Cuba, Biden, and the Burden of History

Six years after President Obama tried to usher U.S.-Cuba relations into the 21st century, the two nations -- one a superpower, the other a small, weak island -- seem moored in a bygone era when international Communism consumed Cold Warriors on both sides of the ideological divide. The Biden administration is slapping another round of sanctions on Cuban leaders after they cracked down on protesters who filled the streets in early July, angered by food and power shortages and a botched Covid-19 inoculation program. Moreover, the U.S. embargo remains in place, a punitive measure perpetuated by domestic political pressures. Can the U.S. and Cuba move on from their ugly history? Ivan Eland of the Independent Institute, a scholar of U.S. foreign policy and critic of sanctions, joins the podcast to discuss why Communism endures in Cuba.