Sovereign in Seattle / National Post

November 29, 1999

Sovereign in Seattle

National Post. Canada. Saturday, November 27, 1999

Fidel Castro may have to think twice about participating in the upcoming WTO summit in Seattle. Republican Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart is spearheading an effort to have the hard left's last major living icon arrested should he come to the United States.

Rep. Diaz-Balart believes there is sufficient evidence to prove that Mr. Castro personally ordered the shooting down of two unarmed civilian aircraft in international airspace by Cuban MiGs on Feb. 24, 1996. The action caused the death of three U.S. citizens and one U.S. resident, all members of the humanitarian group "Brothers to the Rescue."

BTTR earned Mr. Castro's wrath years ago by helping Cubans trying to escape his rule. Rep. Diaz-Balart thinks his case is solid, thanks to a smoking gun furnished by none other than el jefe maximo himself. When questioned about his role in the murders of the 4 BTTR members in an interview with Time three years ago, Mr. Castro defiantly said, "I take responsibility for what happened." Mr. Castro believes it is his right not only to crush dissent in Cuba, but also to carry out cold-blooded assassinations of his foes living abroad.

While we certainly applaud the way Rep. Diaz-Balart has re-energized Cuba's pro-democracy movement, we aren't very confident about the likelihood of Mr. Castro actually being put in irons. It is often said by human rights advocates that dictators like Mr. Castro are alarmed by the arrest of General Augusto Pinochet because it shows they have nowhere to hide. They can, however, hide in high office. As long as he is Cuba's head of state, Mr. Castro is immune from prosecution and cannot be arrested no matter where he goes.

Post-Pinochet, the mental calculation for Mr. Castro and all other tyrants is a no-brainer: Hold on to power as long as possible so that you remain untouchable. Rather than weaken dictatorships, the Pinochet farce will tend to reinforce them -- by giving dictators good reason to remain tyrants for life.

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