Essay On Lifting The Embargo

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

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 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 U.S. did not help their situation as they proceed to pressure and prevent other foreign nation from trade with them, resulting in Cuba to remain in isolation. This event not only hurt Cuba economically, but socially as well by depriving innocent people from access to the outside. However, the embargo was not meant to cause harm, instead it symbolizes a probable improvement in human rights. In 2016, the Human Right Watch, reported that Cuba was still, “repress dissent and discourage public criticism," resulting to be the primary reason the U.S. would consider lifting the embargo. The U.S. would like to see the Cuban government improve, in return, they would remove the ban on trade or commercial activities.

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.

On the island, the standard of living progressively deteriorated to the point where it can now be politely described as dismal. Cuba was an economic failure and survived only because of massive Soviet assistance that effectively ended with the demise of the Soviet Union, which only accelerated the economic deterioration; Cuba has essentially been in a state of economic stasis since these events, now over five decades ago (Central Intelligence Agency, 2017). Fidel Castro remained solidly in control until a combination of age and infirmity forced him to relinquish his position to his brother Raúl, who does remain in power at present. While there was some recent softening in the official American attitude toward Cuba, including admission to the Organization of American States and the resumption of diplomatic relations with the United States, the economic blockade and strict currency restrictions do remain in place (Central Intelligence Agency, 2017). At present, the relationship between the United States and Cuba is currently in a state of flux as the Trump administration determines its course of action toward Cuba (Davis,

It is plain to see that the embargo has impacted citizens on both sides of the line for medical care. Cubans have lost out on access to American medical research and the United States is clearly missing access to Cuba’s medical research. It begs the question of who the embargo is really hurting. Both sides would benefit on removing the prohibition on exchange of technology and medical

The U.S. imposed an Embargo against Cuba on Oct. 19, 1960. Has the time come to the United States to lift the five-decade embargo? The Embargo was a part of America’s Cold War strategy against the Soviet Union, imposed on the belief that Cuba was a threat to the U.S. since the Soviet Union was a danger to the National Security because of its alliance with the Soviet Union. Although Cuba would like the U.S to terminate the embargo against their country, the U.S. wants Cuba to make their situation a better living environment and to promote human rights for its citizens before any sanctions are removed.

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

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

"We will end an outdated approach that... has failed to advance our interests, and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries. Through these changes, we intend to create more opportunities for the American and Cuban people, and begin a new chapter among the nations of the Americas" (President Obama, Official Released Statement). On December 17th, 2014 the American embargo on Cuba, which set restrictions on relations with Cuba, was relaxed after over fifty years. The embargo on Cuba set restrictions on relations in areas such as travel and trade. The initial intention of the embargo was to persuade the Cuban government to attain a new form of government; as the United States disagrees with Cuba's communist position

Recently, current President of the United States Donald Trump has decided to reverse the Obama Administrations changes in loosening the relationship between the United States and Cuba. Trump has said that the embargo will stay in place, but businesses will still be able to conduct business in Cuba (Boccagno, 2017). In conclusion, there is potential in Cuba to have a great business, but there are lots of obstacles to overcome, and rules and regulations to follow to conduct business with

Although this issue is of great controversy in the US, and there are a lot of opponents to the idea of lifting the Embargo, There were some attempts of softening the embargo with Cuba, but unfortunately, it has consistently responded with acts of aggression from the Cuban behalf, which made the opponents more concerned; What would happen if the sanctions were fully lifted?. President Carter tried to normalize relations with Cuba by opening the US Interests Section (a de facto embassy) in Havana in 1977. Fidel Castro then orchestrated the Mariel Boatlift, which sent 125,000 emigrants (including criminals and mentally ill people) to the United States. In 2003, President George W. Bush began to ease restrictions for visiting family members in

Would lifting the Cuba Embargo benefit its communist government or its people most? Are we willing to potentially arm and strengthen their government to provide minimal relief to the Cubans as a people? The Cuban embargo is “an economic, financial and commercial embargo imposed by the United States government on Cuba. The purpose of the Embargo is to keep sanctions on Cuba should their government continue to refuse democratization and greater respect for human rights.” (“12 Significant”) For decades, experts have argued their cases concerning the possible repeal of the embargo. On one side, the embargo could improve the economy of the United States and relief the people of their starvation and poverty, while the other argues that the repeal would majorly benefit the Castro dictatorship rather than the country as a whole.

Trade helps in business growth and it helps the economy of the country as the different business enterprises can learn from other businesses’ ideas and would help in the growth of the enterprises with its global competitiveness. The embargo may have been effective in the times of Cold war but in the modern times it is perceived as useless especially for the Cuban-American families and business enterprises that are looking for opportunities in Cuba.