Letter: Open up trade with Cuba now

Friday, Sept. 8, 2000 | 9:57 a.m.

Against the backdrop of Cuba's Fidel Castro seeking relief from the four-decades-old unilateral embargo against this little island neighbor of ours, things should get very interesting at the United Nations this week.

We have defrosted relations with a genuine threat to the United States, China, a nation whose human rights record is abysmal. We are opening up a dialogue with the unpredictable North Koreans and are now considering a realistic approach to dealing with the changing tide in Iran.

Why on Earth do we continue to coddle the entrenched exiles in Miami by continuing this ludicrous embargo against the people of Cuba? Why must we, as Americans, stand virtually alone in the world bullying this other American island that poses no threat to us? Hasn't the exiles' silly and shortsighted and hysterical mismanagement of the sad Elian saga shown them for the embittered unbendable relics of the past that they are?

Now is the time to call Castro's bluff. Open up the trade completely. Allow free travel between Americans from the north and Caribbean Americans. Then see how quickly "The Beard" will either change his ways or make a hasty departure from his island just like the despicable Batista did before him.

Now is the time to engage the people of Cuba, not to punish them for the misdeeds of their leader!

JIM MARSHALL