When he changed U.S. policy toward Cuba, despite widespread opposition in Congress, President Barack Obama insisted his goal was to improve life for the people of that island country.

Increasingly, Cubans are risking their lives on the high seas to make it clear Obama’s strategy is a failure.

More Cubans, not fewer, are fleeing the Castro regime. The current flow of would-be escapees is the highest in eight years, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

During the past six months, more than 4,300 Cubans attempted to reach the United States by boat, according to the Coast Guard. That is nearly equal to the number of refugees for the previous full year.

There has been no improvement in human rights for Cubans, an Associated Press reporter was told by a woman who works with refugees in Florida. Lourdes Mesias, herself formerly from Cuba, added that economic conditions there “are worse and worse every day.”

Since Obama revealed his plan to thaw relations with Cuba, about 75,000 people have managed to leave that country and come here. Many others did not survive the perilous journey or were caught on the ocean and returned to Cuba.

It is far from clear that Obama’s policy is helping Cubans. Freedom remains a dream for the future in a nation still ruled by the Castro brothers.