Cuba
Since 1960 the United States has maintained a trade embargo on Cuba under which US citizens are prohibited from open commerce and exchange with Cuba. The current stated goal of the US government and the embargo is to actively promote a "rapid and peaceful transition to democracy" on the island. While the goal of self-determination is worthy, the embargo has failed to enact a change in its 43-year history. The question of the embargo is the subject of an ongoing debate in the United States—within Congress and among US citizens. With the goal of helping both the Cuban people and the US people, a majority in the United States would like to see the embargo lifted, while a very vocal and powerful minority would prefer to see it strengthened.
The largest current hindrance to increased engagement with Cuba is the ban on general travel to the island. There are limited opportunities to travel legally to the island, though even these legal avenues are under threat. Direct contact between our two peoples has proven invaluable in nurturing understanding between the nations and pointing out the inadvisability of the current US policy of isolation. Recognizing this, a strong majority in the US House of Representatives has voted for several years in succession to lift this provision; but unfortunately the threat of a Presidential veto and tenacious opposition from House leadership have kept this from being written into law.
Great strides have been made in recent years in increasing legal trade with Cuba. In 2000, Congress legalized the sale of US food and medicine to Cuba in a tacit recognition that these products would directly benefit the Cuban people, and in open recognition of the desire by US farmers for Cuban markets. The outcome far exceeded expectations: more than $250 million dollars in US agricultural products have been sold to Cuba as of mid 2003. Interest from US agriculture is overwhelming; and Cuba is reportedly very pleased with the access to cheaper, higher quality goods.
Even ending the entire embargo is gaining support in Congress and among the US people. Recent polls show that the overwhelming majority of US citizens support a change in US policy toward Cuba. Many of these people have come to the correct conclusion that the embargo is a failed policy which only hurts the Cuban people. In fact, even a majority of the Cuban-American community in Miami, the political factor largely responsible for the US government's hostile policy toward Cuba, now favors engagement with Cuba in the form of trade and travel. Punitive policies of isolation against the island, and the futile hope that punishing the Cuban people would cause them to rise up against their government, have been more effective in giving the Cuban government a scapegoat for any failures of its own economic and social policies than in bringing the revolution to its knees. By engaging with Cuba, the United States' ability to have an impact on Cuba's human rights record and democracy issues would likely increase dramatically.
The Latin America Working Group's goal, driven by the policy positions of our coalition partners, has been and continues to be to end the US embargo on Cuba--for the benefit of both our peoples. The history of hostility between our two countries is obsolete and should be changed.
