I would be in favor of lifting the embargo for several reasons, the most important of which is that it has not worked. The rest of the world trades with Cuba.
also, we could then end this game that cigar smokers play of having cigars shipped from Bermuda or Canada in plain brown packages.
Under any other President, I might be assured that other strategies might be employed to bring down the Castros and liberate the Cuban people, and remove this canker from the Western Hemisphere. But with this President, who agrees with the Castros’ professed ideology, I can’t be sure.
Cuban cigars are over-rated because of their forbidden nature. I smoked a couple in Montreal and know a guy in Houston that smuggles them in. His aren’t exceptional either.
When I moved to Houston in the late 60s, Coors beer had the same mystique. It was only made in Golden, wasn’t pasteurized and had to be refrigerated from brewery to retailer. Their marketing area was quite small. Whenever I traveled from Houston to western Kansas, several people would plead for me to bring back Coors.
The embargo really isn’t all that important. The fact is that other nations trade with Cuba and thus Cubans already have access to American products. American money flows freely into Cuba. The real issue with the embargo and with normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba is that it will open the country up to billions in American loans. Allowing the Cuban government access to billions in American loans will do little more than keep the Castro regime entrenched and in power.