“The trip was handled according to a standard licensing procedure for federally approved ‘people to people’ cultural tours to the island,” reported Reuters, “and the power couple received no special treatment, said Academic Arrangements Abroad, the New York-based group that organized the trip.”

When it comes to sending money to a “cruel, repressive, murderous regime,” Rubio’s outrage is strangely selective. The same accusation could be laid against anyone who travels to China, Vietnam or Burma — all of which are open to American visitors, as far as Washington is concerned.

Our willingness to trade with them stems from the belief that economic improvement and contact with outsiders will foster liberalization rather than retard it. But the opposite approach is supposed to produce this kind of progress in Cuba.

Do trade and tourism work to weaken repression? The evidence is mixed. But our attempted economic strangulation of Cuba has been an emphatic bust. We keep trying it, and the communist government remains in full control, making a mockery of our strategy.