Ric Herrero, The New York Times

For as long as I’ve been alive, U.S.-Cuba policy has been largely dictated by South Florida politics. Legislation passed in the 1990s to tighten U.S. sanctions was championed and ardently defended by a majority of Cuban-Americans who believed at the time that doing so would topple the Castro regime. After decades of disillusionment and exhaustion, our community has widely lost faith in isolationism. A majority of Cuban-Americans have embraced greater engagement with the Cuban people as the most effective way to promote change, with more than half a million among us traveling to the island each year.

However, many continue to support status-quo policy, mainly because our representatives in Congress have preferred to hold on to an 18-year-old shoddy piece of legislation as a symbol of opposition to the Cuban regime. So far, they have failed to present us with policies that may actually achieve our long-standing objectives of promoting democratic values and empowering the Cuban people.

Now that Cuba is no longer a political third rail, our leaders have a responsibility to pursue a new approach that better advances America’s interests. The president’s 2009 regulatory changes allowing for greater freedom to travel and send remittances to the island have had a more positive impact in the last five years than cold war-era policies had in the previous 50. He should continue taking steps to expand the flow of support to Cuban civil society and call on Congress to propose a truly “creative and thoughtful” alternative to Helms-Burton and its related statutory provisions, so that we may finally have a coherent policy toward the island that responds to 21st century challenges....