Word: cuba
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Former President Jimmy Carter’s visit to Cuba this week makes him the first U.S. president since Calvin Coolidge to visit the nearby island. This diplomatic isolation of one of America’s closest neighbors results from an embargo imposed in 1960, which bans all trade and travel to the country. But the embargo has failed to accomplish its objective of forcing Fidel Castro out of power, and now does more harm than good. The sanctions should be lifted in an attempt to work cooperatively with Cuba and give its people a better life...
...embargo, it is illegal for U.S. citizens, with a few small exceptions, to trade with the island. But this does nothing to weaken Castro’s grip on power. Trade restrictions merely fuel Castro’s anti-American rhetoric and build support for his government within Cuba and across the world...
Sanctions instead hurt Cuban civilians, many of whom are struggling to liberalize restrictions imposed by their inept government but continue to suffer under America’s misdirected economic policy. Working cooperatively with Cuba would do more to promote democracy and freedom than do punitive sanctions. It is time for the U.S. to reopen trade with the country...
Proponents of continuing the embargo point out numerous human rights abuses within Cuba. But 40 years of history demonstrates that the embargo has done nothing to curtail these abuses, and increased contact with democratic societies like the U. S. might whet the Cuban people’s appetite for freedom. Several small steps have already been taken, the most prominent being Project Varela, a petition signed by 11,000 Cubans seeking a referendum on increased civil liberties and the release of political prisoners...
...Bush Administration, trying to justify continued sanctions, cites not only human rights abuses but also alleges that Cuba exports dual-use technology that could be used to produce biological weapons to terrorist-sponsoring states—which Castro has vehemently denied. But even if Cuba has been exporting this type of technology, maintaining the embargo will do little to encourage it to stop. Opening up the possibility of trade with the U.S. might do more to draw Cuba away from contacts with countries like Syria and Libya...