Embargo doesn’t work
I agree with Andres Oppenheimer on three important points: 1. It’s time to start calling Cuba and the Castros for what they are: dictatorship and dictators. 2. It’s time to toughen up the reporting about conditions in Cuba. 3. It’s time to end the uber cliché of 1950s Chevys.
However, Oppenheimer also misses an important point: the embargo. The one thing that probably prevented the fall of the Cuban dictatorship. The totally useless conduct by the United States driven by a small group of people.
End it all. Start reporting everything: the reality of human-rights abuses, of dictators who still think nothing about jailing anyone opposing the regime, but also the reality of the embargo that didn’t work at all. Restore relations and let the world see Cuba for exactly what it is.
Marcelo Salup, Coral Gables
This story was originally published August 20, 2015 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Embargo doesn’t work."