"I'm not so sure U.S. sanctions against Cuba were a good thing."
Of course they weren't - they were being used to further the interests of the US
Economic sanctions, when used to oppose oppressive states such as South Africa or Israel , may hurt the poorest in the short term, but they can force despots o re-think their despotism (out of economic grounds, if nothing else) and in the long term, it is the poorest who benefit - they are a rational alternative to violence and to doing nothing.
The Western alternative is to sell arms to despotic regimes to keep these States in 'a safe pair of hands'.
Those who oppose economic sanctions are invariably in favour of keeping things as they are - they seldom, if ever, come up with an alternative of their own, as here
Jim Carroll