Cuba Essay

economic growth comes from agriculture and exports to and from Europe. Since America has had an embargo on Cuba since 1962 neither countries trade with each other because of many disagreements about governing techniques and Fidel's unwillingness to comply with U.S. instructions. Cuba’s long history and culture has contributed to many economic and social growth through out the world, but Cuba is still struggling to try to stable their economy.

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.

“Raw sugar accounts for one quarter of Cuba’s export less than half a billion dollars” (The Economic Impact of Better US-Cuba Relations, 2015). Ending the embargo “Cuban exports can go from $0 to 5.8 billion” (US Cuba Embargo Pros and Cons: Renewed Relations Sets Caps and Limited Success for Businesses). Both economics can benefit massively from lifting the trade embargo this is because one of the most imperative exports of the Cuban economy is nickel. Nickel a mineral used in many industrial processes such as the creation of stainless steel, it can be a major use to the United States economy because it imports around 43% of nickel from the rest of the world therefore Cuba could benefit by entering the United States market. Cuba’s major import is refined petroleum which the United States is one of the largest producers of, the Cuban economy also imports wheat corn, meat, milk and soybeans which the United States also produces. Additionally, Cuba also exports rum and tobacco(cigars) which are said to be legendary in the United States. With the lifting of the embargo these products can be exported to the United States because Americans loves these clichés also, these exports can lead to a major enhancement in the Cuban economy because trade increases sales and profits, strengthen local competitiveness and diversification. Together the countries will be able to trade mutually and exchange

Cuba is a nation that formed from a history of colonial and imperial domination. Formal colonial status under Spain ended during the invasion by the United States in 1898, when military and corporate interests made the island a de facto colony of the United States. However, Cuba and the United States have had a long history of both political and military ties; both good and bad. Nevertheless, these ties have played a vital role in the current relationship the United States maintains with Cuba. In the recent years, both countries have continued to work toward a better diplomatic relationship; possibly enhancing the overall success of both Cuba and the United States.

The U.S. and Cuban controversies have been around since 1962. The president has decided that isolating Cuba has not worked and recently loosened travel restrictions and exports restrictions. Although this is a huge step to right directions economically, cultural effects so far have been minimal for both the U.S. and Cuba. Politically, Cuba is a socialist country, however, has been taking steps to democracy. For example, reforms breaking up government owned lands and authorizing self employment in many occupations. With the embargo lifted, it is expected that Cuba takes more steps in the right direction. On the economic side of things, Cuba still has strict control on foreign investment, but it is expected with time that investors will be

The topic of race and its impact on the Cuban society has been a subject that has intrigued scholars, writers and researchers since the inception of the country. The Cuban people have seen a tremendous transformation since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, since then the people have seen how socio-economic, cultural foundations and racism has been fought for. Being a communist country Cuba had eliminated the process of private ownership as well as the economic and social bases that countries need to flourish. Throughout history in Cuba you had tend to see that the whites were economically and socially elite to the blacks. They had used racial ideologies and tactics to maintain their domination over the minority groups in Cuba at the time. There have been advancements since the 20th

The United States is known for being one of the greatest and strongest countries in the world looking at past events and in this day and age. What might strike some people as shocking is that the U.S. would not be as strong without close ties with other countries or allies. Examples would be France, England, and Canada, plus many more. What people don’t talk about is the U.S.’s rivals or countries that the U.S. has had trouble with in the past leading up to now. One of the most renowned countries is only ninety miles away from the southern tip of Florida and that is Cuba. Cuba is known for the fantastic beaches, some of the most well-known baseball players around, and, of course, Cuban cigars and rum. But, the past with Cuba is not as bright as the U.S. wants it to be because of historical events such as the embargo, the Bay of Pigs, and the Cuban missile crisis during World War II that caused the two countries to separate as allies and close tied nations. Over the past year the U.S. and Cuba have been trying to put the past behind them and have diplomatic and cultural relations once again.

The relatively short distance between Cuba and the U.S. naturally led to a long and involved history of relations between the two nations, but relations between the two nations over the past fifty years have been unhealthy and harmful to both nations. The embargo imposed by the U.S. has only been damaging and unhelpful to the situation. “As a result of the new government’s nationalization policy, American investors suffered major losses and the U.S. retaliated in July 1960 by canceling planned purchases of Cuban sugar” (Crouch 70). This was the first act of neglect toward Cuba that would only quickly progress until all trade and relations were cut off with Cuba.

In 1896 the United States invested an estimated $45,229,000 across multiple Cuban jurisdictions. Businesses owned by Americans started to pop up all over Cuba. For example, North American printing companies began coming to Cuba producing majority of Cuban currency. Also, American tobacco companies began manufacturing Cuban cigars, taking over what used to be a delicacy for many of the Cuban cigar companies. Due to the increase of American business they began to rely on Cuban resources. American companies began using and overconsuming Cuba’s natural resources such as nickel, copper and cobalt. Another one of Cuba’s biggest resources was sugar. Sugar was Cuba’s biggest export and they were a big player in the international sugar trade. The United States government began impacting the sugar trade in Cuba by trying to insert themselves in the international sugar trade. This took away from a lot of Cuba’s resources and therefore negatively impacted Cuba’s economy. The United States impact on the Cuban economy really made the Cuban people and government very frustrated. The United States thought they were benefitting the Cubans however they were just exploiting them for their resources. This led to a very strong resentment from Cubans against the United States early on in their relationship.

Adjustments have been since then so that independent businesses in Cuba may trade with the United States, resulting in, “the United States [becoming] Cuba’s fifth largest trading partner since 2007,” (Lee and Renwick 5). Even though Obama came into office in 2008, and a year later reversed more of the restrictions set forth in the Helms-Burton Act, the actual lift of the embargo and Helms-Burton seems to not be as close as the media makes it seem. Since Raul Castro has come into office, also in 2008, he has claimed he would work towards normalizing relations with the United States, and further stated that he would leave office in 2018. Castro leaving office marks the end of the period the Castros have been in power, and leaves question to how the state of Cuba could potentially thrive. In my opinion, after reading many articles that bought forward the many problems Cuba is to overcome, I feel that Cuba has a long way to go in terms of achieving economic prosperity. However, I also deeply believe that the leaders of both Cuba and the United States are paving the roads needed to reach that level of prosperity. Journalists who have visited Cuba have come back claiming, “private businesses have blossomed due to the relaxation of limits of remittances from Cuban Americans to the island,” (O’Neil 2). This statement, and others like it, leaves me to feel

A controversial subject,yet not spoken about enough,the warming of relations between Cuba and the U.S exists only due to the two countries having a rough past with each other. This “rough past” consists of aspects such as the protectorate status the U.S had previously put onto Cuba, which severely limited their independence and the U.S had, ironically, just helped them achieve. Some take a stance that we as countries should stay distant from each other due to our vast governmental and cultural differences,and that reparations,due to this rough past between the two, render repairs impossible. Though this believed for valid reasons, good relations between the two countries harbors a number of benefits including, but not limited to: improved trade with Cuba,as well as other countries outside of Cuba, improving government for Cuba, and opening of jobs in both Cuba and the United States. For these reasons, the good immensely outweighs the possible bad in improving relations between the two, and both should continue efforts to achieve this goal.

The paper will discuss the economic point of view of maintaining the hardline towards Cuba, the effects of the embargo on Cuban life and the general ineffectiveness of the embargo. The United States should choose to disassemble the embargo due to the fact that it is doing more harm than good to both countries.

The Cuban people have been under the harsh dictatorship of both Felgenico Batista and Fidel Castro. They both had very strict policies and gave the Cuban people limited or no freedom at all. Batista and Castro were similar but yet different. One major difference that they had was that Batista was friendly with the United States and he had respect for American interest. On the other hand Fidel Castro hasn’t been as friendly with the United States, so the U.S has a trade embargo that restricts and American company to do business with Cuba and also U.S citizens are prohibited from traveling to Cuba unless for special circumstances.

From a global standpoint, the situation between Cuba and the United States was only increasing tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. As Castro became more communist, he began to develop a strong economic and military relationship with the Soviet Union. As Castro and the Soviet Union developed this relationship, one might ask why Cuba was willing to give up some of its autonomy to the Soviets. After all, the Cubans had just broken free from United States’ control and finally had full and complete sovereignty; why after this revolution would Cuba immediately revert back to a system where a superpower had power over them? From a realist perspective, Cuba had much to gain in terms of relative power from this relationship. Not only did they become allies with one of the world’s largest superpowers, thus giving them increased security, they also received several weapons shipments from the Soviets. Hence, Cuba came to look stronger and have more relative power by this relationship with the Soviets. Realists also note that the USSR benefitted from this relationship; in a time when the US and USSR were going tit-for-tat in terms of power and arms, the USSR successfully expanded their power bases to the Western Hemisphere, bringing communism and the Soviets closer to the US and expanding their power relative to the United States. This

In looking at the situation with common sense and practicality, a continued economic grip on Cuba, and more importantly the Cuban people, is relatively useless without the cooperation from a large number of other countries. It makes even less sense when you consider that the United States trades with countries with similar political ideologies such as China and Vietnam, China now a part of the World Trade Organization (WTO), gives continued proof that trade restrictions against Cuba are antiquated. (Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan, 2015).