Letter: Stop it already

I opened my weekly journal, Science, and there again was the recent sad commentary: “Florida law bans academics from doing research in Cuba.”

For shame. This bill, sponsored by Rep. David Rivera of Miami, whose district includes part of Collier County, is another example of our hopelessly paranoid foreign policy toward Cuba. The problem is, it’s our state possibly interfering both with United States policy and worse, stepping on the academic freedoms of universities to conduct scientific research where and with whom they choose. This is pure politics.

It’s just like the 45-year-old Cuban embargo which was, and is, a complete failure. It only gave Fidel Castro an “enemy of the people,” making him more popular as the people’s savior. That the U.S. State Department labels Cuba a “sponsor of terrorism,” along with folks like North Korea and Iran, is likewise ludicrous.

Oh, but Cuba’s still communist. Need I mention North Vietnam and, yes, China, with whom we have total communication and trade?

Heavens, Cuba is about as much of a threat to the United States as is the Bahamas.

Rivera just doesn’t get it. We need to dump these ultra-right paranoid police-state agendas, forbidding Cuban travel and personal contact with the people, and instead promote and engage with Cuba in academic, cultural and scientific visits and programs.

This is the real “intelligent design” for foreign policy weaned. Otherwise, “Viva the book-burners and the isolationists!”

Dr. David Shonting/Naples