For quite some time, I've debated U.S.-Cuba relations.  It goes sort of like this: The people who wanted an opening argued that Cubans would demand freedoms once they see and talk to U.S. tourists.  It will infect Cuba with a desire for freedom, and the regime won't be able to stop it, or something like that.  It's the "flood Cuba with Americans and things will change" meme. I would usually reply reminding the other side that the Castro regime would never allow these freedoms to flourish.  They can't.  Their survival is tied to this repressive state.  It's beyond ideology, but rather to protect Castro Inc., or the family enterprise that has turned two socialist brothers into a couple of very rich capitalist barons.  Batista would be jealous, as my late father used to say! Well, it turns out that my hunch was right.  President Obama's opening brought dollars, but the freedom index is not...(Read Full Post)