25 FEB 08 / "End the Embargo"

Cuban President Fidel Castro relinquished power last week, ending his 49 year reign as, consecutively, prime minister, first secretary, and president. His younger brother, Raul, was elected president yesterday by the National Assembly. Fidel Castro's dominion over the island nation coincided with nine American presidential administrations.

When Castro's revolution seized power from General Fulgencio Batista in 1959, the United States initially recognized his administration, but relations quickly deteriorated after Castro declared himself a Marxist and expropriated American businesses and investments. In 1962, the United States began what is now the world's longest trade embargo. The United States subsequently was unsuccessful on numerous occasions deposing Castro, most significantly with the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.

Americans, of course, were justifiably concerned about a Communist regime and Soviet agent just 100 miles off the coast of Florida. The fear culminated during the Kennedy administration with the Cuban Missle Crisis. Following this international crisis, the United States settled on the course of applying pressure through economic and political sanctions against Cuba. In later decades, the United States enhanced and codified the embargo rather than weakening it.

The embargo was intended to help bring democracy to Cuba, but many experts believe it has had helped Castro remain in power.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Sandanistas in Nicauragua, the Cuban government lost billions of dollars in annual aid and had to fend for itself.

In 2000, the United States authorized the shipment of food and medicine to Cuba for humanitarian reasons.

Economic sanctions don't work, and they often only serve to turn a population against the United States since the dictator can blame us for their problems. The United States had a close economic relationship with Cuba before Castro achieved power.

Fortunately, other nations in Latin America like Nicauragua and El Salvador have thrown off Communism and espoused democracy, although there are setbacks now created by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales.

Cuban exiles in south Florida and other parts of the United States generally oppose ending the embargo, but the sanctions have only harmed the people they were intended to help. Allowing free trade between the Untied States and Cuba would benefit both nations and help bring reform and improved economic conditions to the Cuban people.

The embargo has been in effect for nearly 50 years, but it has not brought democracy to the Cuban people. It is time to try a new approach. If we trade with China, we can trade with Cuba. 

Trading with Cuba would not send a message to the rest of the world that the United States is not a champion of human rights. It is not necessary for the United States to have close diplomatic relations with a trading partner.

The embargo has ensured that wealth on the island of 11 million people is held only by the ruling elite. American tourist dollars and low cost food and durable goods can do nothing for the vast majority of the people because they have no access to them.