Opening toward Cuba abroad means closing to dissidents

The EU Commissioner for External Relations confirmed today what we discussed a few days ago—that the EU wants to move toward a compromise with Cuba in relations and dialogue, which will involve reformulating the Common Position in favor of a more cooperative approach.

Meanwhile, El Salvador’s newly elected President, Mauricio Funes, announced last week that his country will seek normalization of relations with Havana.

President Oscar Arias followed quickly, saying that Costa Rica, too, would respond to changing circumstances with new policy, and open normal diplomatic relations with the island. “Times change and Costa Rica must change,” he said.

Costa Rica and El Salvador are currently the only two countries in the Western Hemisphere (other than the United States) that do not have diplomatic ties with Cuba. These changes will leave the United States largely on its own.

But Cuban dissidents are feeling left out in the cold, as well. In a statement released by prominent dissidents Martha Beatriz Roque, Vladimiro Roca and Felix Bonne, internal opposition groups expressed a feeling of betrayal and disappointment at these new expressions of global willingness to work with “old dictators.” “If there are those in the world that will adapt to and accept the games played by old dictators,” they write, “then those who fight for liberty and democracy have the right to condemn their actions.”