Wall Street Journal Bush's Cuba Pickle Castro is evil, but the embargo is foolish. *** It's true that easing the embargo might benefit Fidel in the short term, by releasing some of the pent-up discontent with his failures. And we sympathize with principled anti-Communists like Mr. Reich. But we yield to no one in our loathing of Fidel's island gulag. And lifting the embargo would, as we wrote in these columns back in 1994, "help precisely those forces that are most likely to liberate Cuba's economic and political power structure."***
Jeff Jacoby: Cuba's jailed heroes*** Chaviano refused to be intimidated. Government goons broke into his home and beat him up. Still he persisted in speaking out. Early in the morning of May 7, 1994, a man he didn't know came to his door, delivered a sheaf of papers, and left. Moments later, the security police raided the house. They made a great show of finding the planted document, which they seized as ''evidence.'' Chaviano was arrested and held for nearly a year before learning that he would be charged with ''revealing state secrets'' and ''illicit enrichment.''
His trial was a farce. It was closed to the public, but the courtroom was packed with state security agents. Chaviano was not allowed to see the evidence against him or to call witnesses in his own defense. His conviction was a foregone conclusion; his sentence was 15 years. That was eight years ago. Today he is locked in the maximum-security Combinado del Este prison; his wife is permitted to visit him once every two months. His health has deteriorated - he suffers from an ulcer and respiratory problems - but his ideals remain intact. ''His spirit is strong,'' his wife told me recently. ''He gives me strength.''***