There are no commemorations planned in Washington, D.C., but today marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. embargo against Cuba -- the longest-running embargo in the world. On February 7, 1962, President John F. Kennedy formally expanded the harsh regime of commercial and financial sanctions against Cuba that have continued to the present day. The embargo has been solidly bipartisan, notably intensifying under the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which was passed by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. The United States has targeted Cuba in defiance of widespread international condemnation. “This has been the longest enduring embargo we have had in the world and the question is, why is it still there? What good has it done? Of course it has squeezed the Cuban people,” said Michael Ratner, president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who has been involved in efforts to challenge the U.S. embargo against Cuba for many years.

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