In "A Time for Change: Rethinknig U.S.-Cuba Policy," WOLA critiques U.S. policy toward Cuba and proposes concrete policy alternatives.
There has been growing public debate about U.S. policy toward Cuba over the past several years. The visit of Pope John Paul II to the island, the Elián Gonzalez saga, the growing number of Americans who have traveled there, and the post-Hurricane Michelle sales of U.S. agricultural products to Cuba have all focused public attention on the issue. This debate will continue over the next several years. There will be efforts to further ease the restrictions on food and medical sales, efforts to end the travel ban, and calls to lift all sanctions on Cuba. This booklet is intended to serve as a resource for citizens concerned about changing U.S. policy toward Cuba. It provides the up-to-date factual information and intellectual arguments to make the case that U.S. policy should change.
The United States government has been wedded for the past forty years to a policy towards Cuba that is both inhumane and ineffective, and that hurts the economies of both countries. WOLA believes that U.S. policy toward Cuba is shaped by outdated Cold War ideology and special interest group politics. We believe that engagement with Cuba would be politically and economically beneficial to the United States, and would be a more sensible, effective, and humane strategy for promoting human rights and social justice there. As "A Time for Change" makes clear, policymakers, religious and humanitarian organizations, the business community, and civil and human rights groups all have interests in changing U.S. policy toward Cuba.
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