Since the 1960s, Washington has clamped a strict trade embargo on Cuba in the expectation that economic distress would oust Castro or at least moderate his behavior. Since 1996 the U.S. embargo has been embodied in law (heretofore it was an executive order). Here’s what Uncle Sam says the embargo, enacted on February 3, 1962, by President Kennedy, is about:

The fundamental goal of U.S. policy toward Cuba is to promote a peaceful transition to a stable, democratic form of government and respect for human rights. Our policy has two fundamental components: maintaining pressure on the Cuban Government for change through the embargo and the Libertad Act while providing humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people, and working to aid the development of civil society in the country.

Critics call it a violation of international law that injures and threatens the welfare of Cuban people. The United Nations General Assembly routinely votes to condemn it (the 2009 vote was 187-3, with only Palau and Israel—which trades with Cuba—joining the United States in voting against the resolution).

Uncle Sam even fines foreign companies doing business with Cuba. Talk about shooting oneself in the foot! For example, when Hilton and Sheraton hotels worldwide were banned from accepting Cuban trade delegations, European unions and parliamentarians initiated a boycott of the hotel chains, while the Mexican government even fined Sheraton US$100,000 for expelling Cuban guests in violation of international law. Meanwhile, the ultimate irony and hypocrisy is that although no Cuban goods can be sold to the United States, the U.S. does permit sales of “agricultural” and certain other goods to Cuba under a waiver that runs from daiquiri mix to rolls of newsprint (even the Communist rag, Granma, is printed on paper from Alabama), to the tune of US$718 million in 2008!

The effects of the embargo (which Castro calls el bloqueo, or blockade) are much debated. In 1999, Cuba filed a claim for US$181 billion in reparations. However, in 2000, the International Trade Commission (ITC) determined that the embargo has had a minimal impact on the Cuban economy, citing domestic policies as the main cause of Cuba’s economic woes (for three decades, the effects of the embargo were almost entirely offset by massive subsidies from the Soviet Union). As President Carter noted during his visit to Havana in May 2002: “These restraints are not the source of Cuba’s economic problems. Cuba can trade with more than 100 countries, and buy medicines, for example, more cheaply in Mexico than in the United States.”

The paradox is that the policy achieves the opposite effect to its stated goals: It provides a wonderful excuse for the Communist system’s economic failings, and a rationale to suppress dissidents and civil liberties under the aegis of national security for an island under siege. It also permits Fidel Castro to perform the role of Cuba’s anti-imperialistic savior that he has cast for himself.

Although State Department officials privately admit that the embargo is the fundamental source of Fidel’s hold on power, U.S. presidents are wed to what Ann Louise Bardach calls a “transparently disastrous policy, trading off sensible and enduring solutions for short-term electoral gains [in Florida]” in response to fanatically anti-Castroite Cuban-American interests.

What U.S. Citizens Can Do to Help End the Embargo and Travel Ban

U.S. citizens who oppose the embargo and restrictions on U.S. citizens’ constitutional right to travel can make their views known to representatives in Washington.

Contact Your Senator or Representative in Congress (U.S. Congress, Washington, DC 20510, tel. 202/224-3121 or 800/839-5276, www.house.gov and www.senate.gov). Write a simple, moderate, straightforward letter to your representative that makes the argument for ending the travel ban and embargo and requests he/she cosponsor a bill to that effect.

Write or Call the President (The President, The White House, Washington, DC 20500, tel. 202/456-1414, president [at] whitehouse [dot] gov). Also call or fax the White House Comment Line (202/456-1111, fax 202/456-2461, www.whitehouse.gov) and the Secretary of State (202/647-4000, www.state.gov/secretary).

Publicize Your Concern. Write a simple, moderate, straightforward letter to the editor of your local newspaper as well as any national newspapers or magazines and make the argument for ending the embargo.

Support the Freedom to Travel Campaign. Contact the Latin America Working Group (424 C St. NE, Washington, DC 20002, tel. 202/546-7010, www.lawg.org), which campaigns to lift the travel restrictions and U.S. embargo, monitors legislators, and can advise on how representatives have voted on Cuba-related issues; and sign the Orbitz Open Cuba (www.opencuba.org) petition.