Fmr. President Jimmy Carter Laments Cubans Living Under a U.S.-Imposed Embargo

"There’s no doubt that the best beneficiaries of this primarily would be the Cuban people. There’s about 11 or 12 million of them and they have been living under not only a dictatorship that has deprived them of basic rights, but also they have been living under United States imposed embargo sanctions that deprived them from equal trade within their nearest neighbor in the world. So these are the kinds of things that have long been overdue.

I’m very proud and grateful that President Obama has shown such good wisdom and also I’d say political courage in taking this long overdue step. I know the Castro brothers quite well and I think this will not benefit them, it will benefit the people of Cuba. That’s the main thing that I see. And I think it will also be good for Americans. I've arranged several trips for Georgia farmer's groups to go down to Cuba and sell some our surplus corn and also a lot of our poultry to the Cuban people. So this will be good for both countries."