Regarding Cuba’s announcement that it will release 52 political prisoners, the Washington Post editors explain:

[T]here should be no illusions that this gesture augurs fundamental political change on the island that the Castro brothers, Fidel and Raúl, have ruled with an iron fist since 1959. The Castro regime has a long history of tactical human rights concessions — with the goal of buying time for the regime rather than reforming it. …

The 52 inmates represent fewer than one-third of Cuba’s 167 political prisoners, according to democracy advocate Freedom House. Among prisoners notably not mentioned for release on Wednesday was Alan Gross of Potomac, an Agency for International Development contractor imprisoned in Cuba since December for the crime of distributing cellphones and laptops in Cuba’s tiny Jewish community. And the first five prisoners to be freed reportedly are going to be forced into exile as a condition of their release.

The editors implore Obama not to cough up any modifications in existing sanctions until there is evidence of fundamental political change in Cuba. But the danger is great that the overeager Obami will tout this as a grand success and evidence of the wisdom of their engagement approach and begin to throw goodies at the Castro brothers’ feet while downplaying Cuba’s ongoing human rights atrocities. Democracy promotion, defense of religious liberty, and human rights rank low on the list of Obama’s foreign policy priorities, so he is not inclined to scrutinize Cuba’s conduct on any of these fronts.

In sum, every prisoner freed from a gulag is reason to celebrate, but we should keep our eye on those who still rot in prisons, and on the entire population of Cuba and other thugocracies who live under the heel of despots.