The current president yesterday said that Raul Castro’s offer to be willing to discuss the fate of political prisoners was “a sign of progress.” That is exactly was Castro wants.

People in Washington are confused about the communist regime in Cuba. Whenever Cuba wants to negotiate, they are looking for substantial concessions from the United States. They want to score nationalistic political points by getting us to give in to their demands for the release of Cuban spies. They want the United States to start sending over dollars in the form of remittances and aid. They want trade credits so they can buy without putting up cash… ever. They want an end to the embargo so we can send over tourists, just as long as we don’t try to mess up the little gulag-setup they have on the island… and with this recent statement of praise from President Obama, it looks like we’ve taken the bait.

It’s a sweet deal for Cuba… because now it looks like they can use political prisoners as bargaining chips. Right now on the table we have a few hundred political prisoners… at least that’s what the Castros would have you think. In reality, Cuba’s laws prohibit just about everything in terms of human rights, meaning that technically, Cuba has more than 11 million political prisoners. With laws such as “dangerousness” and “counter-revolutionary activities,” the communist regime can charge any citizen that does, says, or thinks anything deemed dangerous to the dictatorship, and since the United States president has just raised the value of imprisoning someone for political reasons, it has just become more profitable to crackdown on the non-violent, pro-democracy activists on the island. Their subversive activities? Staging hunger strikes, marching, protesting in front of government offices, discussing human rights, hanging the Cuban flag upside down, and discussing human rights, amongst other things.

“Las Damas de Blanco” Activist Group’s March

Obama has done a disservice to Cuba by hinting that exchanging political prisoners for some degree of normalization is possible. I hope the president demands the release of all political prisoners simply because it is a violation of human rights, not as a quid pro quo… otherwise, the American people may end up paying a steep price for each of the Castros’ 11 million hostages.

Not to mention the pain it would inflict on the Cuban people.

-AG