Essay On The Cuban Embargo

The embargo will not eradicate Castro’s government, but it has economic effects that harms the people of Cuba. Historically the embargo has been an obstacle in the development of Cuba’s domestic economic activities. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost their major means of economic support: An article published on the American Journal of Public Health confirms that in 1989 “The 60% Decline in Cuba's Gross domestic product is one of the steepest ever recorded” (Garfield and Santana 15). This drastic worsening of the economic conditions in Cuba was the catalyst for tightening the embargo: The Cuban Democracy Act was approved by Washington on 1992. This Act banned all trade of food and medications of USA companies with Cuba, and it prohibit ships from other countries to dock in American ports until six months after visiting the Island. The Act declares that severe monetary penalties will be implemented to those that violate the mentioned regulations. These economic sanctions are one of the causes why Cubans have had to deal with shortage, and high prices for food and other goods. Cuba could buy the majority of this products from the USA market, but instead has to pay higher transportation prices to get them from farther countries. An article published on the independent general medical journal The Lancet corroborates: “Tightening of the embargo lead to an abrupt cessation of supplies of food and medicine to Cuba

After it became officially globally acknowledged that Cuba was in fact a communist state and was being led through a dictatorship run by Castro, it did not take long before powerful enemies and essential allies were formed. The act of seizing all foreign land with none or very little compensation was received with great hostility amongst those who lost in their property through this process, and probably the reaction that had the biggest impact on Cuba’s economy was that of the US. Castro’s communistic policies did not of course help calm this resentment and also took part in leading to the establishment of trade embargos with Cuba from the US. This meant that Cuba would now lose a very valuable buyer of their precious sugar, [5] but they did however gain another one, a powerful nation that shared quite similar Marxist ideals and were quick to form an alliance with the Cubans, the USSR.

In 1959, Cubareceived 74 percent of its imports from the US, and the US received 65 percentof Cuba’s exports. On February 3, 1962, the United States imposed a fulltrade embargo on Cuba, completely ending any type of trade between the twocountries. This embargo remains in effect today, more than four decades later,and has grown ! to be a huge center of debate and controversy (DeVarona 8).Opponents to the embargo argue that the embargo does nothing more than hurt theCuban people, while proponents argue that the embargo places pressure on Castroto repair Cuba’s mismanaged and corrupt government. Both the supportersand the opponents of this embargo have strong arguments and evidence to supportthese

During the Cold War, relations between Cuba and the United States were icy. Cuba was allied with the USSR, America’s enemy, and was well within their sphere of influence. With events like the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis happening on their soil, Cuba was at the center of the Cold War. Between ideological differences and their alliance with Russia, Cuba became an enemy of America as well. It took the efforts of ten American presidents, six Popes, and countless other actors, but Cuba and America are finally in the process of normalizing relations. There is still work to be done, but the path is clear and the time is right. However, one cannot simply ignore the last fifty years. In that time, millions of lives were affected by the lack of social, economic, and political ties between the U.S. and Cuba. In this paper, I will analyze the last fifty years of U.S. - Cuban relations by looking at the involved actors, their means, and their values and interests through the lenses of two paradigms, realism and constructivism.

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 Cuban Embargo, also known as “el bloqueo” to Cuban citizens, was declared by the United States in 1960 to eliminate imports of Cuban

Missile Crisis, the embargo strengthened as the U.S. started to view Cuba as one of its

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

To better understand and appreciate the embargo in Cuba, one must examine the history behind an unnecessary act. According per the Editorial Board of The New York Times, the concept of the embargo to the United States Congress is to keep the outdated policy upon the Island of Cuba and its people. Gomez and Szabo from USA Today confirms, “President Obama and Cuban President, Raul Castro, have moved to normalize relations with Cuba without any further consideration of removing the Embargo from the Island any time soon” (Gomez and Szabo). It is time for the embargo to come to an end because this outdated policy has separated

Historically, the embargo has been caused by errant foreign policy, and has failed to achieve its goals for 55 years. As President Obama said, “‘These 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked . . . We will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests’” (Baker). Cuba aligned with the USSR partly because of initial US hostility, and such policy is called “an egregious foreign policy error, . . . in effect pushing Castro to become more inflexible” (Walke and Bourassa). Cuba lost Soviet aid

Nearly fifty-five years ago, an embargo was placed on Cuba, halting all trade between the two countries. Fidel Castro led the Cuban Revolution, which began in July of 1953, leading to their victory and the previous leader, Fulgencio Batista, surrendering from his position. Castro was an American friend and had gained a great deal of support from Cuban citizens with his promises to restore basic, essential liberties. Castro later began to stray from these promises, starting by nationalizing American businesses within Cuba following by presenting anti-American behavior. In 1960, he initiated talks with the Soviet Union and began to progress toward communism, leading to America creating the embargo in 1961. The embargo was mainly put in place to contain the spread of communism to other South American countries. The terms to lift the embargo included, the discontinuation of their communist ways and move toward democracy, and to improve the freedom of the individuals whom live on the island. These have both yet to have happened, yet fifty-four years later, the embargo is still firmly in place. Lifting the embargo can fix issues related to the Cuban people, it can bring countless trade opportunities, and it can push for positive changes in Cuba. Therefore, the United States should lift the embargo on Cuba.

The time of the Cuban Revolution was a great deal of turmoil, not just in Cuba but in almost every corner of the world. It was 1945, shortly after the end of World War Two, and the Cold War was taking off between the United States and the Soviet Union. Cuba, in the middle of its own war, was caught up in the international politics of the Cold War. The interaction between international and domestic politics played a major role in the outcome of the revolution. The result of the revolution left Fidel Castro in charge of Cuba.

protecting the US, and the last one is concerned with global sanctions. The law also

Although the first and second image analyses are valid, the third image also presents a strong argument as to why the US nominalized relations with Cuba. International opinion on the Cuban embargo has been overwhelmingly negative. Since the end of the Cold War, the international community has largely recognized that the necessity for the US to continue its embargoes has diminished. When Cuba shot down two American planes in 1996, sanctions against Cuba were tightened as retaliation. There exists a hypocrisy that the US would back dictators elsewhere but continue to punish Cuba.

Able to weather a variety of political leaders, economic events, and historical eras, the U.S. embargo of Cuba is the longest and harshest embargo by one state against another in modern history. Following Castro’s overthrow of the Batista government in 1959 and threats to incite revolutions elsewhere in Latin America, the Unites State cancelled its trade agreement to buy Cuban sugar. Then, following a series of increasing hostile events, the United States severed diplomatic relations and initiated a full trade embargo in 1962. Trade between the United States and Cuba stopped. Spurred by the collapse of communism more than thirty years later, Congress