The answer may lie in simply recommitting ourselves to standing strongly in favor of democracy throughout the world.
Tensions between Cuba and Mexico, once one of Latin America's closest alliances, had risen over the last decade after Ernesto Zedillo, President Fox's predecessor, criticized the Cuban government, saying it was standing against the wave of democracy sweeping across the region.
He had seemed a champion of democracy then, standing side by side with the last Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, and their close partners in Washington as the Berlin wall came down.
With the nation standing firmly on the doorstep of democracy, thanks to the Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League of Democracy (NLD) party, everyone's mind is preoccupied, most of all the Moustache Brothers.
During his presidency Mr. Carter was a firm champion of democracy throughout Latin America, standing up to the military tyrannies that then predominated in the region.
But we can at least hope that their bravery will inspire those of us lucky to be on the sidelines to ensure that our own government does a better job of standing up for democracy, human rights and the rule of law, not just in Iran, but across the Middle East and North Africa.
A man with a steel rod is standing behind the smiling politicians who speak of democracy.
Bo, Judy, Ed and Maria are living, breathing examples of democracy in action, of citizens standing up to corporate greed.
Since his far-left Syriza party topped the Greek polls in January, Mr Tsipras has styled himself as the saviour of democracy from the very cradle of democracy, standing up to the tyranny of the unelected bureaucrats foisting ruinous austerity policies on struggling nations from their sleek offices in Brussels.
He said it was "insulting" to people in Kiev who were "simply standing up for values that we should share and support, of democracy, of autonomy".
