Opinion: A common goal in Cuba

President Bush and former President Jimmy Carter seek the same goal in Cuba -- greater political and economic freedom for the Cuban people and a respect for human rights. They differ, however, on the best way to encourage the growth of freedom. Carter, who recently visited Cuba and met with political dissidents, used the opportunity to criticize Fidel Castro's human rights abuses, but he also was honest enough to acknowledge that both countries have an interest in moving toward normal relations.

Bush disagrees. In a recent speech to Miami's Cuban-American community, the president ignored the historical record and vowed to continue the ban on trade and travel until Castro holds free elections for Cuba's National Assembly, releases political prisoners from jail and opens the door to human rights monitors. The audience ate it up. Politicians of both major parties have long shown the embargo has less to do with Castro than with milking Cuban-Americans for money and votes.

The president's hard-line approach has been U.S. policy for four decades, and it has yielded few results. Carter, at least, believes the time has come for Washington to try engaging Cuba instead of isolating it.

In his Miami speech, Bush tossed a few crumbs to those who favor engagement. He promised to reconsider the embargo if Castro undertook political and economic reform. That the president did not, like his predecessors, precondition that step on Castro's removal from power was itself an acknowledgement of how far American public opinion has shifted. Bush also proposed several minor steps, such as giving scholarships to Cuban students, helping private organizations that engage in projects there and re-establishing direct mail service to and from the island.

The president missed a rare opportunity by failing to capitalize on Carter's trip. Meanwhile, members of Congress, including many in Bush's own party, are taking a more pragmatic view of U.S.-Cuban relations, as are the younger and more moderate members of the Cuban-American community in South Florida. The biggest threat to the dictator's regime would be for American visitors and ideas to circulate on the island. By setting conditions for trade with Cuba well beyond what we ask of China or Vietnam -- or the oil-producing states in the Middle East -- Washington gives Castro the ammunition he needs to unite his country against their Yankee neighbor and deflect attention from the miserable failures of his Communist regime.

The two schools of thought represented by Carter and Bush have as their common goal free and fair elections in Cuba. The issue is not whether the Cuban people deserve to live in a free society. The only question is how best to achieve that goal. Generations have waited in vain for results from the policy Bush supports. If the goal is to promote democracy and human rights, Washington should begin phasing out the embargo, permit free travel and let Castro deal with the consequences.

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