OPINION:
Every news report out of Havana is telling us that Cuba today is very much like East Germany circa 1989. One day, the Berlin Wall was there, and a few days later, it was torn down.
A recent news report proclaims that the economy is crashing so fast in Cuba that the communist government is calling for an “emergency plan” to “expand private enterprise” and attract international private investment to keep the island afloat.
In recent Oval Office meetings, the two of us have advised President Trump: “Sir, if you could liberate Cuba, that country would quickly become the Hong Kong of the Western Hemisphere.” His eyes lit up.
One of us, Arthur Laffer, has been involved with the Cuban American National Foundation for more than 25 years, waiting not so patiently along with nearly 11 million Cuban citizens for the return of freedom to this special land.
One of the world’s great human rights tragedies is that communism/Marxism has set back this island. Before the Chinese took control, Hong Kong had roughly the same population as Cuba, but its gross domestic product per capita was far larger — today, seven times so.
Cubans who escaped to America are roughly three times richer than Cubans living in Cuba, where the poverty rate is an abysmal 40%.
Or consider this: The median Cuban American household had an income of $71,000 in the most recent U.S. census data. Compare that with a recent survey in Cuba, which found that the median household income was about $5,000.
Mr. Trump has pursued a “maximum pressure” campaign with sanctions and oil shipment restrictions to free Cuba. Some are even advising a military intervention.
We would suggest a more promising win-win liberation strategy at a much lower cost.
Given the potential hundreds of billions of dollars of economic gains by moving Cuba from communism to free markets, a smarter approach would be to simply buy out the Cuban leadership. Mr. Trump and his Cuban American secretary of state, Marco Rubio, should make the Castro family leadership an offer it cannot refuse.
A member of the Castro family leadership — including Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, former President Raul Castro’s grandson, who has been involved in secret talks with the Trump administration — is said to be open to a historic deal that could make him a hero at home and abroad, and his nation and family very rich.
The U.S. has a lot to offer: a free trade deal, cheap energy, the lifting of all sanctions, tens of billions of dollars in overnight private sector investment (much of it from wealthy Cuban Americans), and lasting peace between our countries. A mini Marshall Plan could also be part of the deal.
What makes this moment so ripe is that the “Cuba Libre” (“Free Cuba“) movement is gaining momentum every day. One of the most popular songs in Cuba these days is “Libre.”
Social media platforms are flooded with Cubans and American-born Cubans begging Mr. Trump to do for the Cuban people what he did for Venezuela. One popular video shows Messrs. Trump and Rubio walking down the boardwalk in Cuba to a very Cuban tune about the hopeful fall of communism.
We all recall the memorable scene in “The Godfather Part II” when the Fidel Castro rebels take to the streets of Havana and the ruling government falls. Now, more than 65 years later, we would witness joyous scenes of tens of thousands of young rebels, workers and their children taking to the streets waving American and Cuban flags, celebrating freedom at last.
Families would be reunited for the first time in many decades. The celebration would be reminiscent of the jubilation that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall.
An economic turnaround in Cuba could be almost immediate — similar to the rapid rebuilding of West Germany and Japan after World War II. Just as Cubans who have come to America have prospered, a torrent of investment, tourism and business creation could bring growth and prosperity that could eventually rival the skyscrapers of Miami.
Freedom is breaking out all over South and Central America, from Honduras to Chile to Argentina. Cuba, as a free nation and an ally of the United States, would make both our countries and the entire Western Hemisphere richer and safer.
Mr. Trump is the master of the art of the deal. Liberating Cuba could be one of his greatest and most enduring legacies of freedom and prosperity. He can succeed where 12 previous presidents have failed.
It is time.
• Arthur Laffer is president of Laffer Associates and has been a longtime adviser to the Cuban American National Foundation, headed by Jorge Mas-Canosa. Stephen Moore is a co-founder of Unleash Prosperity and a senior fellow with America First Policy Institute.
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