Pros And Cons Of US Embargo To Cuba

Cuba didn't want another foreign country imposing their government over them, which America brought upon them anyways by not granting them full independences and having moderate control over them. Both Spain and America abandon them which left corrupt rebel types in control with no outline of governance or proper constitution. It also granted Native people rebelling against U.S. rules. As time goes on, America is looking at Cuba as an enemy from the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and not an allied country even though they joined a war to help them gain their independence. So basically, America joined a war to make an enemy and intervening into the war they could have avoided. This may have brought a decent amount of gain for them, but countless U.S. lives were lost from it, and created

The embargo is estimated to have cost Cuba $1.126 trillion in lost revenue over the last 50 years. The embargo obviously restricts Cuba from buying a lot in the United States, but not everything. Cuba is only allowed to purchase certain things from the United States if they pay in cash. The United States can't buy anything from Cuba though. Due to the restrictions of purchasing things from the United States, Cuba mostly has automobiles from the 1950’s or 1960’s.

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.

The Cuba Policy came into effect to end all relations between the United States and Cuba. The U.S. policy toward Cuba is controlled by the embargo, which contains economic agreements and restrictions on travel to Cuba. The effect of this policy is to minimize commercial, political and resident relations between the United States and Cuba. The State Department indicated that the purpose of the embargo was to have a nonviolent transition to a secure, democratic form of government and respect for human rights in Cuba.

The obvious question presented by this information is, why is such an old idea, which severely limits the necessary functions of international society, currently being continued? It’s not like it’s helping anything. In fact, according to Joy Gordon, Professor of Political Philosophy at Fairfield University, “the embargo is the single greatest barrier to Cuban economic development” (2010, 64). Gordon continues by saying that “the United States measures against Cuba are far more extensive [than any other embargo we have had], affecting every aspect of commerce, travel, economic development, and even humanitarian contributions” (2010, 65). The embargo not only detracts from Cuba’s access to U.S. markets, but interferes in its trade with other countries. The embargo prohibits monetary transactions with the United

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

As also stated by Mr. D’angelo, in a personal interview about the Cuban embargo, “Yes I think it will last until Cuban reforms, change in Cuban leadership…” This shows that many people, including professionals believe that the embargo will not end soon without the removal of the Castro’s. This idea of no Castro in the government makes sense since many speculate that even though Fidel is no longer is power he still has some influence over what his brother does. Vividly depicted, this is shown by a passage made by Catharine Moses from her book: “They might not like him, they might complain about him, might see his failing and might blame him for all the countries problems, but he is Fidel. He is in control of the island…”(pg. 7) In compliance, this just shows that many still believe he holds power and some hold truth to their hearts that it is Fidel’s Cuba. On an other aspect that goes hand and hand with the Cuban democracy Act is the declaration of John F. Kennedy that states that the goal of the embargo is to submit Cuba’s government into giving up its communist government. Evidently, this was the main goal of the embargo and Cuba has not, and for the foreseeable future, will not change its government from the communist one that it is known for. An idea and aspect that is clearly shown and supports the idea of containment, is that the embargo also

The United States over the years has gone through a lot of putting down whatever threatens that came about. One example was the Cold war, which was a much larger battle between the different ideas. During this course, the United States fought countries that presented itself as a threat to any other countries. One of those countries was a small country called Cuba. This country has changed history as a example to the Cold war and continues that history today with the end of the embargo.

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.

U.S. wanted Cuba to meet special requirements in order for the embargo to go into effect, including rules such as: transition to a democracy, demand Havana support small businesses in exchange for sheathing restrictions on remittances, denounce presence of either Fidel or Raul Castro in Cuban government, better living conditions for all Cuban citizens, absolutely no travel to Cuba, and promote human rights. Cuba has not yet met all requirements, but is currently working on them. Obama reversed some of these polices, such as, allowing U.S. citizens to send remittances to non-family members in Cuba and travel under license of religious or educational purposes. As of today United States citizens may travel to Cuba with only special reasons like religious or

Colonization is the dear stepping into the lion’s den and trying to escape. European countries wanted to spread their nation and teach other countries their ways of life. The Europeans eventually wanted to dominate the entire Western Hemisphere including Caribbean countries (Wilkinson). For example, the Spaniards wanted to colonize Cuba. They mostly wanted them because of their land; introduce slavery, and the fact that in that time Cuba was the world's most leading sugar producers (Hernandez). This benefit appears to have been one-sided, with Europe gaining more.

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

The history of the embargo started when The famous revolution took over Cuba in 1959. When Castro arrived to the power he decided to nationalize private properties and business owned by American companies. This action led to the emigration of many Cubans to America and the antagonism of Cuban- American relations. In 1960, the Eisenhower administration placed an embargo on exports to Cuba except for food and medicine. After that the Cuban government turned to the Soviet Union for assistance converting themselves in a communist country and an enemy of the United States. In 1962, President Kennedy expanded the Embargo including this time any trade or travel to the Caribbean island. During his presidency Jimmy

Another reason forimplementing the embargo on Cuba concerns the corrupt communist government andUS hopes of promoting a transition to a democratic system. On February 3, 1962,President Kennedy was confident that “Castro was moving toward theestablishment of a to! talitarian regime in alliance with the Soviet Union”(DeVarona 7). This raised a huge national defense issue since Cuba is only 90miles from US soil. The US government claims that the transition from communismto democracy will help Cuba flourish, as other democratic countries in thewestern hemisphere have. (“Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of1996”).

The embargo has constrained the crossing of the borders for Cuban citizens, the exiles of Cuba and the businesses, its subsidiary to not be able to do their business in Cuba without facing penalties. This embargo has forbid the Cuban citizens’ contact to consumer goods that the United States presented. Cuba’s expansion of its infrastructure has also been limited therefore the country continues to be a poor country.