The Cuban regime has been conducting a public relations campaign in the past couple of years promoting its so-called economic reforms in an effort to attract foreign investment and, more importantly, foreign loans that the regime has no intention of paying. An ironic year of a respectful and solemn papal visit and a push for gay rights, while dissidents are routinely beaten, merits an overview of what exactly, if anything, has changed in Cuba and if there is any reason for the U.S. to continue to soften its policies.
Over half a century after violently taking over the Cuban government the Castro regime not only endures, it also continues to repress its citizens and undermine the United States. In the early years, the Bay of Pigs invasion was a humiliating disaster courtesy of the Kennedy administration. The U.S. was threatened with nuclear missiles pointing from Cuba courtesy of the Soviets. In fact, Fidel pushed the Soviets toward a nuclear war with the U.S. He did not care if Cuba was obliterated as long as the U.S. was destroyed. Cubans, Americans and other foreigners lost their private property. Cubans, both domestic and exiled, and Americans have never been compensated for the confiscations. These claims are now worth billions of dollars.