Politics

End the Cuban Embargo

By Matt Cooper

A few months ago I wrote a column calling for the unilateral and complete end of the Cuban embargo. I still feel that way. Our leverage with Cuba doesn't come from an embargo that hasn't worked for 50 years. It comes from engagement with a regime that is reprehensible and dictatorial. Only Barack Obama has shown any interest in easing up on the failed Cuban embargo. Hillary Clinton threw her lot in with the old guard when she said she saw no reason to change policy unless Cuba acted first. John McCain is totally paleo on this issue and was endorsed by the three Cuban-American members of Congress from South Florida. The current U.S. position, enshrined in law no less, is that the Cuban government must commit to its own destruction before any easing can begin. That's not going to happen. Like it or not, the current Cuban govenrment will, according to our own Defense Intelligence Agency, survive after Castro's death. We can either be a part of helping Cuba change or we can leave it to the Europeans or worse Hugo Chavez and the Chinese. It would have been nice if our embargo had brought down Castro and brought democracy to Cuba. It didn't work. It's time for a change.

Full post as published by Portfolio.com: Capital on February 19, 2008 (boomark / email).