The United States urged Cubans on Friday to seize the opportunity to rid themselves of Communist rule as ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro and his designated successor and brother Raul remained out of public view, fueling anxiety over what could happen in the next days or weeks.<>
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In a message beamed to Cuba on Friday evening, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Cubans now was the time to push for a new, democratic leadership. <>
"We will stand with you to secure your rights -- to speak as you choose, to think as you please, to worship as you wish, and to choose your leaders, freely and fairly, in democratic elections," she said in a broadcast on the U.S.-funded Radio Marti network.
I doubt that a democratic "counter revolution" is in the making for Cuba. Yes, there is a small dissident population, but Castro has deftly used the United States as his safety valve for years. We've taken in his opponents if they could make it to our shores. Those Castro couldn't get rid of, he imprisoned. Rice's words may have been reassuring to some on the island, but they are misplaced. Instead, they should have been broadcast into Iran. Money should be piped to Iran's dissidents. Iran is a nation with built up dissenting pressures. Iran is perhaps the biggest threat to peace the world faces right now. Iran is the right place for those words, and now is the right time. Within five years or so, the Castro cult of personality will have crumbled and we will be looking at new relations with them. The same cannot be easily said about Iran unless we start stoking the fires under its building internal dissent.
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