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The Endless Folly of the Cuba Embargo

Resuming full economic and diplomatic relations with one of our closest neighbors is not a reward to the country's government.

The Post defends the useless status quo on Cuba policy:

Fully lifting the embargo now would reward and ratify their intransigence.

A concession such as ending the trade embargo should not be exchanged for nothing. It should be made when Cuba grants genuine freedom to its people, the goal cherished by Mr. Payá.

This is misguided for many reasons, not least of which is that there is no realistic chance that refusing to end the embargo will result in greater freedom for people in Cuba. It is likely that Cuba will continue to be an authoritarian and illiberal country for a long time after the embargo is lifted, but continuing to impose the embargo will not change that one bit. The U.S. is hardly making a concession by agreeing to permit more trade with Cuba. At worst, it would help to improve the economy of Cuba, and it could provide opportunities for Cubans to make contacts with more people in the United States. Even if there are not significant political changes in Cuba for a long time, Cubans would be better off if more people from one of their closest neighbors and the largest economy in the world were able to do business with them. Resuming full economic and diplomatic relations with one of our closest neighbors is not a reward to the country’s government. It would be a restoration of the perfectly normal relationship that the U.S. should try to have with as many countries as possible, and the main beneficiaries of that restoration are the people of our neighbors in Cuba.

Persisting in an embargo of the country for fear of “rewarding” the country’s rulers will have no effect except to penalize the people of Cuba. Meanwhile, the rulers will continue to use the embargo as an excuse for and a distraction from their own misrule. Sanctions and embargoes are worse than useless. They are harmful to most of the people in the country targeted by them, and they do very little to hurt the few people in charge of the regime whose abuses provide the pretext for the sanctions or embargo. Supporters of sanctions and embargoes talk a good game about supporting the liberalization of other countries, but in practice they end up aiding local regimes in their efforts to shore up their control. An embargo cuts off the people of another country from the exchange and commerce that could help to change their country for the better, and it deprives them of the opportunities that could eventually be theirs. It is senseless, and it is wrong, it ought to be ended as soon as possible.

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