U.S. Policy toward Cuba - Is it time to normalize relations, or do we continue to try to isolate Castro?

On Thursday, February 26, President Bush made a declaration, expanding the government’s authority to, among other things, prevent the unauthorized departure of Cuban-bound ships from U.S. waters. This followed on and enhanced the 2000 Trade Sanctions Reform Act (passed in March 2003) which eliminated so-called people-to-people travel between the two countries. According to news reports, on any given day in recent years many U.S.-based yachts could be found docked in Havana, though not displaying the American flag. While it is prohibited by an embargo which has been in place for decades and the more recent legislation , the lures of “sexual tourism” and deep-sea fishing at bargain rates continue to draw American dollars.

Critics of President Bush say he is simply paying off a political debt in Florida, where the powerful Cuban exile community supported him in the closest presidential election in history, and to other hardliners in the Republican Party who still see Castro’s regime as a threat to America. They also feel that it hurts the Cuban people more than the government. Supporters of the decree feel that existing regulations simply haven’t been enforced for years, that the Cuban military could use deadly force against American boats in their waters, and that allowing the continued influx of U.S. dollars into the Cuban economy undermines the long established policy of denying resources to repressive communist government.

Once a matter of presidential decree, the travel ban is now codified in law. The only way that can be changed is through new legislation.