Cuba's Castro Brothers Get Big Present from Santa Obama

 

IBDEditorials.com

Foreign Policy: Just as its patron Venezuela hit the rocks, Cuba got a last-minute rescue from none other than President Obama, who announced a Santa Claus-like package of wish-list goodies for the Castro brothers. Why?

In many ways, President Obama's announced plan to normalize relations with Cuba, lift the embargo, extend trade credits and remove Cuba from the state sponsors of terror list is about on par with the rest of his foreign policy.

It was done by executive order without consulting Congress, just like last month's decision to temporarily legalize 5 million illegal immigrants.

It was justified by a claim the U.S. embargo was "not working," comparable to Obama's claim the U.S. immigration system is "broken." In reality, the problem in both cases is that of a halfhearted willingness to enforce the law, rendering it full of holes.

As for the hostage swap in the bargain, that of U.S. Agency for International Development subcontractor Alan Gross and another U.S. agent for three professional Cuban intelligence officers linked to the murder of U.S. citizens in the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, it was a deal that gave far more than it got, just like the hostage swap with the Taliban of U.S. army deserter Bowe Bergdahl for five terrorists.

And it was all about leading from behind.

Once again, Obama made nice with Latin America's leftwing leaders, whose interests don't align with ours, and used Pope Francis as a fig leaf for his action.

They are rooted in little more than Obama's desire to be popular with such leaders at the upcoming Summit of the Americas in April. It is little different from his actions in Libya during the so-called Arab Spring.

But two details are disturbing.

One is the strange timing of the announcement, coming just as Venezuela and other nations ruled by petrotyrants are on the verge of collapse.

Venezuela has played sugar daddy to Cuba for years, shipping 100,000 barrels of free oil to the communist state. It can no longer afford to. Rather than use that as leverage, Obama rescued Cuba despite its repressive human rights record. That's one odd bailout.

And the bailout won't be free for U.S. taxpayers.

Obama administration officials have said they are moving swiftly to extend trade credits to Cuba so the $483 million in American goods Cuba now pays for in cash can expand further, thanks to taxpayer-supported U.S. ExImBank trade credits.

In effect, we've handed the odious Castro brothers Uncle Sam's credit card. Given that the Castroites have defaulted on all of their trading partners since 1961, to the tune of at least $70 billion, it's assumed the Castros, having no sustainable economic model, will eventually default on us too.

How big could that be? Humberto Fontova, author of "The Longest Romance: The Mainstream Media And Fidel Castro," says Cuba now imports 400 tons of rice from Vietnam and China. If the U.S. now takes that market, at a global price of about $419 a ton, that comes out to about $1.68 billion. That's for rice alone.

Some Christmas present for the atheist Castro brothers. For Cuba's long-suffering democrats and the American taxpayer, maybe not so much.