U.S. economic embargo of Cuba marked its half-century of failed foreign policy 

By Albor Ruiz

From the New York Daily News

[Last week], believe it or not, marked the 50th anniversary of the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba.

Let’s not wish it a happy birthday.

The centerpiece of what passes for a U.S. -Cuba policy, a stale left-over from the Cold War era, has not been a success story.

“In five decades, the embargo has hurt the Cuban people, damaged U.S. interests and families, and failed to accomplish its goals,” according to the think tank Washington Office on Latin America.

Aimed at toppling the Communist government and its then president, Fidel Castro, the embargo – roundly condemned year after year by the United Nations – was imposed by President Kennedy in 1962, after the humiliating defeat the year before of he CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion.

Yet half century later, the revolution is still in power although now it is Fidel’s younger brother Raúl who is the president. The embargo’s only success has been in making daily life more difficult for the people of Cuba.

At a time in which Cuba has embarked on a profound process of economic and political transformation there is a question begging for an answer: How much longer until this obsolete policy hits the road?

“El bloqueo” (the blockade), as it is called in Cuba, not only has been the longest and harshest embargo by one nation against another in modern history, but quite possibly it is the longest standing foreign policy failure the world has known.

Although the embargo policy remains fundamentally unaltered, President Obama relaxed travel restrictions somewhat to the island. The immediate results clearly indicate the urgent need for a new, more enlightened Cuba policy.

Last year Cuban-Americans took advantage of Obama’s new regulations and made more than 400,000 visits to the island. This, together with a Florida International University poll finding that 46% of Cuban-Americans oppose the embargo, point to an ongoing change in the community’s attitude concerning relations with their homeland.

“In this 50th anniversary and despite the uncertainties of the current electoral campaign there is hope,” said Arturo López-Levy, a Cuban-American expert on Cuba and International Studies lecturer at the University of Denver. “There are structural reasons to justify an optimistic view.

“After Fidel Castro’s retirement it is difficult to comprehend that U.S. policy towards Cuba remains a prisoner of the Cold War mentality,” he added.

Also, the economic reforms going on in Cuba are opening the appetite of American businessmen, López-Levy said. And this changes the balance of forces in American domestic policy towards Cuba.

The U.S. should not attempt to isolate Cuba but should promote economic reform on the island as it has done in other countries. This, López-Levy believes would bring an expansion of civil rights, a better standard of living, more free travel and a greater access to information.

“There is also another structural reason for optimism,” López-Levy said. “When the embargo began Cuba was isolated from the rest of the hemisphere, but now, because of its irrationality, it is the U.S. policy towards Cuba that is isolated.”

Actually, he points out, Cuba has diplomatic relations with 33 of the other 34 members of the Organization of American States. The only exception is the United States.

Also, most U.S. allies, including the United Kingdom and Canada, have normalized relations with the island and are pursuing strategies of engagement rather than isolation, according to the Washington Office on Latin America.

Ironically, the embargo has actually served to exclude the U.S. from the real process of change that is happening in Cuba, the think tank said.

[Last week], the Cuban embargo turned 50 with nothing to celebrate. Let’s not wish it a happy birthday.