The Last Wall
By Mikhail Gorbachev
Washington Post
Saturday, October 4, 2003; Page A19
The changes that have occurred in the world in the past 20 years are truly remarkable. We have left behind the Cold War and the confrontation between two irreconcilable ideological systems. The symbol of divided Europe -- the Berlin Wall, which Ronald Reagan famously urged me to tear down in 1987 -- has long since been destroyed. But one relic of the Cold War remains: the wall of the economic embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba 43 years ago.
The lack of relations between the U.S. and Cuban governments, enshrined as it is in the U.S. policy of economic and diplomatic isolation of Cuba, has not allowed for an understanding that could benefit the citizens of both nations. The burden of the isolation of Cuba has been borne by ordinary people on both sides of the Florida Straits: the divided Cuban family.
That this situation is abnormal and that the embargo is counterproductive is increasingly recognized throughout the world and in the United States. The high-profile visit of Pope John Paul II symbolized the willingness of the world to open to Cuba and of Cuba to open to the world. Former President Jimmy Carter's trip to that country was a courageous and responsible step.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42248-2003Oct3.html
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