Cubans, Cuban-Americans, Cuba policy experts, and now even big telecom (AT&T, Nokia, and Verizon) are pleading with the Obama administration to lift telecommunications restrictions in the embargo. This would be relatively easy–the legislation could be eliminated by executive order. But Obama hasn’t budged.
In July, I posted a link to Christopher Sabatini’s op-ed in Foreign Policy, where he explained that telecom regulations in the embargo keep companies (that have an affiliation with the US) from doing business in Cuba, and that this should change. Of course, I agree with him: half-wired is nothing if not proof that Internet and telephone connections have had a powerful, positive impact on the lives of Cubans thus far–why not allow these forces to continue building?
