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It was October 19, 1960 when the United States first imposed an embargo on Cuba in response to the communist reforms of Fidel Castro. Now, exactly 53 years later, despite our numerous steps forward, it seems this country is still determined to neglect Cuban progress and uphold this senseless embargo. Let’s face the facts: the Cold War is over. It’s 2013, and it’s time we start acting like it.
The world is moving forward. Barack Obama just delivered his inaugural speech to begin his second term as the first ever African-American President of the United States. Last January, The Boy Scouts of America ended its antiquated prohibition on homosexual youth. In terms of US-Cuba relations, however, we remain uniquely stubborn. We pretend it’s not 2013 and, for whatever reason, subscribe to the foreign policy ideals of the Monroe Doctrine.
James Monroe died in 1831, 182 years before the year it is now: 2013. Let’s move on.
It’s time to take a hard look in the mirror. Edward Snowden just disclosed the state of mass surveillance in this country. That happened this year. Are we really so rattled by the Cuban Missile Crisis that we must prioritize an archaic embargo over more pertinent controversies of 2013? Are we so obtuse?
The other day I watched a series of videos on Vine, the relevant six-second video app, made by a 16-year old boy talking about how great it is that seven states passed legislation this year requiring background checks for purchasing firearms. When I commented asking for his thoughts on Fidel Castro and the state of the Cuban embargo, this “progressive” didn’t even respond. Am I missing something? Am I the only one who realizes it’s 2013?
The bottom line is that most people today know nothing about U.S. involvement with Cuba. They know that Oscar Pistorius was charged with murder this year, they know the words ‘twerk’ and ‘selfie’ were just added to the dictionary, and they know “Breaking Bad” recently wrapped its fifth and final season. But apparently no one can admit to themselves that the Kennedy Administration is over and that continuing the embargo is absurd.
Food for thought: How is Bay of Pigs still relevant when Obama recently signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of [the immediately preceding year] 2012?
Imagine if tomorrow, on February 25, 2013, you read the headline, “Jennifer Lawrence Won The Oscar For ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ And This Was A Watershed Year For U.S.-Cuba Relations” on your brand new iPhone 4. Wouldn’t that be a relief? We waste hundreds of millions of dollars a year on this embargo, and Cuba is willing to negotiate. Put two and two together and I don’t think it’s out of the question to open an embassy in Havana by 2014.
In 2002, on the 100th anniversary of Cuban independence, George Bush announced that the United States and Cuba were negotiating “a way forward towards democracy and hope, and better relations.” That was 11 years ago. No less, and no more. It’s 2013.
