Speaking of the embargo, Lieberman said it “has already proven its efficacy” and “is strong enough to strangle and topple the Iranian regime.” The United States embargo began in March 1958, and was repeatedly strengthened throughout the 1960′s.

But despite Lieberman’s convictions that the sanctions worked swimmingly, relations with Cuba continued to sour until October of 1962, when the sanctions brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

Even putting that aside, the near total embargo has been in effect for nearly half a century, and has failed to “strangle and topple” the Cuban regime. Far from a “solution” to the conflict, the embargo seems to be ‘proven’ only in its ability to escalate tensions over the long term.

The Organization of American States (OAS) has today agreed to officially reverse its 1962 decision to expel Cuba from the group. The US was reportedly pressing for them to require democratic reforms and improve respect for human rights as a precondition, but appears to have failed to net any specific preconditions.

Despite that, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted that Cuba’s return would not be “automatic,” citing the text of the readmission which requires Cuba to comply with “the practices, aims and principles of the OAS.”

Cuba was one of the founding OAS members in 1948, but amid pressure from the US was expelled in 1962. The decision declared that “Marxism-Leninism is incompatible with the inter-American system and the alignment of such a government with the communist bloc breaks the unity and solidarity of the hemisphere.”

The Obama Administrastion has seen some improvement in US-Cuba relations, reversing in part a policy seen by many as a Cold War-era anachronism. The US is at present the only country in the Western Hemisphere without normal relations with the nation.