Mises Wire

Cuban-US Relations: A Step in the Right Direction

cuba
Mises Wire Ryan McMaken

The US government has moved toward normalizing relations with Cuba, including opening an embassy in Havana and allowing for some limited trade. The economic basics of the agreement include:

·         Easing business and travel restrictions: The U.S. will make it easier for Americans to obtain licenses to do business in Cuba, and to travel to the island. CNN reports that the new rules still won't permit American tourism, but will make it easier to visit for other purposes.

·         Easing banking restrictions: Americans will be able to use credit and debit cards while in Cuba.

·         Higher remittance limits: Americans will be able to send up to $2000 per year to family members in Cuba. Cuban-American remittances are a major source of income for many Cuban families.

·         Small-scale imports of Cuban cigars and alcohol: US travelers will be able to import up to $400 in goods from Cuba, including $100 in alcohol and tobacco products.

This measures are really very small, and a much better solution would be to fully allow Americans to trade with Cubans in any manner they wish. Toleration of free-trade, both domestically and internationally, is a minimum standard for any regime that pretends to have a respect for human rights and human freedom, and it has long been a basic tenet of classical liberal thought. The put such an embargo in place, of course, involves the surveillance and regulation of the population, plus the punishment of those who do not conform. This the embargo has been enacted in the name of “freedom” is one of the many bitter ironies of American rhetoric in our time.

In enacting this new initiative, however, the Obama administration stated the obvious and noted that economic sanctions, including embargoes like the Cuban one, have an untrammeled record of failure in the history of international relations. The Cuban embargo has done nothing to weaken the Cuban regime or to improve the lives of Cuban citizens (assuming the US government actually care about that, which is doubtful).

In the United States, in addition to being immoral and impractical, such embargoes are also unconstitutional as no provisions of the constitution empowers the federal government to cut off trade between American citizens and entire foreign markets.

When President Jefferson enacted his terrible embargo against the British, he ruined the lives of countless merchants, ship builders, and dock workers. He was roundly denounced for taking such a blatantly unconstitutional action.

Today, of course, it is simply assumed that any such illegal actions are to be encouraged, especially by Republicans who favor such anti-free-trade and militaristic measures in the name of striking a belligerent tone against foreign regimes. A look at the conservative media outlets this week illustrates this well.

The pro-embargo crowd will claim that no one should trade with an oppressive regime like that in Cuba. Fair enough. If the pro-embargo crowd is really in favor of freedom like they claim, perhaps they should try taking a rest from demanding that the federal government micromanage people’s daily economic decisions, and instead devote their efforts to organizing voluntary boycotts.

I’ll continue to bet my money that they’ll vote for coercion, though.  In fact, in an unintentionally ironic statement, Marro Rubio (a child of Cuban immigrants) declared that “I don’t care if the polls say that 99 percent of people believe we should normalize relations in Cuba.” He will never support normalization of relations with Cuba until Cuba has a democratic regime, Rubio tells us.  That is, Rubio doesn’t care what the majority wants, and he won’t relent on the Cuban embargo until Cuba starts caring about what the majority wants. 

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