It’s been clear for a while that there really isn’t a political or strategic reason to maintain the trade embargo on Cuba. Even Cuban-Americans living in Florida are no longer pro-embargo, and they don’t vote on the issue anymore in any case. When you consider that the Republicans have won Florida exactly once since 1992 (* yes I know, hanging chad, butterfly ballot, Jews for Buchanan, Bush v. Gore) it’s hard to argue that pandering to the pro-embargo Cuban-American vote in the Sunshine State has worked out well for the GOP anyway.
So, I’m not surprised that the New York Times editorial board is advising the president to end the embargo during the last two years of the his presidency. Of course, he can’t quite accomplish that unilaterally without the consent of Congress, but he could remove Cuba from the list of state-sponsors of terrorism and he could reestablish diplomatic ties with them.
It would be nice if he could extract some concessions for these moves. In a sane world, some powerful Cuban-American politicians like Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Robert Menendez of New Jersey and GOP presidential aspirant Senator Marco Rubio of Florida would work with the administration and take some credit for whatever we get out of the deal.
That’s probably too much to ask, however. I’ll settle for the Obama administration restoring diplomatic relations. If Congress is too stupid to get anything in return, that’s just another reflection of the broken institution that it is.
Or is this the NYT’s latest assignment from the CIA, Pentagon, or WH?
(Sorry, of late have been reading/thinking too much about Operation Mockingbird and the re-emergence of the CIA/MSM “get” Gary Webb project has left me distrusting the MSM even more than usual.)
Yes, end the embargo. It’s no more than a torture instrument in the hands of the sadistic US super-heroic bullies. A whole section of US politics has formed around it, and these people aren’t going to give up their moral and cultural identities just like that. Well maybe they would if Cuba surrendered all sovereignty to them. And what about returning Guantanamo to Cuba? Wouldn’t that be a touching gesture of friendship and respect to all of South and Central America? Some US puppet dictator leased the place to the US in perpetuity. I suppose the US will argue that it can’t restore Guantanamo to Cuba because then it would be shut to freedom-loving people and turn into a gulag for political prisoners. God Bless America (as you know who can never stop shouting).
I agree completely. More, add Cuba to NAFTA (after restructuring NAFTA as was promised after it was signed).
The Embargo has been the Castro’s family’s best friend.
Which is typical of American Foreign Policy in general.
At this point, if the US wants to get a country’s population to protest and overthrow the current regime, all the US really has to do is support it openly.
Old GOP farts will grumble about Carter and the Canal Zone, but nobody gives a shit.