It has been suggested by some individuals within the Cuban-American community that our singular obsessive focus on the issue of Cuba has handicapped our own political participation. It has been suggested that Cuba does not truly matter anymore. They say that we have more pressing concerns, such as health care, national security, and the economy. Those who believe this threaten to destroy the foundation of freedom our community was built on and thrives on. Those who believe this undermine the unifying political consciousness of our people. For in truth, when it comes to choosing leaders, the Cuban issue must be the first. To us, who fought for freedom at every turn, whose families suffered at the hands of communism, Cuba will matter forever.

The importance of the Cuba issue cannot be overstated, especially with respect to the US political process. Cuba is not a singular political concept, it embodies questions that today plague the United States, from the health care debate to the immigration debate to the national security question.

Why does Cuba matter? Because nowadays, elements of the Democratic left are espousing views on health care that glorify the communist system and seek to imitate aspects of it. This is a dangerous road. In Cuba, for universal health care (if it can be so termed) citizens must pay a hefty price: all of their human rights. The vast majority of Cubans have universal access to a system with an extreme shortage of medical supplies, where one must bring their own pillows and sheets to the hospital, their own aspirin and other drugs that they procure from family in the US or on the black market. Some blame the embargo… yet medicine and agricultural products CAN be sold to Cuba. In fact, the US is Cuba’s largest agricultural trading partner. Furthermore, only the US has an embargo… the remainder of the world is open for business (about 6.4 billion people or so). Cuba teaches us to ask the tough questions about promises of paradise and utopia: What must we pay for this service? Are we willing to pay this?

Why does Cuba matter? Because nowadays, America debates the immigration issue without learning from the Cuban experience. Millions march in the streets in support of immigrant rights while countless others try to defend our borders without asking the important question: what are the principle causes of illegal immigration? Cuba teaches us that political repression, instability, government corruption, and abject poverty are the prime causes. America must understand that no man (nor nation) is an island (even if they are literally an island). To address the issue of immigration we must engage other nations and stabilize them while at the same time strengthening our borders. Latin Americans would not immigrate in such large numbers if their political and economic situations had at the least a modicum of stability and security. This does not even take into account that the communist regime in Cuba has helped foment revolutions and propped up guerrilla armies for the explicit aim of destabilizing American Civilization (North, Central, and South).

Why does Cuba matter? Because nowadays, America’s national security is in grave danger from violent extremists bent on spreading their ideology around the world, starting in their own backyard. This may be applied to the radical Islamists wishing to re-establish the Caliphate from Spain to Indonesia, or to Communist China wishing to dominate the entire continent of Asia by annexing Taiwan and using its North Korean proxy to stare down the West, or to the Cuba-Venezuela Axis wishing to create a new Socialist Bolivarian Super-State stretching across America. US policy towards Cuba can tell us volumes about our attitude towards national security. Cuba teaches us that evil must be confronted, not ignored nor praised, because evil will attack while we sleep. While we slept, Venezuela fell under Castro’s spell… and then Bolivia… and then Ecuador… and then Nicaragua… So we must ask: is our national security policy based simply on special interests, on corporations and competition for resources or on actual existing and rising threats to the United States? Do we confront Cuba because the specter of world totalitarianism is a very real threat or do we simply focus on those countries with vital resources? Should we ignore that Cuba and Venezuela have strategically allied themselves with Iran?

These are simply some of the current and more pressing issues affecting the United States seen through the lens of the Cuban-American community. To suggest that Cuba is not one of the most important issues of our time is to ignore the value of the historical lessons that we should have learned. The Cuban-American community did not endure so much suffering back in Cuba just to suffer the same abuse in a new home. We must understand that while America defeated tyranny long ago, tyranny continues to encroach on the American Dream.

-AG