Today, the United States is taking historic steps to chart a new course in our relations with Cuba and to further engage and empower the Cuban people. We are separated by 90 miles of water, but brought together through the relationships between the two million Cubans and Americans of Cuban descent that live in the United States, and the 11 million Cubans who share similar hopes for a more positive future for Cuba.
It is clear that decades of U.S.
isolation of Cuba have failed to accomplish our enduring objective of
promoting the emergence of a democratic, prosperous, and stable Cuba.
At times, longstanding U.S. policy towards Cuba has isolated the United
States from regional and international partners, constrained our ability
to influence outcomes throughout the Western Hemisphere, and impaired
the use of the full range of tools available to the United States to
promote positive change in Cuba. Though this policy has been rooted in
the best of intentions, it has had little effect – today, as in 1961,
Cuba is governed by the Castros and the Communist party.
We cannot keep doing the same thing and
expect a different result. It does not serve America’s interests, or
the Cuban people, to try to push Cuba toward collapse. We know from
hard-learned experience that it is better to encourage and support
reform than to impose policies that will render a country a failed
state. With our actions today, we are calling on Cuba to unleash the
potential of 11 million Cubans by ending unnecessary restrictions on
their political, social, and economic activities. In that spirit, we
should not allow
U.S. sanctions to add to the burden of Cuban citizens
we seek to help.
Today, we are renewing our leadership in
the Americas. We are choosing to cut loose the anchor of the past,
because it is entirely necessary to reach a better future – for our
national interests, for the American people, and for the Cuban people. Source: The White House
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