Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday called for lifting the embargo on Cuba, saying closer relations with the island nation will bring about change and new freedoms.

In a speech in Miami, Mrs. Clinton said the country “must decide between engagement and embargo, between embracing fresh thinking and returning to Cold War deadlock,” as she sought to position herself as a forward-looking alternative to Republican supporters of the economic blockade.

Last year, President Obama announced that after a half-century, he was moving to re-establish diplomatic relations with the Cuban government.

Mrs. Clinton is seeking to seize on shifting attitudes toward the embargo in a major swing state’s Cuban-American community.