The US economic embargo on Cuba “has failed,” top Republican lawmaker Richard Lugar has said in a report likely to fuel momentum for a shift in the US’ decades-old policy toward the island.
“After 47 years ... the unilateral embargo on Cuba has failed to achieve its stated purpose of ‘bringing democracy to the Cuban people,’ said the senator from Indiana — a senior member or the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “it may have been used as a foil by the regime to demand further sacrifices from Cuba’s impoverished population.”
The report, entitled Changing Cuba Policy — In the United States National Interest, was due for release yesterday.
It was likely to frame the debate on overhauling US policy after almost five decades of policy seeking to isolate the Western Hemisphere’s only communist country.
The report also comes one year after former Cuban president Fidel Castro stepped aside after decades as leader, although he remains from all appearances an important behind-the-scenes player in the island’s politics.
US President Barack Obama has pledged dialogue with all foreign leaders including the US’ traditional foes, in sharp contrast to successive US administrations that have sought to isolate Havana. But so far he has offered few details on how far he might be willing to go in reaching out to Cuba.
Lugar said while “current US policy has many passionate defenders, and their criticism of the Castro regime is justified ... nonetheless, we must recognize the ineffectiveness of our current policy and deal with the Cuban regime in a way that enhances US interests.”
The US and Cuba do not have full diplomatic relations and Washington has had a full economic embargo on Havana since 1962.
But that embargo was tweaked slightly by former US president George W. Bush, who allowed Cuba to purchase US food as long as it was purchased in cash. Since then US food sales to Cuba have surged, but US farm producers would sell vastly more if Cuba could get credit for its purchases.
The US Senate report due out yesterday was to stop short of recommending an end to the US embargo.
But Lugar supports lifting Bush administration restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba, reinstituting formal bilateral cooperation on drug interdiction and migration, and allowing Cuba to buy US agricultural products on credit.
Separately the Senate foreign relations report, an advance copy of which was obtained by AFP, urged that US migration policy toward Cubans should be reviewed by the White House.
Under current “wet foot, dry foot” policy, Cubans picked up by US Coast Guard vessels at sea are returned to their country, while any Cuban who makes it to US soil, even illegally, gets to stay, work and obtain residency.
It is a policy the US does not have for nationals of any other country; Cuba complains that it fuels dangerous illegal emigration by sea.
“The review [of wet foot, dry foot] should assess whether this policy has led to the inefficient use of US Coast Guard resources and assets, as well as the potential to redirect these resources to drug interdiction efforts,” the report says.
During his campaign for the presidency, Obama said the Cuba embargo had not helped bring democracy to the island, led by Fidel Castro’s younger brother, 77-year-old Cuban President Raul Castro.
But so far Obama has said only that he would end some sanctions on Cuban-Americans traveling to the island, and eliminate limits on their remittances to relatives in Cuba.
Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives earlier this month introduced a bill to permit US citizens unrestricted travel to Cuba.
The separate “Freedom To Travel to Cuba Act,” which would overturn the 46-year-old US policy strictly limiting travel to the Caribbean island, will be subject to debate after being referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS