Rand Paul: ‘Opening up Cuba is a good idea’

Sen. Rand Paul broke with the Republican Party’s prevailing argument against President Obama’s Cuba policy Thursday, saying the move toward opening trade with the long-embargoed nation “probably” is a good idea.

“The 50-year embargo with Cuba just hasn’t worked. If the goal was regime change, it sure doesn’t seem to be working. And probably, it punishes the people more than the regime, because the regime can blame the embargo for hardship,” the Kentucky senator said on WVHU radio in West Virginia, which serves the eastern part of Paul’s state. “If there’s open trade, I think the people will see what it’s like to — all the things we produce under capitalism. So, in the end, I think probably opening up Cuba is a good idea.”

Paul said lawmakers are looking into questions about the government’s implementation of the new Cuba policy, which may require congressional action to complement what Obama can lawfully do himself. Restrictions against Cuba have been enacted through both legislative and executive means, though one legal expert told The Hill newspaper the embargo’s backbone was made by Congress, and it can only be taken apart the same way.

“Fundamentally, the embargo is law, and without Congress’s backing, the heart of U.S. economic sanctions will remain in place,” Mark Lagon, a fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, said.

Apart from the legal debate, Paul said the bottom line is that “even the Cuban community is kind of coming around on this,” noting the support a more open policy enjoys among younger members of the Cuban-American community.

The possible 2016 challenger’s stance runs against that of Sen. Marco Rubio, who has spoken for much of the Republican Party in slamming the president’s policy shift.

“The announcement by President Obama on Wednesday giving the Castro regime diplomatic legitimacy and access to American dollars isn’t just bad for the oppressed Cuban people, or for the millions who live in exile and lost everything at the hands of the dictatorship,” the Florida Republican wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “Mr. Obama’s new Cuba policy is a victory for oppressive governments the world over and will have real, negative consequences for the American people.”

Rubio’s opposition is shared by some not on the right — Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), himself a Cuban-American, and The Washington Post editorial board have come out against Obama’s approach.