Fidel Castro blames the United States trade embargo for Cuba’s failure to prosper. Most Cubans live in what Americans would consider poverty. Opinions vary on whether or not to lift the embargo. Some Cuban-Americans believe the Cuban trade embargo should be lifted. The rationale is -- if Castro didn’t have the embargo to blame for the country’s poverty – people would rise up against him – reject socialism and embrace capitalism. Others take a different view. Antonio Jorge left Cuba in 1959 – today he teaches International Relations at Florida International University in Miami.

“Castro is a man who is obsessed with being a world leader and about exporting socialism – he’s not interested in the economic well being of the people of Cuba. His aims are to foster world revolution so to lift the embargo would be to provide him with more resources to do more of the same.”

Jorge says the people of Cuba would fare no better under the rule of the dictator’s brother, Raul Castro. Meanwhile, Canada, Mexico and every other Central and South American country trades with Cuba – but despite that the island nation’s economy remains depressed.