Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:
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Aug. 13
Miami Herald on United States and Cuba relations:
The symbolic hoisting of the Stars and Stripes by U.S. Marines — the same men who lowered the flag more than five decades ago — over the newly proclaimed U.S. Embassy in Havana will signal the start of a new era in U.S.-Cuba relations that holds the promise of a better future for the Cuban people.
When President Obama announced Dec. 17 that the two countries had embarked on a path to restore the full diplomatic relations that were broken more than a half-century ago, we labeled it a "roll of the dice." And so it remains — a work in progress that has been painfully slow on those issues that mean the most.
Mr. Obama said the new policy was based on the belief that, "We can do more to support the Cuban people and promote our values through engagement." It was gamble, but one worth taking in an effort to break the stalemate that has kept Cubans frozen in an economic and political time warp that stifles their freedom, self-expression and creativity.
To date, dictator Raúl Castro has shown no sign of relenting on the human-rights front. According to Cuba's Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, there have been more than 3,000 political detentions since the thaw. There will be more, no doubt, because Cuba's people feel emboldened to challenge a regime that dares not loosen the restrictions of a police state lest it all come tumbling down suddenly.
2015 The Associated Press
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