Senator Richard Lugar's (R-IN) office released a staff trip report to the Committee on Foreign Relations today, see it here . In Senator Lugar's Dear Colleague prefacing the report, the senator states:
"The debate [over U.S. sanctions on Cuba] is important because it has implications for security interests in the Straits of Florida, broader U.S.- Latin American relations, and global perceptions of U.S. foreign policy. Despite uncertainty about Cuba's mid-term political future, it is clear that the recent leadership changes have created an opportunity for the United States to reevaluate a complex relationship marked by misunderstanding, suspicion, and open hostility."
This report from Senator Lugar's office, released a week after Senator Lugar co-sponsored S 428 calling for the U.S. to end travel restrictions on Cuba, sheds light on not only how ineffective our Cuba policy is, but how detrimental to our own national interest it is. Steve Clemons, at the Washington Note, nicely analyizes the report here.
The report has received considerable press, including this article in Saturday's Washington Post, by Steve Clemons here at The Huffington Post , here at The BBC, and in Bloomberg here.
