Land of the . . ?
I read today that President Obama intends to ease restrictions on citizens travelling to Cuba. It seems that religious groups and students will be able to go there, but that the general ban on travel to the USA’s nearest offshore neighbour will remain in place. I was seventeen years old at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, so I understand, possibly better than some younger Americans, the underlying reasons behind the isolation of the Castro regime. Also I hesitate ever to lecture another nation about its politics when our own leave much to be desired. Yet I do wonder whether anyone has considered whether a policy that denies entry to the modern evolving world, by hamstringing a national economy through a fifty-year trade embargo, is ever likely to lead to reconciliation. I know that the President has to walk a fine line. Perhaps this announcement (and even that has been opposed by Florida Republicans) is the first step towards a more general relaxation.
Quintin Jardine's blog 
I too remember the Cuban crisis, just. In the interim, however, many Americans did travel to Cuba, as long as they were able to go via a third nation, such as the Bahamas. And Americans still managed to buy Cuban cigars. Made a mockery of US government policy.
The near-legendary Kinky Friedman made/makes a point of smoking Cuban cigars. He says that he sees himself as attacking their economy by defoliating their fields. Third country travel is still illegal for US passport holders. I recall a case of a 73-year-old woman who was fined $9000 for going on cycling holiday in Cuba, via Canada.