abrogate - verb

The new crusade to render socialism irrevocable has raised the temperature further. Yet the balance of the past decade already may have begun to totter. Former President Jimmy Carter's visit, which spotlighted the Varela Project, may have tipped the international balance. Now the world is asking more forcefully: Why doesn't Cuba change? Decline in tourism and remittances after Sept. 11, uncertainties in oil supplies and the closing of nearly half the island's sugar mills, all manifest a new economic downturn.

Rhetoric aside, the Bush administration has not really applied a markedly harsher policy. Congress still could seek to lift travel restrictions and allow U.S. credits for food purchases. That, however, would be less likely if Castro carries out recent threats to close the U.S. Interests Section and abrogate the migration agreement.

—Marifeli Perez-Stable “Cuba's Regime at a Crossroads” Miami Herald, July 11, 2002