Obama's secret hostage crisis with Cuba

Early in his term, President Jimmy Carter was faced with a crisis when Iranian militants, with their government’s support, took hostage several dozen American diplomats and other employees of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The incident, and Carter’s response to it, became a symbol of his weakness as a leader and contributed to his defeat in the subsequent presidential election. The incessant press coverage, with its daily countdown, kept the issue in the minds of the public and solidified Carter’s image as a cringing, confused and timid man, unqualified to handle the duties of commander-in-chief.
Currently, President Obama is faced with his own mini-hostage crisis. This time, the culprit is Florida’s own southern neighbor, Communist Cuba. While it lacks the magnitude of the Iranian one in terms of numbers of hostages, it affords some parallels worth considering. Well aware of its dangers, the Obama administration – and a compliant press – are keeping the matter under wraps, while the administration tinkers with low-profile efforts to resolve it. Thus far, the strategy hasn’t worked.
On December 4 of last year, a U.S. citizen employed by a U.S. government contractor was arrested by Cuban authorities as he prepared to board a flight from Havana that would return him (or her) to the United States. This individual was assisting non-government organizations in the island to communicate with their members by providing cell phones and laptop computers to the groups. According to the Cuban government, the person was a spy. On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Ricardo Alarcon threatened to charge the U.S. citizen with treason. The State Department has denied the charges and stated that the American was working with a religious and cultural organization recognized by the Cuban government, not with any dissident group.
Two things are worth noting in this affair: First, the Obama administration and the Cuban government have declined to identify the person in custody. Second, the fact that the Cuban government is threatening to bring up treason charges suggests that the hostage is of Cuban national origin. These facts are significant because a conviction of treason means an automatic death sentence for the American, and the secrecy attached means that Obama wants to make a deal and keep the matter out of the public eye.
The problem for the administration is that it isn’t hard to figure out why Cuba chose to take the American hostage at this time, when his/her kind of activities have been allowed by the Cuban authorities for years without complaint. The Cubans are angling to exchange the hapless American detainee for five Cuban intelligence agents tried and convicted several years ago in the Federal court for the Southern District of Florida. The Cuban spies, who illegally obtained confidential government records of Cuban dissidents exiled in Florida, and played a role in the downing of two Brothers to the Rescue organization planes over the Florida Straits, are serving long prison sentences. The Cuban government hails them as heroes and periodically holds rallies in front of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, demanding their release.
Within this context, it isn’t hard to understand why Cuba was recently included in the list of countries whose travelers will be subjected to additional scrutiny at U.S. airports. While Obama supporters were baffled by Cuba’s inclusion on the list (see Washington Post writer Eugene Robinson’s recent op-ed) the move can be interpreted as an attempt by Obama to gain some leverage in the affair. The fact that the Cubans held the American for 24 days before allowing a U.S. consular visit on December 28 of last year, suggests that they used the time to extract a coerced confession.
This incident is becoming one more test for Obama’s alleged ‘spine of steel’ – in Joe Biden’s words – because the release of the ‘Miami five’ would have disastrous political consequences within the Hispanic community in Florida. After all, these men played a role in the cold-blooded murder of four Hispanics (including U.S. citizens) whose unarmed, civilian planes were shot down by a Cuban Mig fighter in international waters. Brothers to the Rescue was an organization that patrolled the waters of the Florida Straits and notified the U.S. Coast Guard of rafts spotted at sea with refugees seeking to escape from Cuba.
Beyond the politics, however, the question remains as to why the Cubans took no such action against Americans carrying out similar activities with non-governmental actors on the island during the Bush administration. The answer should be obvious, and explains why attempts at cozying up to the Castro regime never have positive results, for the United States, or for the long-suffering Cuban people.
(Above right: Brothers Fidel and Raul Castro. AP photo).

For more information:
Associated Press report on detained American
Cuba demands to be removed from terror list