President Obama’s opening to Cuba is based on the hope that a surge of commerce, information and travel will somehow erode the rigid authoritarian state built by Fidel Castro and now presided over by his brother, Raúl.

Actually, the opening, including Monday’s re-establishment of embassies, could well enhance rather than undermine the regime. What will matter with Cuba is not the raising of flags but how the U.S. applies its influence.

Negotiations that led to this point included “a pretty robust conversation” about the abysmal human rights situation in Cuba, a senior administration official said last week. Cuba has released some political prisoners. But frequent reports from the island make it plain that routine harassment continues of dissidents and those who speak out, and short-term detentions and beatings are common.

U.S. officials in Havana will now be full-fledged diplomats, with freedom to move around Cuba. Perhaps they should skip a diplomatic reception or two and use this access to examine one of the most unsettling chapters in the history of the Castro dictatorship.

Three years ago Wednesday, the Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá was riding in a car with an associate, Harold Cepero, and two foreign visitors. The car crashed, killing Payá and Cepero.

Accused of vehicular homicide and jailed after a show trial in Havana, the car’s driver, Ángel Carromero, was later released to Spain, his home country.

He’s since declared that the car was forced off the road by a vehicle bearing Cuban government license plates. But no government or international institution has carried out a credible investigation into Payá’s death.

And then there is the political legacy: Over a decade ago, Payá’s Varela Project received thousands of signatures on a petition calling for a referendum on legal reforms to Cuba’s political system. Now that he’s gone, others are carrying on the fight inside Cuba, and suffering for it. They, rather than the Castro regime, should be the focus of U.S. diplomacy.

Copy the Story Link