Bernie Sanders is a strong supporter of Obama’s decision to reopen Cuba, he believes that “improving diplomatic relations with Cuba is essential to promoting democratic values, and strengthening our economic and cultural ties”. He argues that the closed embargo is costing American business billions of dollars, and if they the restrictions were lifted it would benefit the US economy.
Hillary Clinton:
The democratic nominee who previously worked alongside President Obama was very weary about opening up the US embargo with Cuba, because of the administrations “failure to bring Alan home”. She warned Obama to rethink this decision because they hadn’t met their required goals and was “holding back the broader agenda across Latin America”, thus causing insecurities with the Cuban government and their reliability.
Ted Cruz:
Ted Cruz believes that lifting the US embargo with Cuba is a “very, very bad deal”. He believes that the United States are simply being played by Cuba but more specifically the Castro family and their pursuit to maintain power and dictate their country. He says that if history repeats itself, the Castro’s will “exploit that power to undermine America and oppress the Cuban people”.
Donald Trump:
Donald Trump is one of the only republicans that actually agrees with opening up the embargo with Cuba, although he believe a better deal could have been made between the two nations. Trump who once had an opportunity to do business in Cuba had to decide between making a fortune or protecting human rights, and he chose human rights. Although he thinks that it is time after 50 years to reopen Cuba, there still need to be human rights and regulations.
John Kasich:
Republican nominee of Ohio has yet to make a clear stance on his opinion of weather or not the embargo with Cuba should be lifted or kept in place. But it is known that in the US House of Representatives in 2000, “Kasich voted twice against the embargo with Cuba”, so we can assume that if he is elected, he will try to lift the embargo with Cuba.
My Opinion:
I can see both sides to this argument, however I don’t think that the ban on Cuba should have been lifted yet. I think that they still have lots to prove to guarantee that we can trust them again. With the reign of Castro’s, I don’t think they can fully be trusted until that family is completely out of power. Once they are no longer in power, I think the US government can entertain the idea of opening the embargo between the US and Cuba.
-Micaela Gotfredson