In a Wednesday panel discussion at the Cuban Interests Section, experts from both Washington and Havana discussed the benefits of lifting the embargo the United States has Cuba.

According to EFE, Washington called for the economic embargo against the Communist country in 1962. During a video conference on the subject, Robert Muse, a U.S. attorney, recommend changing elements of the embargo.

"The president of the United States can not only rescind many of the elements of the embargo with very few exceptions, but he could also normalize relations with Cuba in all areas," he said.

According to Muse, the way the U.S. relates with Cuba is "abnormal," and all it takes is the "will" of a president to end the embargo and make things normal.

"The next U.S. president could be Hillary Clinton and recently she said that she favors the normalization of relations with Cuba," Muse said.

One of items Muse prioritizes is ending the use of sanctions against those who continue to trade with Cuba. Another important step, he said, is to taking Cuba off the list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

Phil Peters, president of the Cuban Research Group, is also in favor of scaling back the embargo. He argued that trade between the countries would grow, although an exact number is unknown.

"It would have an impact in the very short term," he said.

Peters added that Cuba would send rum, tobacco and "very qualified labor" to the U.S. and that Cuba could be a good location for U.S. energy companies. Meanwhile, Cuba would reportedly see U.S. tourism increase by about 500,000 visitors "quite quickly," as reported by EFE.

According to to Andres Zaldivar and Jonathan Queiros, Cuban researchers who also held a panel at foreign ministry headquarters, the consequences of embargo became harsher over the past 20 years thanks to fines and actions on those trading with Cuba.

Cuba will deliver a report to United Nations on the embargo on Oct. 28.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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