South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board

Tired rhetoric, tired diplomacy. It's deja vu all over again between Cuba and the United States.

Barring a change of heart, or a return of common sense, the Bush administration will at month's end institute a new set of restrictions aimed at tightening the noose on Fidel Castro's government. Those policies include restrictions on travel to the island, and on remittances, the money relatives in the United States send to people in Cuba.

Unfortunately, these policies are likely to tighten Castro's grip on Cubans, not loosen it.

Americans and Cubans have seen this rerun cycle of freeze and thaw in Washington-Havana foreign policy enough times to know that the carrot-and-stick approach just doesn't work.

But somehow members of the Bush administration just don't see that. Or maybe, as critics suggest, they are more concerned with procuring the votes of hard-line exiles in South Florida than establishing an effective policy to promote a transition to democracy in Cuba.

More productive policies would be based on the idea that it's just a matter of time before change takes place in Cuba. The administration should focus on the 11 million people who live on the island, and who will determine its future course, and not be singularly obsessed with Fidel Castro.

In practice, farsighted diplomacy would lift restrictions on travel by all Americans. It would also generate creative ways to offer support to and bolster groups and people in Cuba who advocate for greater economic and political freedom.

What's needed is more contact between Americans and Cubans, not less. Those favoring a different approach to Cuba diplomacy need to speak up more forcefully -- now.

This is starting to happen. Organizations that represent more moderate views are issuing joint statements criticizing the measures.

This cooperation is a good start. But what's needed are votes. Until the so-called moderate elements can count enough registered voters to swing elections, they will remain voices of dissent rather than power brokers.

In a speech on Monday, Castro warned that the Bush administration plans to invade Cuba, perhaps as soon as he dies, to effect regime change on the island. A U.S. official called the accusation a rehash of "tired rhetoric."

Castro, however, doesn't have a monopoly on "tired" policies. It's time for fresh views on the U.S. side of the Florida Straits, too.

Copyright © 2004