AT least Mr. Chrétien didn't shout "Viva Fidel!" the way Pierre Elliot Trudeau did back in 1976. Otherwise, the Prime Minister's three-day trip was a disheartening affair for anybody who cares about human rights, particularly since he rearranged his schedule so that he could return to Ottawa to ensure his backbenchers toed the party line in voting against the Reform motion on compensation for all hepatitis C victims.
Unwisely, Mr. Chrétien has been at great pains to link his trip to Cuba with the Pope's historic visit last January. Such comparisons only highlight the pontiff's success in appealing for freedom of conscience and religion. In response to the Pope's visit, Mr. Castro eased some restrictions and released 300 prisoners, including about 100 people who were in jail for politically motivated acts.
On such a score, Mr. Chrétien's visit was truly dismal. He bypassed his one chance to speak frankly and sternly on a live national broadcast about democracy and political repression in Cuba when he limited his remarks on arrival in Havana to a few limp comments about "constructive engagement" and "discussions on a wide range of issues, such as universal human rights." Instead, he waxed poetic about the "unbroken diplomatic relations" between Canada and Cuba since the end of the Second World War, boasted about their mutual respect for each other's "independence and sovereignty," and helped Mr. Castro officially open the new international wing of the Jose Marti International Airport, calling it symbolic of the "thriving commercial relationship" between the two countries. It must be noted that Canada provided all the foreign capital, materials and equipment for the wing.
Mr. Castro craves credibility and legitimacy almost as much as he wants increased trade. Mr. Chrétien gave him all three and received virtually nothing in return. He could have used his visit to show that "constructive engagement" means more than trade links. He could have demurred when Mr. Castro, in his welcoming speech, linked the United States trade embargo to genocide, compared the blockade to using biological, chemical or nuclear weapons against the Cuban people, and insisted it was "the most brutal violation of human rights perpetrated in the world today." He did none of these things.
Canada is correct to oppose the trade embargo and the Helms-Burton bill, but for Mr. Chrétien to stand there, presumably in tacit agreement, while Mr. Castro likened the President of the United States to a war criminal is a new definition of appeasement.
Finally, during a two-hour private meeting with the Cuban President, Mr. Chrétien did raise the names of four prominent dissidents, who have been jailed, apparently without charge, since their arrest last July. Not surprisingly, he was unable to secure their freedom. The best he could do was to wheedle a promise from Mr. Castro that he would "consider" releasing them. And then it was time for the Prime Minister to bid a fond farewell to his Cuban host and jet back to Ottawa to wield his three-line whip against the members of his own party.
Before leaving, Mr. Chrétien might have pointed out that Cuba
itself is no paragon of liberty. He might have commented on the hundreds
of political prisoners, the lack of an independent press, the hobbling of
judges, the refusal to hold free elections, the restrictions on
emigration. Instead of standing firm on the democratic ideals that Canada
represents, he kowtowed to a dictator. In doing so, he shamed himself and
his country.