On Dec. 11, 2007, Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, USA (Ret), Co-Chair of the U.S.-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative, testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. In his opening remarks, Wilkerson stated:

Thank you, Chairman Baucus, Ranking Minority Member Grassley and members of the committee, for the opportunity to testify today on U.S. policy with respect to Cuba.

For almost half a century, U.S. policy with respect to Cuba has failed -- miserably.

The latest indicator of this failed policy is that while our President talks of transforming the regime in Cuba, he is apparently unaware that Cuba has already undergone regime change and the Cuban people have accepted it and await, with no small degree of excitement, what their new national leader, Raul Castro, using the existing ministries, bureaucracy, and legislature, will do -- particularly with respect to reshaping the island's economy.

The prepared text of Wilkerson's full testimony is included below in PDF form.