Helpful?

Barack Obama stopped Madagascar, Guinea, and Niger from receiving trade benefits from the states, according to this article. Now, an eight paragraph article can't tell the entire story, and I don't know much about Africa at all, so this won't be a very nuanced response to the article, but I would imagine that cutting off trade benefits isn't going to do anything to help the economic or political situations in those three countries. I get that we don't want to support leaders who refuse to give up their positions and those who came to power because of a military coup, but I have to think that part of the reason the citizens of these countries allow their political systems to function the way they do is that they have more pressing concerns in their daily lives. If I had to choose between finding a way to consistently provide for myself and campaigning for a more democratic government, I know what I would choose. Shouldn't our focus be on helping the citizens of these countries? Why are we punishing them because of their governments? There must be another way of expressing our displeasure to the governments that isn't at the expense of the people.