America’s Policy in Cuba

Okay, I know I’ve blogged a couple times already about the GOP presidential race, but I just keep finding interesting and/or relevant issues from it that I can’t help but blog about them.

The latest topic revolves around the American policy in Cuba. Since 1960, the U.S. had an embargo against Cuba titled “Cuban Democracy Act.” This Act reflects the postbellum American view of global democratization. The U.S. intends to maintain this embargo until Cuba decides to move in the direction of establishing a democracy and respecting human rights.

In the Florida GOP primary debates, the U.S. foreign policy on Cuba was a hot subject — mostly because the state of Florida has a lot of Cuban voters who can sway the Republican voting polls. Most candidates seemed to just reiterate the American objective in Cuba: to leave Cuba in isolation and avoid diplomatic talks until the Castro regime falls and Cubans are finally free.

Newt Gingrich wants harsher treatment of Cuba, aggressively persuading Cuba to change its domestic policies on human rights. He said that America should actively reach out to all the Cubans to help them fight against the current regime, and to ensure that a dictatorship is no longer a possibility.

Rick Santorum interestingly stated that he would treat Cuba just the same – even if Cuba were as far as China. He insisted that the embargo be kept to show that the “American” hemisphere should all be on the U.S. side. He said that there should be absolutely no aid or interaction with Cuba unless Cuba gets rid of the Castro tyranny.

Do these men realize what they are saying? The past half-century of embargo against Cuba has not changed Cuba the way American wanted it to, nor did it give Cuba any incentive to change. America opened up to Russia and China – the other Communist countries that the U.S. was so against. Why can’t the U.S. open up to Cuba? Perhaps because Cuba does not propose any economic benefits to the U.S. like Russia and China does. Nonetheless, keeping Cuba far and giving it cold treatment has not benefited America much – if at all.

I liked that Ron Paul thinks differently than the rest of the candidates. He said that the Cuban isolation must end, and America needs to open up trade relations with Cuba. He said that it is no longer 1962 – countries need to talk to each other instead of using force or intimidation. Placing sanctions against nations and using aggression aren’t the democratic principles that America wants to exemplify. It’s time that the U.S. reflected upon its foreign policy in Cuba and made some progress forward.