Why the Cuba embargo should end

in an extraordinary move the United States is pursuing full diplomatic relations with Cuba but this won't mean the end to the economic embargo which only Congress can fully remove it's a comprehensive set of economic sanctions on Cuba that has existed since roughly 1962 it has been an absolute disaster for both the United States and Cuba here are seven reasons why the Embargo needs to end number one American diplomats in Havana admit that the Embargo is a failure the goal of the Embargo was to put pressure on the Cuban government economic pressure that was supposed to create popular anger and resistance to the government and eventually overthrow it but according to a 2009 cable from the US's top Diplomat in Havana at the time that has failed to happen two sanctions have failed to ruin Cuba's economy Cuba has seen a fair amount of economic growth since the sanctions were created indicating that there wasn't nearly enough pressure to send the economy into a full tail spin and thus Fant Rebellion number three the Embargo has probably killed the Cubans the 1992 Cuba democracy Act restricted the flow of medical Goods into Cuba from the United States this resulted in a precipitous decline in access to medical supplies inside Cuba according to a 2010 review by two Stanford researchers they believe that the lack of access to this medicine was responsible for several disease outbreaks in the country including an increase in tuberculosis fatalities four the Embargo has not significantly reduced Cuba's human rights abuses Cuba has a terrible human rights record among other things it's one of the worst countries R and freedom of the press in the Western Hemisphere and it throws dissidents and bloggers into jail merely for criticizing the regime however there's zero evidence that the sanctions regime has done anything to make those abuses better five almost the entire world opposes the United States's policy for 23 years the United Nations has voted to condemn the American policy towards Cuba the last vote in 2014 saw 188 out of 193 UN member states opposing it in the general assembly six Cuba is not a state sponsor of terrorism anymore some of the sanctions on Cuba come from the US designated Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism because of its support for the Basque terrorist group ETA and the Colombian group The farc now according to the state Department's most recent review there's no evidence that Cuba is providing material Military Support to these groups moreover Cuba is cooperating with Spain on the transfer of ETA prisoners and it has been sponsoring a peace conference in Havana for the farc and the Colombian government one that appears to have resulted in a unilateral ceasefire declaration by the farc seven a majority of Americans support normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba and majorities support relaxing major parts of the Embargo including restrictions on us companies doing business in Cuba now Cuban Americans also appear to oppose the Embargo if the people who have the most reasons to hate the Castor government have come around to thinking the Embargo isn't worth the costs it's time to reconsider the policy