"Cuba Experts" tell us that we need to engage the Castro dictatorship in order to help the dissidents on the island. I imagine they want the U.S. to engage the Castro regime in the same way France engages with them, giving a criminal and murderous organization the full legitimacy of a government.

There is one huge problem with their assertion, however; the Castro dictatorship does not allow anyone, friend or foe, to help Cuban dissidents.

Cuba takes back visas from a French TV team, saying it would interview dissidents

Reversal announced hours before team's departure

The Cuban government has withdrawn visas from a French television team that was to visit the island to film a documentary, alleging that it would include unauthorized interviews with dissidents, the French news media reported Friday.

The program would have been part of the channel France-5 series "World on the March," hosted by TV personality Hervé Chabalier.

Chabalier, president of the Chabalier and Associates Press Agency (CAPA), said that on Thursday, "less than 24 hours from their departure, the Cuban ambassador to France informed us that the journalists were not authorized to enter the island, and that their press visas – delivered by the embassy after three months of reflection – had been withdrawn."

The reason? According to the Cuban ambassador, Orlando Requeijo Gual, the Cuban authorities had "intercepted messages posted on anti-Castro American sites mentioning possible meetings between Hervé Chabalier and opponents of the regime."

The purpose of the visit, according to Chabalier, was "to give an account of the reforms initiated by the Cuban authorities, both in the fields of the economy and public freedom." His statement ends: "It is clear that freedom of the press is not always guaranteed in Cuba."

Excerpts of an interview with Chabalier by Tele2-Semaines follow:

Q.: What were you accused of?
A.: Nothing. We were merely suspected of wanting to meet with dissidents. Obviously, we would have done so, but it was not our obsession. This setback is very injurious to CAPA. [The project] took us a month of preparation.

Behind all that, I think there are other reasons. Fidel Castro is going to publish a book in which he will portray an all-beautiful world, so it would be awkward for him to have a team of independent journalists getting under his feet. There is no press freedom in Cuba. We thought there was progress, but no.

Q.: Has a similar situation occurred to you before?
A.: Never. I was deported from Iran once, but at least I managed to get in!

Q.: Have you thought of going incognito?
A.: It is unthinkable down there. We might end up in prison.

Q.: Do you have a Plan B?
A.: We will leave for Tunisia [...] to understand what are the deep lines of that country's evolution and its future.