Let's do a quick before and after President Obama normalized relations with Cuba.

Before December 2014, there was a lot of repression in Cuba.  Since then, there is still a lot of repression in Cuba.  The only difference is the U.S. flag in an embassy in Havana.  

We keep getting these reports from Cuba, as posted over at PanAm Post:

The Cuban police raided the national headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), a civil dissidence group in opposition to Raúl Castro’s administration.

Without giving explanation, security confiscated three computers, two cell phones, a hard drive, passports and other hardware and records.

Arcelio Molina, an activist and owner of the property, told the newspaper Martí Noticias that police also seized the luggage of the youth leader Carlos Amel Oliva Torres, who traveled from Santiago de Cuba to Havana to take a flight to Argentina.

According to Molina, Oliva can’t travel, and has since been arrested.

This is the fourth time this year that state security has raided and confiscated Unpacu’s equipment.

Molina added that what has transpired is a classic “trampling” of citizens’ rights in the country, “where there are no laws or respect for the constitution on the part of the authorities.”

It's hard to believe that the normalization supporters thought you could change Cuba by saving the Castro regime.  Let's look at some of the arguments for normalization:   

1) Opening up Cuba will be good for the Cuban people.  Really?  Is that why they continue to leave?  There are now Cubans in Colombia looking to travel to the U.S.

2) Allowing U.S. businesses to operate in Cuba will bring prosperity to the island.  The idea is that Cubans would get a taste of capitalism and demand more of it.  Really?  There is no evidence that the Castro regime is allowing Cubans to play the capitalism game.

So where are we?  We are watching the consequences of bailing out a regime and demanding nothing from it.

We are where many of us feared we'd be!

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