Let's get Cuba policy right

The following editorial appeared recently in the Miami Herald:

Congress took a step toward improving U.S. policy on Cuba last week, which is good, but lawmakers sure went about it in a sneaky way. The substance of the change will be welcomed by most exile families who want to visit their relatives on the island more often. However, the legislative maneuvering that produced the change allows members of Congress to hide their political intent behind the veil of process. The result is dishonest and confusing, a half-baked Cuba policy that demands clarification.

Instead of tackling Cuba policy head-on, the legislation approved by Congress last week prohibits the enforcement of the old travel standards imposed by President George W. Bush in 2004, which restricted family visits to once every three years. The change ordered by Congress left the old policy on the books but prohibited the Treasury Department from enforcing the law. This is a way of legalizing an activity that — according to the letter of the law — is unlawful. This is subterfuge, not policy.

The upshot, by week's end, was that the Treasury Department was obliged to issue new guidelines disavowing the 2004 Bush standard. The new rules allow yearly trips by Cuban Americans, with the possibility of traveling again during the same year on a case-by-case basis.

This is a more humane standard that improves on the old rules, which did nothing to advance the cause of freedom and democracy in Cuba but produced a lot of misery and pain in the Cuban exile community. Toughening the rules, as Bush did in 2004, was a political gesture signaling his sympathy with hard-liners, but there was no noticeable effect on the Cuban government. It did little to weaken the grip of the Castro brothers on the Cuban people.

Clearly, President Barack Obama has to step in and straighten this out.

Congress produced last week's change by tucking the Cuba provisions into a huge spending bill, ensuring that they would escape the usual legislative scrutiny in committee and on the floor of the House and Senate. The mischief doesn't end there. The most contentious changes involve wording that affects the sale of food and medicine to Cuba, and how the Cuban government pays for it — in advance, as current law states, or with greater flexibility that the Cuban government prefers.

The new rules won't be clear until the Treasury Department issues a new "general license" for Americans who want to travel to Cuba to sell medical and agricultural goods to the Cuban government.

There has been more than enough confusion and doubt over Cuba policy. We see no reason for Obama to wait any longer to fulfill his promises on changing U.S. policy toward Cuba.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services