Cuba Lobby Changes - How the Influence in Washington has Changed in Time

Cuba Lobby Changes: How the Influence in Washington has Changed in Time
By Lea Terry | Monday, 16 Nov 2015 01:00 AM

For several decades, what's often referred to as the Cuba Lobby was a
powerful force in Washington politics. It's not an official moniker, but
one used to refer to a loosely connected group of Cuban exiles and their
descendents who influence decision-making in Washington, D.C.,
especially as it relates to the United States government's policies
toward Cuba.

Some members of the Cuba Lobby hold high-ranking elected positions in
government at both the state and federal levels. It was partly their
influence that ensured the more than 50-year embargo against Cuba
remained in place. In recent years, however, public sentiment toward
Cuba has shifted slightly, followed by a more open position toward the
country from the White House and some lawmakers.

In a commentary for The Huffington Post titled, "Wait, Wait, Let Me
Guess What Comes Next," Latin America expert Christopher Sabatini noted
the waning influence of the Cuba Lobby, referring to "the dwindling
number of groups that advocate for the embargo."

Sabatini, the former editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly and former
senior director of policy at the Americas Society/Council of the
Americas, wrote in another commentary, this one for Foreign Policy, that
opinion was shifting in several spheres. In his piece, "The Anti-Cuba
Lobby Has Jumped the Shark," Sabatini wrote "in the past month, former
diplomats and administration officials, business leaders, public
intellectuals, and even former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have
raised questions about the effectiveness of the U.S.'s half-century-old
embargo on Cuba."

Some of these lawmakers have even taken steps to ease restrictions on
the Communist country. In January 2015, eight senators from both parties
authored a bill to end the restrictions on travel between the United
States and Cuba, Politico reported.

Questioning the efficacy of the hard-line stance toward Cuba is nothing
new. In 2000, The New York Times explored the issue in its article
"Cuban American Lobby on the Defensive." The article quoted Max Castro,
a sociologist at the University of Miami's North-South Center, as saying
"Americans have basically said it's a policy that hasn't worked, and
it's inconsistent with the rest of our foreign policy."

Source: Cuba Lobby Changes: How the Influence in Washington has Changed
in Time -
http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/Cuba-Lobby-influence-Washington/2015/11/16/id/702277/