Who benefits from a lifted embargo? Castros or Cubans?

Today, Nick Miroff of Global Post explored the question that has many following US-Cuba policy worried: who will benefit if the US lifts travel restrictions to Cuba—the Cuban government or ordinary Cubans? Two anecdotal pieces of evidence put him on the side of those that believe the travel ban should be lifted because it would benefit Cubans themselves, in spite of the fact that some tourist dollars would, indeed, end up in the hands of the government.

First, Miroff presents the example of small-time entrepreneurs in Cuba who rent rooms to visiting tourists. These kinds of homes are called “casas particulares.” Miroff says these Cubans:

“… suffered a new setback recently, when one of the world’s leading booking websites, Hostelworld.com, informed them that their rental listings were being removed from its site. The reason? The company had been purchased by an American entity. And so, by making it more difficult for foreign travelers to stay in the homes of ordinary Cubans, the U.S. embargo is effectively steering tourists to hotels and resorts owned by the Cuban government.”

Another unintended consequence of the embargo.

Second, Miroff points to studies on the projected impact of open American tourism to Cuba, skirting the unlikely argument that Americans would bring democracy (European, Latin American and Canadian tourists have yet to do so) in favor of practical quantitative analysis:

Travel analysts estimate that up to a million U.S. tourists would go to Cuba within the first year of travel restrictions being lifted, and millions more would follow. While some would stay at all-inclusive beach resorts owned by the Cuban government, the island doesn’t have the hotel capacity to absorb such a huge influx of Americans. So many American visitors would end up in the homes of ordinary Cubans.

If the welfare of the Cuban people is really what concerns the U.S. administration and Congress, and considering Miroff’s points, lifting the travel ban seems only logical.