The deal reached between the US and Cuba last week to restore diplomatic relations is a remarkable one in many ways. First, this is the first major diplomatic engagement between the two countries, separated by just 90 miles of water, in over half a century.

Second, the US promise to relax some trade and travel sanctions to Cuba would be not only an economic relief for the Caribbean country, but would also strengthen bilateral ties (although President Barack Obama has left the issue of formally lifting the trade embargo to Congress).

Third, the deal marks the Vatican’s most significant diplomatic victory in a generation. The Holy See had arranged secret meetings between US and Cuban officials in the Vatican. But the most important aspect of the deal is perhaps the US’ admission that its Cuba policy was a failure.

Successive US governments had tried to overthrow and isolate the communist regime in Havana. The CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 was a direct military threat to Fidel Castro, who had captured power two years earlier in a bloody revolution. But the rebels were crushed by the Cuban army.

Subsequently, the US Congress passed the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act in 1966, which strengthened the trade embargo imposed on Cuba. In 1982, the state department designated Cuba a “state sponsor of terrorism”.

But these policies failed to either overthrow the communist regime or isolate Cuba. Since 1992, the UN General Assembly has condemned the blockade every year (this year, the US and Israel were the only countries that voted for the embargo). The rise of the new Left in South America has strengthened Cuba’s standing in the region.

Though very late, the US seems to have finally realised that continuing antagonism with Cuba is not going to serve any of its strategic interests in the region. “At times, longstanding US policy towards Cuba has isolated the United States from regional and international partners (and) constrained our ability to influence outcomes throughout the Western Hemisphere,” says a fact sheet issued by the White House, explaining the new approach. It’s this realisation that makes the deal is a victory for the Cuban people.

Stanly Johny, Assistant Editor

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