Pandora's Box 2015: Re-opening diplomatic relations with the Castro regime

"Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace it shouldn't be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice." - Corazon Aquino

Castro state security chief Ramiro Valdez with Hugo Chavez in 2009 in Venezuela

Candice Malcolm, a columnist in the Toronto Sun, on February 27, 2015 in an essay titled "Troubling truths about Castro's Cuba" outlining the political, economic and security arguments against engaging with the Castro regime. Ms. Malcolm's essay highlighted a report that addressed present threats to Canada by Cuba such as:

Cuba also helps orchestrate an immigration fraud network that has smuggled radical Islamists into North America, as demonstrated in the Center for a Secure Free Society’s “Canada on Guard” report.

 The "Canada on Guard: Assessing the Immigration Security Threat of Iran, Venezuela and Cuba" report reveals that the Castro regime overhauled "the information systems of the Venezuelan passport and naturalization agency, formerly known as ONIDEX ( Oficina Nacional de Identificación y Extranjería)." In 2005 a new system was implemented and the final version of what is now called SAIME (Servicio Administrativo de Identificación Migración y Extranjería) that can store biometric data and has sophisticated security protocols came into effect in 2009. According to the above cited report this system:

  ..."facilitates the entry of Cuban agents into Venezuela, embedding themselves into various facets of the Venezuelan social missions and national security apparatus. Aside from Cubans, this group also used SAIME to facilitate the travel of Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO's), Colombian guerrillas, and Islamist terrorists."

Unfortunately the Obama Administration seems to be ignoring these unpleasant facts although it has applied an emergency order on Cuba to prevent democrats from engaging in nonviolent protests in territory north of Cuba.

Gerardo Hernandez, convicted of conspiracy to murder, honored by Raul Castro

 On December 17, 2014 President Obama commuted the sentences of three Cuban spies. One of them, Gerardo Hernandez, was serving a double life sentence for espionage and conspiracy to commit murder for his role in the deaths of four members of Brothers to the Rescue. Mr. Hernandez has announced that he is ready for his “next order” from the Castro regime. His last order involved first terrorizing and murdering by means of a mail bomb able to circumvent post office security protocols an individual the Castro regime had identified as a CIA agent living in Bal Harbour, Florida. Hernandez and the other spies were unable to execute that order because they were arrested in 1998. Fidel Castro himself has explained that intelligence gathering can be done through the Lourdes spy base. Castro regime agents are engaged in active measures.Considering this what could this "next order" involve?  Here are just three out of many more options taken from newspaper headlines over  the past three years.

Cyber Terror
In 2012 there were reports in the media of Cuban, Iranian and Venezuelan officials meeting in Mexico to discuss cyber attacks on U.S. soil this allegedly also involved seeking information about nuclear power plants in the United States. Little information emerged afterwards. 

Smuggling arms out of Cuba to a sanctioned country
In 2013 Panama captured a North Korean-flagged ship traveling from Cuba with undeclared military cargo headed to North Korea in violation of international sanctions. The Castro regime did not cooperate with the 2014 UN investigation and systematically lied about the weapons and circumstances surrounding the smuggling operation.

Smuggling weapons into Cuba 
Today, March 2, 2015 the news broke that the government of Colombia had seized a shipment of ammunition bound for Cuba on a China-flagged ship due to lack of proper documentation.

Despite all the above the Obama administration hopes to re-open the US embassy in Cuba  within weeks. This also means that the Castro regime's embassy would be fully active in the United States allowing its espionage networks greater reach for mischief. Considering that just one of these spy networks, the WASP network, planned terrorist acts on US soil and had a member convicted of murder conspiracy that led to the deaths of three U.S. citizens and a U.S. resident should be cause for concern. Returning a spy that planned terrorism in the US and contributed to the deaths of Americans to Cuba to a heroes welcome should be cause for moral outrage. This is not reconciliation. This is a dishonorable version of appeasement.