When United States President Barack Obama reestablished full diplomatic relations with the Castro regime in Cuba in December 2014, he said it would advance U.S. interests and engage and empower the Cuban people. At the U.S. flag-raising ceremony in Havana in August, Secretary of State John Kerry said the deal would help ease restrictions on Cuban entrepreneurs, as well as improve family communications and travel. He urged the Cuban government to do its part in making it less difficult for Cuban citizens to start businesses, engage in trade, and access the Internet.

“The goal of all these changes is to help Cubans connect to the world and improve their lives,” Kerry said. It’s only been six months since Secretary Kerry made those remarks, and already the Washington Post editorial board is calling the Cuba deal a “failure.”

There is “scant evidence” of any sea change in Cuba, the Post wrote—“perhaps because Mr. Obama continues to offer the Castro regime unilateral concessionsrequiring nothing in return” (emphasis added).

The Obama administration used the same strategy on the Iran nuclear deal—unilateral concessions requiring little or nothing in return. How long will it be before the world awakens to the failure of the nuclear deal?

In Cuba, the deal that was supposed to help Cuban people has instead empowered a ruthless Communist regime. As the Washington Post noted, “Autocrats everywhere must be watching with envy the Castros’ good fortune.”

Over the past year, the Castro brothers have actually cracked down on dissidents promoting democracy in Cuba! And the only businesses benefiting from “improved” relations with the U.S. are state-run institutions.

This deal was never about freeing Cubans from a totalitarian police state. Like the Iran nuclear deal, this was always about appeasing one of America’s enemies—and it’s an enemy that happens to be 90 miles south of America’s shores.

Notice what my father wrote in the March 2015 Trumpet: “When Russia and Venezuela, the main sponsors of the Castro regime, started suffering in the last few months due to falling oil prices, it looked as if the Castro regime could finally collapse. That could have paved the way for democracy to finally prevail for Cubans. What the Castro brothers needed in order to survive was an economic lifeline from their enemy, the United States. And that is exactly what the pope and President Obama delivered.”

He said this would be a bad deal for the Cubans. And in less than one year, we are already beginning to see just how bad the deal was for average Cubans.

But it’s so much worse than even the Washington Post editorial board realizes, as my father has stressed over the past year.

In that March article, my father also wrote about the prisoner swap associated with the Cuba deal—a three-for-one deal that resulted in the return of an American who had been wrongfully imprisoned for five years. This lopsided swap, my father said, sent a clear message to America’s enemies: Kidnap Americans and hold on to them and you will win big concessions from the Obama administration.

On January 16 we learned about another lopsided prisoner swap—this time with Iran. And on the same weekend those prisoners were swapped, an Iranian-backed militia kidnapped three more Americans in Baghdad! America’s enemies have definitely gotten the message!

In that March 2015 article, my father also wrote about the crucial role Pope Francis played in the U.S.-Cuba deal—and why he would even want to be involved. He also talked about the grave danger of appeasing an enemy that is camped right on America’s doorstep.

As my father later wrote in the November-December Trumpet, “You need to beware of what is happening in Cuba! This is a dangerous world. America is like a silly dove walking right into a deadly trap. Cuba isn’t dead. Communism isn’t dead. And Cuba is reemerging as a clear and present danger to the very existence of the United States!”

As we said from the very beginning, this was a bad deal—for the Cuban people, yes—but especially for the United States of America.