5.8.05

O embargo americano a Cuba

US companies are not allowed to sell goods on credit to Cuba. But US food and agricultural products can be sold if Cuba pays cash. And now, Cuba is paying cash. The US government tightened this up somewhat last year, but now that USA-Cuba business is starting to be done in a bigger way, Bush-voting farm states are pushing for more liberalization.

US left-wingers have long said that the Cuba embargo is daft, while right-wingers have favoured it, on political grounds. But the embargo has not exactly worked the trick of toppling Castro, has it? If anything it has helped Castro, by confirming what he says about how hostile the USA is towards Cuba, and by keeping everyone's mind on where the next meal is going to come from. Surely, here is a case where the left is right, and the right is wrong.