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Written by the late Frank Scofi.

Position Paper On the United States Trade Embargo Against Cuba

The United States' trade embargo, an embargo that even includes food and medicine, is immoral and should be lifted immediately.  The United States is not now, nor has ever been at war with the Republic of Cuba.  The embargo is a relic of the cold war.

United States policy in regard to Cuba has and continues to be formulated not in the best interests of the American or Cuban people, but in the interests of a small group of wealthy Cuban Americans in Miami.  This small minority uses reactionaries in the Senate such as Jesse Helms, sadly with our own Senator Torricelli's and Congressman Menendez' help (all who have never set foot in Cuba to see conditions for themselves), to strangle a small island  nation of 11 million people--with the embargo
doing the  most harm to the sick and the elderly.  This, while recent surveys of Cuban Americans demonstrate a desire for improved and normalized relations between the two countries.  U.S.-Cuba policy:  the embargo, the Bay of Pigs, assassination attempts, collusion with the Mafia, etc., etc., has been shameful and a waste of taxpayers' money.

The United States should lift the embargo, normalize relations, and respect the Cuban people's right to self-determination (withdraw from  the base at Guantanamo).   The embargo has been condemned by the United Nations General Assembly numerous times (about 7), the Organization of American States, and recently again by the Pope. It is also in violation of the International Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Accords.  If the United States can trade with China, even granting Most Favored Nation status, surely the United States can end this embargo against Cuba and, after 39 years, have normal relations.