We trade extensively with communist China. We have full diplomatic relations with virtually every oppressive dictatorship on the planet. Even during the days of the Soviet Union, we never let competing ideologies stop the flow of goods back and forth.
It’s time to let go of this 40-year obsession with Cuba. End the embargo. Fidel Castro may not be a saint and his country may lack the civil rights and liberties we often take for granted as Americans, but these facts should not be impediments to free trade and the exchange of ideas and people.
Who suffers from this economic embargo? The American farmer who needs a new market for his crops. The Cuban girl who desperately needs drugs that could help her illness. The citizens of both countries who need the jobs that would be created. Real people suffer real consequences from this outdated policy that appears to be the result of a long-held grudge on the part of some mean-spirited and irrational extremists.
Let’s move forward in our relations with our neighbor to the south. Free trade is good. The past is over. End the embargo, which hurts both our countries, now.
