cuba. His view leaves no room for shades of gray. It leaves no possibility that Varela is less than perfect or that other paths make more sense in the long term.

Seems like a few weeks ago I read his perception those less than enthusiastic about the neocon agenda must be anti-semetic. Two weeks ago I heard him tell Mark Shields he'd be "surprised if Abu Graib abuses went any higher than a few privates and corporals." For the last year he's contended that those who oppose the war on Iraq must have some love for Saddam Hussein and his regime.

I respect robcon's right to announce his shame over his personal response to a columnist's dissembling, but I question whether conservative columnist Brooks has demonstrated any reason robcom should feel shame about any position held by moderate Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry.

In my humble opinion, we're hiring a human being for this important job of leader. On the survey of values we most desire in our leader, there is no checkbox for Perfection. There is no shame in desiring good leadership over poor leadership

I reserve my shame for the New York Times for employing houseflies like David Brooks and William Safire. Their columns chew like maggots through the editorial heart of the America's foremost journalistic enterprise.

[struggle4progress]

12. Brooks' attack means Bush is vulnerable on Cuba.