First Obstacle...

So, following this direction, I think that the US and Cuba can achieve a pragmatic solution to their conflict through the UN. The UN specifically says that it the security council that shall give legitimacy to any sanctions directed at any nation. It is important to note that the US embargo towards Cuba has been condemned by the UN general assembly for 15 consecutive years (since 1992 with the introduction of the Cuban Democracy Act) for violating this basic principle.

Many accuse that the UN is biased with respect to Cuba, and point to the way they vote continuously against the US embargo towardsd Cuba. In reality, there is no bias here. If one is seriously concerned about why the UN general assembly has voted the same for fifteen years, one need just look at the resolution. The members of the UN make it very clear that the US embargo towards Cuba violates the UN Charter. They have made this argument year after year.

According to this year's press release of the resolution "of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba", it states that the ambassador from Mexico "expressed his delegation’s rejection of embargoes and other unilateral or coercive measures that did not correspond with the principles of the Charter. Mexico believed that such measures could be set out or imposed only by the Security Council of the General Assembly."[1]

"India, one of the largest democracies in the world, had consistently opposed any unilateral measures by countries, which impinged on the sovereignty of another country, and he shared the view of the Assembly that sanctions, irrespective of their purpose, have to comply with the customary international law principle of non-intervention and proportionality."[1]

[1]http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/ga10529.doc.htm