Majority of Cuban-Americans in favor of lifting embargo

In 1961, the United States closed its embassy in Havana and imposed an embargo on Cuba in the hopes that these rigid foreign policy moves would help topple Castro’s regime.

It’s been over five decades since the U.S. implemented the embargo, and Cuba’s regime hasn’t fallen and the embargo never crippled the country’s economy. The 50-year-old embargo didn’t work the way it was supposed to, and now President Barack Obama wants to take steps in reducing the embargo and resuming diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Obama isn’t the only one who feels that the embargo is doing more harm than good. Recently, Cuban-Americans have changed their tune as well.

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According to a poll released by the Florida International University (FIU) in June, a majority of Cuban-Americans oppose the embargo, which is a drastic shift from 1991, when the poll’s results showed 89 percent in favor for the embargo.

Since Fidel Castro took power in 1959, almost 900,000 Cuban exiles and their children have taken up residence in South Florida, comprising a traditionally Republican voting bloc in the nation’s most important swing state.

FIU has conducted the survey among Cuban-Americans in Miami every few years since 1991, and the results have altered drastically over the past two decades.

The poll shows that 68 percent of Cuban-Americans are now in favor of reestablishing diplomatic relations with Cuba, possibly because they feel that the embargo has done little to help Cuban citizens.

Cuba still remains one of the most repressive governments in the world, with strict press censorship and widespread arrest of dissidents. One of the purposes of the U.S. embargo on Cuba was to punish the country for their horrendous human rights’ abuses, but the country hasn’t lightened their repressive hold on its citizens over the course of the fifty-year embargo.

This is likely why 71 percent of the FIU poll respondents said that the embargo is not working at all or at least not very well.

In addition, the United Nations has repeatedly asked the U.S. to lift the embargo. In 2014, 188 countries out of the 193 in the UN voted in favor for the U.S. ending the embargo. This means that 97 percent of the UN nations want the U.S. to restore diplomacy with Cuba.

SEE ALSO: The biggest winners of the renewed US-Cuba relations

Both parties want to end the embargo

Cuban-Americans and UN nations aren’t the only ones that believe that the embargo should be lifted; a majority of American citizens also approve relaxing restrictions against Cuba.

According to a 2014 Atlantic Council poll, 52 percent of Republicans and 60 percent of Democrats favor normalization with Cuba.

There seems to be a growing sentiment in the U.S. that the country needs to try another method of dealing with Cuba, as cutting diplomatic ties with the country provided little benefit to Cubans.

“These 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked,” Obama declared in his dramatic announcement on Wednesday. “It’s time for a new approach.”

Obama’s plans to restore relations with Cuba include opening an embassy in Havana and lessening travel restrictions. While tourism travel to Cuba will still remain banned for the time being, travel restrictions for government business, educational activities, and family visits will be eased.

Of course, Obama needs Congress’ approval before lifting a 50-year-old embargo, but the White House does have some power to normalize trade and travel to Cuba.

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