“Cubans Want to Meet You”

Here’s a line you won’t find in many American newspapers: “I lived in Havana for nearly a year without permission from the United States.” It opens Lisa M. Wixon’s thoughtful op-ed piece in Sunday’s Washington Post about Cuba today and post-Fidel. Among her many points: “Cubans Want to Meet You. The White House proclaims it can’t ‘assess’ the ‘situation’ in Cuba because it’s a ‘closed society.’ The society would not be so closed if the current administration hadn’t tightened restrictions that ban Americans from visiting Cuba and meeting locals. More egregious is the U.S. economic embargo, which has served only to empower Castro while impoverishing Cubans. The Cubans aren’t sore at the United States; they just want to enter the 21st century already.” My guess is that thousands of other Americans who have traveled to Cuba without U.S. permission feel the same way. But they’ll never admit to visiting the country for fear of getting fined.

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