Two more blows to Cuba

— On Friday, Cuban Vice President Juan Almeida Bosque (the communist government’s “number three”) died of cardiac arrest, at age 82. His death was mourned by tens of thousands of Cubans who lined up on Sunday at the Plaza de la Revolucion to pay their respects.

The symbolism of this particular individual is twofold. First, he was one of the few left that fought alongside Fidel Castro in the 1959 revolution, and therefore his passing is a sign of the mortality of that aging generation. And second, as an Afro-Cuban revolutionary, Almeida’s close ties to Castro were seen, especially at the time of the revolution, as a concrete example of blacks’ new access to power and influence in Cuba. That reality was an inspiration to many Cubans.

— Today President Obama extended the embargo on Cuba for another year, as U.S. presidents have done annually since the 1970s. In the context of what has been a gradual U.S. opening to Cuba, and considering his previous statements on the issue, he could not really have been expected to do any differently with respect to the embargo, despite Amnesty International’s timely plea to repeal it.

The President’s decision is mostly symbolic, since the ultimate decision lies with Congress. Under the Helms-Burton Act, the embargo will only be rescinded when Cuba makes certain steps toward becoming a democracy.