In the annals of international trade embargoes there is nothing so mean-minded, so petty, and so ill-intentioned as the action by the US against Cuba. This wretched affair has dragged on for the past 37 years and, if successive US administrations have anything good to show for it, they have yet to tell us what it is. The official excuse for prolonging a measure which should have been ended years ago is that it constitutes a legitimate effort to help the

people of Cuba from the iniquities of Fidel Castro and his regime.

There is no doubt that Mr Castro is not one of the great heroes of world history. His revolutionary efforts in deposing a corrupt regime descended fairly rapidly into persistent abuses of power and mischievous intervention in the affairs of other nations. But for many years he has been best known as a long-winded bore, although a bore with good points to make when he details the effects of the embargo on ordinary Cubans. These can be expressed in figures, with sanctions last year costing Cuba $800m, and over the 37 years a sum of around $460bn, but the persistent decay and decline of Cuba's cities, health care, education, and infrastructure bring it to a personal level. Last October the UN voted by 157-2 in condemnation of the sanctions. It is time for Washinhton to pay attention to that opinion.