We want to go to Cuba, please end the embargo!

Ah, Cuba, the land of bountiful beaches, booming casinos, and, of course, cigars. While the U.S. may have provided the capital to bring Cuba into the 20th century, it has long since been its benefactor. The turbulent history and continuing embargo between Cuba and the United States create a feeling that the two countries, separated by just 90 miles of ocean are, in fact, worlds apart.

Fifty years of heavy U.S. investment in hotels, casinos, and sugar had turned the tiny island nation into one of the United State’s most lucrative trading “partners.”  The investments also created a very unstable society.  Workers and peasants all over the country lived in horrible conditions, while the owning class enjoyed a standard of living comparable to the American elite.

Enter the Cuban Revolution.

So, brief history lesson, to catch you up:

One of the first policies of the new Castro government was to nationalize all foreign businesses (most of them American).  The enraged the United States and they responded by putting a quota on sugar imported from Cuba.  With sugar being the biggest export crop, and the United States consuming 95% of Cuban exports, this quota would deeply crush the fragile Cuban economy.  Or so it hoped.

One mustn’t forget that this was 1960, the height of the Cold War. Naturally the Soviet Union stepped in and began importing Cuban sugar. In just over a year, Cuba, which was once a staunch ally in the Caribbean, morphed into an enemy state, seemingly out to destroy the American Way of Life.

The economic embargo was no longer enough. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy issued travel restrictions for Americans traveling to Cuba and passed the Trading With the Enemy Act, which forbid Americans from spending money in Cuba.

Fifty years and counting, these policies continue into today – and in a very different world.

That’s not to say that it’s completely illegal for Americans to get into Cuba (or vice-versa).  American missionaries, journalists, and academics are generally permitted to travel to Cuba.  Tourists are not.  “Cuba is a totalitarian police state which relies on repressive methods to maintain control,” the State Department’s website says.  On that note, who would want to be a tourist anyway?

Turns out, a lot of Americans would.  Many of these are Millennials, who, for the most part, were too young to understand the complexities of the Cold War, and do not understand why we are still engaging in it with a tiny island right off our very coastline.  Not to mention that Communism is so 2oth century; terrorism is the new ‘it’ –ism to be against these days.  Following that logic, Washington should be more concerned about the terrorists in Guantanamo than the Castro brothers in Havana.

Millennials all over the country are using social media to voice their opposition to the absurd continuation of the embargo. “This outdated policy must change,” says the End the Travel Ban to Cuba Facebook group. “Bring common sense back to our Cuba policy!”

Many Millennials have also taken their politics to the world of academia.  With the urging of many students, the University of California system established an UC-Cuba initiative, with the goal of “advancing the levels of mutual knowledge and exchange” between the U.S. and Cuba.  Students at other universities, such as CUNY, UW-Milwaukee, and UM-Twin Cities, are working to publicize the irrationality of the embargo by sponsoring Cuban students to come to the U.S. and talk about their country.

While many Millennials are passionate about establishing the Cuban-American relationship for political and/or moral reasons, the majority of our generation really just wants to  explore the majestic beaches, take a “candid” photo by one of the many Che Guevara murals, and smoke some genuine Cuban cigars. Is the ability to do this without facing “civil penalties and criminal prosecution upon return to the United States” (State Dept) really too much to ask?

The Obama Administration has already relaxed policies, allowing Cuban-Americans travel back to their home country, and as of late, there’s been a lot of talk about finally ending the embargo and giving the rest of Americans that same right.

It’s about time!

So what will the end of the embargo mean?  Most likely, the Castro brothers will stay in power until the end of their lives, and the Cuban model of socialism will prevail.  Fifty years ago, that would look like a failure of U.S. policy. Yet I would suspect once American policy-makers see Coca-Cola billboards, American-made cars in Havana, and a Hilton hotel on the foot of the beach, it might be a 21st century success.

Photo by Elgatomagenta