Martínez
Martínez, for the record
On Monday the
12th, Sen. Mel Martínez (R-Fla.) reprinted this column from The St. Petersburg
Times on his Web site,
www.martinez.senate.gov. It was a way to reaffirm
statements that
Martínez made to The Miami Herald last week, to the effect that Washington
should accept Cuba's offer to send hundreds of doctors to treat victims of
Hurricane Katrina, provided they are needed and, in Martínez's words, "reasonably
well-trained." Those statements were published by The Herald on Sept. 8, under
the headline "Martinez: Cuban aid should be welcomed."
Martínez breaks rank on snubbing
Cuban aid
By David Adams (dadams@sptimes.com)
The St.
Petersburg Times,
Sept. 11, 2005
WASHINGTON
--
Hurricanes have a way of bringing out the best in people. Include U.S. Sen. Mel
Martinez, R-Fla., in that category.
When Fidel Castro
offered to send 1,100 Cuban doctors and 26 tons of medical supplies to help out
in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
South Florida's
Cuban-American members of Congress rudely rejected it.
Martinez, who is also
Cuban-American, was more graceful.
"If we need doctors and
Cuba
offers them and they provide a good service, then of course we should accept
them and we're grateful for that offer," he told reporters.
What might seem like
ordinary words of common sense to most people came like an astonishing breath of
fresh air to longtime Cuba observers. Sadly, it's rare that anyone as highly
placed as Martinez
is willing to respond to Cuba in such a civilized manner.
The State Department
snubbed the Cuban offer without directly rejecting it, instead suggesting
foreign medical help was not needed.
To be sure, Martinez
expressed reservations about the Cuban offer, pointing out that Cubans on the
island complain of medical shortages, including things as basic as aspirin. He
also noted that Cuba's medical personnel are already stretched with thousands of
doctors working in Venezuela. Cuba had also refused past U.S. offers of
assistance following damage it has suffered from hurricanes.
But Martinez's absence
of rancor stands in sharp contrast to the current state of U.S.-Cuba relations.
Under President Bush,
official contacts with Cuba are reduced to a minimum. Licenses for private
travel to the island, including academic exchanges, are strictly regulated.
Cuban-Americans who wish to visit relatives in Cuba, or send them money, now
face tough restrictions as well.
Officials at Cuba's
diplomatic mission in Washington complain that U.S. policy toward the communist
island has never been frostier. "The whole policy is based on a lack of
communication. It's so irrational," said Dagoberto Rodriguez, Cuba's head of
mission.
Critics of the Cuban
government point out legitimately there are many political steps Cuba could take
to improve relations with the
United States.
But hurricanes are no
time for politics,
Martinez said.
His response to Cuba's
offer distances him from his Cuban- American colleagues, Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart
and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Elected to the Senate
last year, Martinez,
58, is cut from different cloth. Smuggled out of
Cuba by his parents as a
teenager, the Orlando area Republican is not a product of Cuban Miami's hard-
line political machine.
One of only two
Hispanics in the Senate, he enjoys considerable political influence. Gov. Jeb
Bush picked Martinez to co-chair his brother's presidential campaign in 2000.
Martinez was rewarded with the post of Housing and Urban Development secretary,
and continues to enjoy strong ties to the White House.
At the time of his
election, some critics dismissed him as little more than a White House lapdog.
But he has shown himself to be more independent-minded - and less Cuba-obsessed
- than his fellow
South Florida
lawmakers.
This summer he supported
a suggestion to shut down the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay naval base in
Cuba. He also criticized the administration and Congress for paying too little
attention to mounting political problems in
Latin America.
He recently returned from a four-nation trip to
South America. The United
States is in danger of losing the "battle of ideas" in the region, he said.
In welcoming Cuba's
offer of medical help, Martinez provided a fine example of how that battle might
be won.
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