Cuba Essay

Secondly, Cubaneeds to repair its corrupt, failing state-run economy. The reality of thisstruggling economy is that Cuba’s resources are plenty, and its

In the article, “Why Do We Still Have an Embargo of Cuba?” Patrick Haney explores the history of the embargo and the different factors which have maintained and tightened its restrictions over the past fifty years. The embargo consists of a ban on trade and commercial activity, a ban on travel, a policy on how Cuban exiles can enter the U.S., and media broadcasting to the island. These once-executive orders now codified into law by the Helms-Burton Act, have become a politically charged topic which wins and loses elections, spawned influential interest groups, and powerful political action committees.

Goods or services of Cuban origin may not be imported into the United States either directly or through third countries” (2001) . According to the Cuba Policy Foundation, the United States loses up to $4.84 billion annually in trade and exports alone (Pepper 2009) . The amount of money being disregarded because of now defunct reasons is radically lacking in logic. A simple repealing of the embargo would bring both the United States and Cuba great economic success.

The U.S. policy toward Cuba From 1960 to 2014, placed a harsh embargo on trade and economic assistance to Cuba. Most Americans are unaware, of the full reach of the embargo excluding Cuba from economic, humanitarian and business programs that the U.S. has instituted or participated, to provide economic benefits to the other Caribbean and Latin American nations. Reaching that juncture to lift the embargo requires multiple actions by the Executive and Congress that can be real breakthroughs in some areas. The U.S. embargo will require an investment of administrative time and attention to encourage a major Congressional push for the full repeal of the economic embargo. The administrations need to work with Republican allies in Congress, as

Cuba and the Affects of the Embargo The island nation of Cuba, located just ninety miles off the coast of Florida, is home to 11 million people and has one of the few remaining communist regimes in the world. Cuba’s leader, Fidel Castro, came to power in 1959 and immediately instituted a communist program of sweeping economic and social changes. Castro allied his government with the Soviet Union and seized and nationalized billions of dollars of American property. U.S. relations with Cuba have been strained ever since. A trade embargo against Cuba that was imposed in 1960 is still in place today. Despite severe economic suffering and increasing isolation from the world community, Castro remains committed to communism. (Close Up

n October 19th 1960, the United States of America implemented an embargo on American exports to Cuba. This undertaking was in response to the Cuban state nationalizing American owned property without any compensation. The embargo, which included just about all imports, is one example of US-Cuban relations that have been poor ever since the overthrow of the Batista regime (Haufbauer et al). In recent years, trade sanctions have finally began to open up and in 2000 the United States passed the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act which allows for food and agricultural products to be exported to Cuba (Engage Cuba Coalition). However, despite this act opening up the market for food and agricultural products the Trade Sanctions Reform

Since a young age, I have felt a strong passion for human rights without even knowing it. As a child, I would ask myself, 'why isn't everyone just treated equally'. As I became older I started paying more attention to real human rights and security violations that are going on in the world today. One of the many that caught my attention was the Unites States embargo on Cuba. I learned that by keeping this embargo that Americans are causing the human rights violation in Cuba to increase. The reason this interested me so much was because as I studied this embargo I learned that one of the objectives of this embargo was to decrease the human rights and security issues in Cuba. Our country needs to lift this embargo in order to achieve this goal.

Some of their main exports are cigars, thyroid extract, nickel, cement, and sugar canes. However, the economy has not been looking good for Cuba lately, “Raul Castro told Cubans to prepare for tough times ahead, as the Communist country must cut spending and energy supply as it delt with a cash crunch and reduced oil imports from ally Venezuela” (Castro, Raul 2015). The country is also controlled by state run businesses, and most of its employment comes from the state. The government encourages self-employment, which has made many people become entrepreneurs. Another big factor that affects Cuba's economy is tourism. From the start of the 21st century, there has been a growth in tourism and it be an important part of its economy, and it is now easier to visit the country. Just a few months back the first commercial flight from the United States made a journey to Cuba, which has not happened in over 50 years, so this was monumental. In 2010, “Fidel Castro, in agreement with Raúl Castro's reformist sentiment, admitted that the Cuban model based on the old Soviet model of centralized planning was no longer sustainable” (World Heritage Encyclopedia). This meant that the state would not be so heavily involved in the economy of the country and also in the creation of enterprises that started from

Even though there has been a lot of progress in Cuba, the lack of import and exports of goods into Cuba has led the economy into a big distress creating a situation where the Cuban people are struggling to put a meal on the table for their families. The Cuban people recognize that the embargo is the door that has kept them shut away from having a better life. After many years of supporting a broken policy, the United States goal of bridling a democracy in Cuba will be reached much quicker by ending the embargo rather than maintaining it.

The U.S. embargo against the exporting or importing of goods to Cuba is a complicated governmental issue that has been in place for over 50 years. The Cold War began when hostile relations existed between the U.S. and Russia; and began when Russia funneled money into Cuba in which the U.S. reacted by dropping the purchase of sugar and Cuba retaliated by claiming oil refineries (Daniels, Radebaugh, & Sullivan, 2015, p.252-253). Recently the U.S. administration has begun lifting parts of the embargo in part as to develop better relations with Cuba and increase Cuba’s weakened economy. The ability for Cuba and entrepreneurs to import and export goods in and out of Cuba will increase their economy and the resident’s standard of living.

As the largest country in the Caribbean, the opportunities for Cuba to burst onto the global business stage are certainly promising. However, in order to effectively deal with an emerging economy, such as Cuba, one must first dig deeper into the foundations of this country to better understand the makeup of the country itself. While many understand Cuba’s divisive history, few have truly ventured into grasping the makeup of the island itself. Located about ninety miles south of Key West, the Republic of Cuba is a country with a population just above 11 million people. With over 60% of the land being devoted to agriculture, population is dense in urban areas, specifically the capital city of Havana with 77.3% of people occupying these areas7.

Between 1996 and 2006 the Canada-Cuba trade relationship expanded considerably (Nicol 2010) and since the early 2000’s, Canada has been one of Cuba’s four largest trading partners (Wylie 2012). Cuba is Canada’s top market in the Caribbean. Needless to say, Canada makes up a large part of Cuba’s tourism capital. Bilateral merchandise trade between the two countries amounted to over a billion dollars in 2010 (Embassy 2015). Though not directly influenced by the United States, its plausible to say that Canada has benefited from the absence of the United States, a major player in all fields, in this part of the Caribbean because they do not have to compete against the United States. Canada’s main focus was to protect the conditions in which capitalism can reproduce itself and where America was being kept out, Canada was happy to step in. Thus, the economic relationship between Canada and Cuba is definitely something to consider when talking about re-opening trade between the United States and Canada, a conversation that may very soon turn into a

The U.S will work with Cuba on matters of mutual concern that advance U.S national interests, such as migration, counternarcotics and environmental protection and trafficking in persons, among other issues. More effectively giving power to the Cuban people by adjusting the regulations”.

Cuba’s economy before the revolution highlighted characteristics associated with economic dependency. About 75 percent of the country’s arable land was used for sugar production and this provided 80 percent of the country’s exports. There was a heavy American presence in the country’s economy with U.S. companies holding ownership of forty percent of the farms and 55 percent of the mills. American investors were also responsible for 90 percent of Cuba’s telecommunications and electrical services. Their stake also extended into transport, banking, cattle, mining, petroleum, and tourist industries.

against him. For the most part these were not true: the U.S. put a trade