Cuba Embargo Has Backfired: Time to End It

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 2, 2009 1:52 PM CST

(Newser) – The Cuban embargo has failed to encourage democracy there, and the president-elect should do something about it, writes Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post. It's time to “bring five decades of counterproductive American policy toward Cuba to a definitive end.” While engagement with other Communist regimes has worked to our benefit, the shunning of Cuba has only strengthened Fidel Castro’s outsider credentials.

“US policy for dealing with the rest of the communist world was always to push for more contact and exchange,” Robinson writes, “on the theory that exposure to Western ideas, freedoms and prosperity would hasten communism's demise. It worked.” A sensible plan, perhaps aided by Raul Castro’s more moderate regime, starts with “recognizing the obvious: If a set of policies hasn't produced results for 50 years, it really is time to try something else.”

[Images (5)]

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A Tropicana dancer performs during the 50th anniversary celebration of the Cuban Revolution. (AP Photo)

President of Cuba Raul Castro speaks during the 50th anniversary celebration of the Cuban Revolution at the main plaza in Santiago. (AP Photo)

A woman walks down a street where pro-Castro graffiti is written. (AP Photo)

A man rides his bicycle during sunset in San Cristobal, Cuba. (AP Photo)

An old car drives past a billboard commemorating Cuba's 1959 revolution. (AP Photo)

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(The anniversary is) yet another reminder of wrongheaded U.S. policies that have unwittingly helped shield Castro's revolution from historical trends that long ago should have forced the regime to give way. - Eugene Robinson, Washington Post

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