When Tampa Democratic area Congresswoman Kathy Castor returned from Cuba earlier this month, she told reporters that she would brief President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry about her thoughts on modernizing U.S.-Cuba relations.
Castor followed through on Tuesday, sending a four-page detailed letter, acknowledging that human rights remain a "challenge" for the Raul Castro-led government. She says historically, the U.S. has "always been more effective in advancing the cause of human rights through engagement."
The 46-year-old fourth-term representative admits that when she was elected to succeed Jim Davis in 2006, she was not an advocate for ending the now 51-year-old embargo on the communist island. But she has since come around to see the folly of the sanctions. In her letter, she presents five reasons why the sanctions must end:
This article appears in Apr 18-24, 2013.