Peter Krupa

The hot issue at the moment for Democratic presidential candidates is, for some bizarre reason, U.S. relations with Cuba. To rehash for the kids at home, U.S. citizens are forbidden from doing business with Cuba under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

That ban has been expanded over the years to include retail transactions that you would do while traveling. Hence, an ad hoc travel ban.

The exceptions to the embargo are food and medicine, which can only be sold to Cuba for cash. The purpose of the embargo is to keep hard currency out of the hands of dictators, with the hope that they will eventually bankrupt themselves and be overthrown.

People say the embargo has been around for almost half a century and look! It hasn’t changed anything. This is true, and I don’t believe lifting the travel embargo would be such a big deal if the Miami Cubans didn’t go around flaming whoever suggests it.

But the thing to keep in mind - and the reason I support the rest of the embargo until there are some changes on that island - is that the Castro brothers aren’t just fucking the shit out of their own people. In fact, over the last half century, Cuba has made a respectable go at fucking the shit out of the rest of the world as well.

Cuban troops fought for the Soviet Union in Ethiopia and Angola. Cuban money and logistics have supported left-wing Colombia guerrillas in a civil war which continues today. Cuban money and arms ended up in Nicaragua during the Sandinista disaster. And Cuban military and security forces are intimately involved in the clusterfuck currently being perpetrated in Venezuela.

These days, absent the hard currency to carry out military interventions or re-arm radical guerrillas, Cuba has taken to sending doctors around the region to do simple cataract surgery. Although it’s a great public relations coup, given Cuba’s track record I sort of doubt it is based in altruism.

All that to say, the Castro brothers aren’t solely focused on their island. They very, very much would like to export the disaster they’ve created at home, and have tried to do that many times.

Lifting the U.S. embargo, therefore would put a lot of hard cash in the hands of people who only want to stir up trouble. That’s why I’m all for lifting the ban.

But only after the Castro brothers’ exit, stage left.