Argentina’s new foreign policy: freedom

Mondino can’t say she wasn’t aware. Milei’s speech to the General Assembly in September was a resounding declaration that the defense of freedom worldwide would henceforth be a pillar of his country’s foreign policy. “Know that from this day,” he asserted, “the Argentine Republic will abandon the position of historical neutrality that characterized us and will be at the forefront of the struggle in defense of freedom.” He chided the world body for allowing “bloody dictatorships such as Cuba and Venezuela to join the Human Rights Council.” If Argentina’s foreign minister didn’t get the message, she wasn’t paying attention.

Milei does not like euphemisms, nor does he yield to conventional wisdom. During his campaign for president last year, one of his slogans was “¡Viva la libertad, carajo!” Translation: “Long live freedom, dammit!”

The restoration of freedom in Cuba will never be a UN priority. But even if that were the case, abolishing the US embargo is not the way to achieve this. Recent history has made this emphatically clear.

Then President Barack Obama Announced 2014 that he would normalize relations with the regime in Havana, he claimed that the rapprochement would uphold America’s “commitment to freedom and democracy” and would lead “to making the lives of ordinary Cubans a little easier, freer and more prosperous.” More involvement was the best way to advance freedom and human rights for the Cuban people, Obama said. “This is what change looks like.”

It wasn’t.

After Obama’s demarche, Havana’s intimidation of dissidents intensified. There was one crackdown on churches and religious groups. Human rights activists and demonstrators were quickly arrested at a faster pace than ever. In other words, lifting restrictions on U.S. trade with Cuba made life even worse for ordinary Cubans. Why? Partly because the Cuban government owns or controls almost every major company in the country. Allowing more business with Cuba meant more wealth entering the regime’s coffers. By making the dictatorship richer, Obama has only made it stronger.

For decades politicians, journalistsAnd think tankers have parroted claims that the US embargo is responsible for Cuba’s woes and that if only it were repealed, the island would experience such a surge in tourism, consumer goods and democratic influence that Havana’s communist fortifications would collapse.

But if trade could have brought down the regime, it would have done so already. After all, the American embargo has not prevents the export of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods every year to Cuba. In fact, the United States has been one of Cuba’s largest sources of imports in recent years. And in any case, Cuba has always been free to trade with the rest of the world.

What prevents the embargo is not American business with Cuba, but American business with Cuba credit. U.S. producers are allowed to export agricultural commodities to Cuba as long as they are paid in cash. But they are excluded from federal credit guarantees and other forms of corporate welfare. The embargo is not rooted in revenge. It was a response to the fact that Fidel Castro, after imposing communism on the island, nationalized – that is, stole – American refineries, sugar mills, energy producers, banks and other property worth billions of dollars.

I have previously mentioned my visit in 2002 to Oswaldo Payathe courageous founder of Cuba’s Christian Liberation Movement and Cuba’s leading human rights dissident at the time. When I asked him whether the American embargo should be abolished, he replied: “Tenth tu mano a Cuba, pero primero pide que le desaten las manos a los Cubanos.” Stretch out your hands to Cuba – but first untie the hands of the Cuban people.

It is shameful that the UN supports the dictators in Havana and not the nation that has done more for the freedom of the Cuban people than any other country. It is doubly shameful that those who voted in favor of the resolution included the former communist satrapies of Eastern Europe who were liberated when the US triumphed in the Cold War.

To his credit, Milei does not care how many governments Argentina has to oppose to defend freedom. “Our country is categorically opposed to the Cuban dictatorship and … condemns all regimes that perpetuate the violation of human rights and individual freedoms,” he said last week. His previous foreign minister might not have gotten the message. Her successor will not make that mistake.

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Jeff Jacoby can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @jeff_jacoby.