THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
``Mexico's mess'' (editorial, Jan. 22) should remind us that contiguity with our southern border does not guarantee that Mexico is our best economic partner in Latin America. We shall be obliged to arrest the economic free fall of that nation's economy by some extraordinary measures, and it is obvious that we could put those billions to better use in other domestic areas.
One way to cut our losses with Mexico would be to consider now a rapprochement with Cuba.
Ever since the 1961 Bay-of-Pigs fiasco, succeeding administrations in Washington have been waging a vendetta against that island nation. Our pride was hurt in 1961, and the CIA, the Department of State and most top policy-makers in the nation's capital have never recovered.
We are out to get Fidel Castro, and to do this we are blind to present-day reality. We embargo the working Cubans who are prisoners on that island instead of beginning serious informal talks about restoring the Cuban economy to its proven international potential. Indeed, if NAFTA could have been signed with a free Cuba instead of Mexico, we might now be seeing economic dynamism unequaled by any modern nation except West Germany.
The Cubans are clever business people. They are gregarious. They were among the most aggressive competitors in Latin America before World War II. Let's face it, trade, competition and ambition are ingrained in Cuban history. This is not true for other Latin nations.
Obviously, the big roadblock remains Fidel. But surely there are ways to negotiate him aside if we really want to. There is also the animosity of the Miami crowd toward anything short of persecution for the Cuban leader, whom they want to see terminated in the style of Mussolini. But is that good diplomacy or good business?
Cuba today remains a diamond in the rough, waiting to be reformed by several international corporations.
A. P. PIRRONE
Virginia Beach, Jan. 22, 1995 by CNB