Cuban embargo branded a failure

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} In a report released today, a senior Republican Senator calls for a reevaluation of the US economic embargo on Cuba, which he brands a failure.   "We must recognize the ineffectiveness of our current policy and deal with the Cuba regime in a way that enhances US interests," says Senator Richard Lugar, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "After 47 years ... the unilateral embargo on Cuba has failed to achieve its stated purpose of 'bringing democracy to the Cuban people'."   President Barack Obama has promised a new look at US policy towards Cuba, including easing travel restrictions, but he has also said he believes the embargo to be an "inducement" for change in Cuba.   In his report, however, Senator Lugar argues that, "by directing policy toward an unlikely scenario of a short-term democratic transition on the island and rejecting most tools of diplomatic engagement, the US is left as a powerless bystander, watching events unfold at a distance."   LugarÔÇÖs report does not go so far as to call for the trade embargo to be lifted, but it does urge an end to restrictions imposed during the Bush administration on travel and remittances to Cuba, allowing Cuba to buy US agricultural products on credit, and resuming formal co-operation on migration and tackling drug-trafficking.   The report comes a year after Fidel Castro officially handed over power to his brother, Raul.     *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *