The Cuban Embargo

Recently Barack Obama was in the news saying that if he becomes President he will loosen restrictions on Cuban immigrants visiting Cuba and sending money home to family members still in Cuba. He also said he would increase diplomatic efforts regarding the Island. Now obviously die-hard conservatives abhor any kind of loosening of restrictions with Communist Cuba. They seem to ignore the fact that after over 40 years of trade embargo that Castro is still firmly in power and that the only people the embargo has hurt are the general populace and not those in power.

I prefer to actually deal with these kinds of anti-American governments than to cover our eyes and pretend they'll go away. Let people like Castro and Hugo Chavez rant about the evils of America all they want. Calling us names won't hurt our economy or make them look any more powerful. By engaging these countries we increase the likelihood that we can move things towards a more democratic system then by abandoning the country and punishing them with sanctions.