Rep. Justin Amash Justin AmashOn The Trail: How Nancy Pelosi could improbably become president History is on Edward Snowden's side: Now it's time to give him a full pardon Trump says he's considering Snowden pardon MORE (R-Mich.), a prominent libertarian, said Thursday that he supports re-establishing U.S. diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Amash said that the current sanctions hadn't guided Cuba toward democracy and allowing travel and trade again could improve the situation.

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"An isolationist foreign policy that blocks trade and restricts travel between our country and Cuba hasn't made our neighbor free or democratic. And the United States' half-century embargo hasn't brought down the Castro regime," Amash wrote on Facebook.

"We can more readily help Cubans establish liberty through policies that open dialogue, travel, and trade," Amash concluded.

Fellow libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a likely 2016 presidential contender, said Thursday that he supports the Obama administration's decision to begin talks with Cuba.

"The 50-year embargo just hasn't worked," Paul told WVHU Radio in West Virginia. "If the goal is regime change, it sure doesn't seem to be working, and probably it punishes the people more than the regime because the regime can blame the embargo for hardship."

Many Republicans have chastised the Obama administration for opening discussions with a totalitarian regime.

"Relations with the Castro regime should not be revisited, let alone normalized, until the Cuban people enjoy freedom — and not one second sooner," Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Wednesday.