US Still Persecuting Cuba

I’m still baffled by this simple question: Why does the United States government, my nation, allow me to go to North Korea, China, Vietnam, Iran, and other such places which aren’t exactly bastions of freedom, but Why Can’t I Go to Cuba? Why Can’t I Go to Cuba? – Part 2

Why has the United States been relentlessly persecuting the tiny nation of Cuba for the last 52 years? Why don’t we have diplomatic relations with Cuba? Why can’t Americans do business with Cuba? Why can’t I buy Cuban cigars or Cuban rum from Cubans? Why can’t I take my vacation in Cuba?

Cuba is not and never has been an enemy of the United States. The government of Cuba has never presented a threat to the U.S.A. The people of Cuba don’t hate America and Americans. They want to be our friends, our trading partners, our good neighbors. They want to buy our goods and sell us their goods.

The vast majority of Americans would welcome an end to our persecution of Cuba. It is only a tiny minority of Cuban exiles who insist that the U.S. continue punishing Cuba for going communist in 1959. That’s the irony of the situation.

It is Cuban expats who want our government to continue persecuting Cuba and their fellow Cubans, not mainstream Americans who want to renew relations.  The Cuban people have their fellow Cubans to blame for their suffering. There is no longer any reason for the embargo if indeed there ever was a logical reason.

Recently the Cuban government denounced the “systematic worsening” of the U.S. economic embargo on Cubans, which they estimate has cost its citizens more than $1.1 trillion since it was imposed more than a half century ago. The Cuban people are suffering for no good reason because of the spiteful mentality of exiled Cubans in the U.S.

The embargo is a "genocidal and vile act ... (with) an extraterritorial dimension," given that the United States is trying to impose it on developing countries, Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno told the United Nations last month. He emphasized that the "extraterritorial character" of laws associated with the embargo "have a direct impact" on foreign trade and the promotion of foreign investment in the country.

The damage to Cuban foreign trade between April 2013 and June 2014 amounted to $3.9 billion. Without the embargo, Cuba could have earned $205.8 million selling products such as rum and cigars to U.S. consumers. Plenty of U.S. customers want those products.

The damage inflicted on tourism alone during that time has deprived innocent Cubans of at least $2 billion in revenue due to the impediments on traveling to the island imposed on U.S. citizens. Moreover, the embargo creates an obstacle to Cuba's being able to provide basic and free services to its population, including education and health care.

U.S. persecution is also depriving innocent Cubans of basic services available to most of the world. They have difficulties, for example, in accessing the Internet on the island because United States prevents companies providing broadband services from operating normally in Cuba. 

Enough already! My country should stop persecuting Cuba.