Our efforts to isolate Cuba over the last fifty-odd years have had the following impacts:
- We have provided a built-in excuse to the Castros for their economic failures;
- We have actually isolated ourselves, rather than the Cubans, diplomatically in Latin America; and
- Our citizens have been deprived of valuable business and cultural opportunities.
There is no evidence with which I am familiar that suggests that these negatives were offset by human rights improvements on the island. As a result, then, it is fair to say that the policy has been fully tested over a long period of time, and is a complete failure.
President Obama clearly views things this way, and wants to normalize relations as quickly as possible. The hope obviously is that diplomatic and economic engagement will ultimately bring improvements to the system in Cuba, but whether it does or not, the immediate objective is to eliminate the down sides to the current policy that are identified above.
Marco Rubio’s objection to normalization is that we are not getting enough human rights concessions in return. In other words, he apparently believes we should continue to shoot ourselves in the foot until the Castros pay us to stop. As a negotiating tactic, this reminds me of the scene with the newly-appointed sheriff and the white lynch mob in “Blazing Saddles,” with the exception that the Castros aren’t nearly as dumb as the mob.