By Max J. Castro                                                                    Read Spanish Version
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The Obama administration should be applauded for its decision to allow freedom of travel and remittances for Cuban Americans. It was long overdue.

Yet the president’s move should be considered as only a “down payment” on what would be a sensible policy toward the island state. The next step should be freedom of travel for all Americans. The ultimate change would be the dismantling of the obsolete embargo and the reestablishment of diplomatic relations, policies supported by the vast majority of the American people.

The idea of making small moves and waiting for Cuba to make corresponding concessions sounds good but is a non-starter. As long as the U.S. policy is one of regime change -- and the embargo is the emblem of that policy -- one should not expect the Cuban government to do anything that would amount to letting down its guard.

On the other hand, a quick end of the embargo will undoubtedly improve the lives of ordinary Cubans and also serve as a severe test for the Cuban system. The embargo has obscured what problems have resulted from of an economic war waged by the most powerful nation in the world versus what shortcomings are due to Cuba’s own inefficiencies. The embargo has hurt a lot but it has also been the great pretext.

There are those who claim that whenever there is a chance of rapprochement between Cuba and the United States, Fidel Castro does something to spoil it. It’s not, for me, a persuasive argument. But let’s say that it were true. Don’t give him, Raul, or hard-line exiles the chance to mess it up! A swift dismantling of the various pieces of the embargo would prevent that and put the ball squarely in Cuba’s court.

Ending the embargo would build on the good will President Obama has started to develop with the rest of the world and, most especially, with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. It would also be a benefit to the American economy which right now can use any stimulus it can get.

Barack Obama is the right man to put an end to a failed policy that has endured for half a century. Exile lobbying has accounted for a good deal of the harsh nature of Cuba policy but it is not the only factor. Another is a kind of hubris. How dare this runt of a country defy the United States! Obama is devoid of the kind of arrogance that engenders that kind of attitude. Nor is he beholden to the dwindling hard-line faction of the Cuban community, which provided him with very few if any votes last November. And Obama has been clear that he wishes to take a pragmatic stance and eliminate those programs and policies that don’t work. The embargo is Exhibit A.

Ending the embargo would require Congress repealing the Helms-Burton law. Right now, Obama has a lot of irons in the fire on Capitol Hill, and Cuba is a minor issue on the U.S. agenda. On the other hand, it is unlikely that the president will ever have as much political capital as he has right now. Spending some of that on Cuba would provide him with a great opportunity to once again make history.