By DAMIEN CAVE, New York Times
HAVANA
— “If I could just get a lift,” said Francisco López, imagining the
addition of a hydraulic elevator as he stood by a rusted Russian sedan
in his mechanic’s workshop here. All he needed was an investment from
his brother in Miami or from a Cuban friend there who already sneaks in
brake pads and other parts for him. The problem: Washington’s
50-year-old trade embargo, which prohibits even the most basic business
dealings across the 90 miles separating Cuba
from the United States. Indeed, every time Mr. López’s friend in
Florida accepts payment for a car part destined for Cuba, he puts
himself at risk of a fine of up to $65,000.
With
Cuba cautiously introducing free-market changes that have legalized
hundreds of thousands of small private businesses over the past two
years, new economic bonds between Cuba and the United States have
formed, creating new challenges, new possibilities — and a more
complicated debate over the embargo. The longstanding logic has been
that broad sanctions are necessary to suffocate the totalitarian
government of Fidel and Raúl Castro. Now, especially for many Cubans who
had previously stayed on the sidelines in the battle over Cuba policy, a
new argument against the embargo is gaining currency — that the
tentative move toward capitalism by the Cuban government could be sped
up with more assistance from Americans.
Even
as defenders of the embargo warn against providing the Cuban government
with “economic lifelines,” some Cubans and exiles are advocating a
fresh approach. The Obama administration already showed an openness to
engagement with Cuba in 2009 by removing restrictions on travel and
remittances for Cuban Americans. But with Fidel Castro, 86, retired and
President Raúl Castro, 81, leading a bureaucracy that is divided on the
pace and scope of change, many have begun urging President Obama to go
further and update American policy by putting a priority on assistance
for Cubans seeking more economic independence from the government.
“Maintaining
this embargo, maintaining this hostility, all it does is strengthen and
embolden the hard-liners,” said Carlos Saladrigas, a Cuban exile and
co-chairman of the Cuba Study Group in Washington, which advocates engagement with Cuba. “What we should be doing is helping the reformers.”
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