Wiser heads have prevailed, and Cuban leader Fidel Castro will be coming to speak at the United Nations in America this Sunday.

Despite efforts from Jesse Helms and the protests of Republican leaders such as Bob Dole and Phil Gramm, Castro was granted a visa by the U.S. State Department.

While granting Castro entrance to the United States is a controversial move and certainly unpopular in certain sections of America, it is a move that was a long time coming.

Icy relations between the United States and Cuba have led to an ongoing relationship based on misinformation, miscommunication, misinterpretation and mistrust.

Helms’ legislative attempts to limit foreign investment in Cuba fortunately failed, again proving that economic boycotts and sanctions of nations are generally being viewed as ineffective and unproductive. Sanctions against Cuba have gotten us nowhere in the past 40 years or so, and a recent example of misguided harsh diplomacy was in Iraq.

Perhaps with Castro’s invitation to the U.N. and the reluctance to heap economic boycotts on Cuba, we have allowed ourselves the opportunity to make progress through discussion where mistrust and obstinate grousing has failed.