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Political and civil rights abuses committed by the Cuban government have continued unabated in the three years since Raul Castro took over from his older brother, Fidel. U.S. travel and trade bans, therefore, must be lifted.

Although these conclusions -- both included in the recent Human Rights Watch report, "New Castro, Same Cuba" -- may seem incongruous, they are not. Rather, they illustrate that the economic pressure that failed to yield either regime change or human rights reforms over more than four decades of Fidel Castro's rule is just as ineffective today as it has always been. Instead of continuing a failed policy, the Obama administration should craft a new one of incentives for Cuba to improve its human rights record.

Those who had hoped that the...