Top GOP senator says Cuba embargo is ‘ineffective’

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a draft report Monday saying it is time to reconsider the United States' longtime economic sanctions on Cuba.

"After 47 years . the unilateral embargo on Cuba has failed to achieve its stated purpose of `bringing democracy to the Cuban people,'" Lugar wrote in a letter that accompanied the draft report.

"The current U.S. policy has many passionate defenders, and their criticism of the Castro regime is justified. Nevertheless, we must recognize the ineffectiveness of our current policy and deal with the Cuban regime in a way that enhances U.S. interests."

Lugar's letter preceded a 21-page draft report by the Republican members of the committee, titled "Changing Cuba Policy - In the United States National Interest."

U.S. officials have long defended the trade embargo on Cuba - initiated in 1962 - as a way of pressuring the Communist nation and its leaders, Fidel Castro and his brother, Raul, the country's current president, to move toward democracy.

The United States has also imposed travel restrictions on Cuba, which lies only 90 miles south of the U.S. state of Florida.