U.S. and Cuban relations today:
End the embargo and let us travel

For more than 50 years the United States has stubbornly clung to its Cuban embargo in an effort to bring down Fidel Castro's regime with a punishing economic blockade. In addition the U.S. has severely limited travel to Cuba by individual American citizens.

Obviously, the Cuban embargo and the travel ban haven't worked to remove the Castros from power (as if it were our right to do so).

What the policies have done, however, is 1) make life more difficult for ordinary Cubans; and 2) make sure that few Americans have any first-hand knowledge of daily life in Cuba. America's embargo against Cuba is outdated. We need to:

• End the embargo. This would open Cuba to business opportunities, travel, and cultural ties. For the Cuban people, it would provide access to goods and services they need, but are currently denied, as well as support their efforts to develop the country.



• End the travel ban and open Cuba to all Americans.



• Nullify the Helms Burton Act.



• Exempt Cuba from the Trading with the Enemies Act.



• Elevate America's "Interests Section" in Havana to full embassy status, then sit down like grownups with the Cuban government and negotiate the issues that divide us.