It’s been 47 years since the embargo on Cuban goods was put in place by the United States and its been 18 years in a row that the United Nations General Assembly has called for the end of the US embargo. It seem back in April of this year that President Obama was moving in the direction ending the embargo, but Obama’s tit-for-tat Cuba policy seems to be “the same old story” says Ted Piccone of The Brookings Institution.
Cuba has made it very clear that it is prepared to sit down and talk with the U.S. in a spirit of mutual respect, i.e., accepting the regime as it is, rather than as we would like it to be. Until then, it will happily promote the image of David vs. Goliath on the world stage. It is just too potent and too successful a narrative in winning friends for Havana to abandon, even more so now that its economy is in a shambles and it needs all the friends it can get.
As the foreign minister of Cuba said, “U.S. citizens elected Obama as president because he promised change. Where is the change on the blockade of Cuba?”