A matter of timing

A matter of timing

Miami Herald: In Havana a 50-year dictatorship considers dropping the ration book that has defined its control over a citizenry that has come to depend on its meager allotment of staples like rice, beans and coffee.

In Washington a free society debates whether to allow American tourists into Cuba even if the Castro brothers’ government has yet to take a baby step to reciprocate President Barack Obama’s initial opening for more travel and remittances by Cuban Americans to the communist island.

The backdrop for these two seemingly disparate moves? A global recession that has Cuba’s regime scrambling for cash, and a change in U.S. leadership that has travel providers hoping to cash in on Cuba.

The embargo’s good points

The Miami Herald has long supported maintaining the trade embargo on Cuba because of its dismal human rights record but lifting travel restrictions to stimulate more people-to-people contacts.

Even if American tourists stay in gussied-up areas and few get to see the desperate situation that most Cubans are forced to live, these same tourists can leave a mark on Cubans. So, yes, more travel to the island makes sense.

The question members of Congress should ask now is whether this is the right time to be opening up all travel to Cuba — in the midst of a recession where tourist meccas from Miami to Las Vegas are hurting with empty hotel rooms. So far, the Catro brothers haven’t offered any hope to Cubans that their lives will be better soon.

If travel is opened to Americans, they should go with their eyes wide open. Even the food and services that Cuba’s hotels offer are lacking by most world travelers’ standards. That, too, should be a wake-up call for American tourists enamored with a “socialist paradise” that exists in name only on ration cards likely to become extinct.