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Revision as of 04:31, 15 November 2004
The United States embargo on Cuba is an economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed on Cuba by the United States. The embargo took effect on February 3, 1962, as a response to Cuba's alignment with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. As of 2004, the embargo is still in effect, making it one of the most enduring trade embargoes in modern history. It remains an extremely controversial issue worldwide.
While the U.S. government had initially supported the Cuban Revolution, it turned against Fidel Castro when the Cuban government began implementing large-scale nationalization of the economy without compensating American businesses that had been expropriated.
The embargo has been the source of almost unanimous international criticism. Annual votes in the United Nations General Assembly that call on the United States to lift its sanctions pass with exeptionally large majorities (173 to 3 in 2002), and 179 to 4 in 2004. In the 2004 vote, only the United States, Israel, the Marshall Islands, and Palau voted aganist the resolution (with Micronesia abstaining).
The embargo was reinforced in October 1992 by the Cuban Democracy Act and in 1996 by the Helms-Burton Act. While the United States has sought to normalize trade relations with other Communist states such as the People's Republic of China and Vietnam, there is a large lobby among Cuban Americans, particularly those living in Florida, in favor of the embargo. This makes it politically difficult for either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party to substantially change American policy towards Cuba.
Though the leadership of the Cuban-American community is the main proponent of continuing the embargo, the policy has come to have a great effect on Cuban-American families, particularly more recent immigrants who still have family in Cuba, as they must circumvent the embargo in order to send goods to their relatives or even communicate with them.
In response to pressure by American farmers and agribusiness, the embargo has been relaxed in order to allow the sale of food and agricultural goods to Cuba for humanitarian reasons. This change was mandated by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act, which was passed by the US Congress in October 2000 and signed by President Bill Clinton. Though Cuba initially declined to engage in such trade, seeing it as a half measure serving U.S. interests, the Castro government began to allow the purchase of food from the United States as a result of Hurricane Michelle in November 2001 and has continued since then. The country was estimated to rank 33rd on the list of importers of U.S. agricultural products in 2003.
External links
- 2001 Rreport by the Cato Institute
- The Effects of the U.S. Embargo Against Cuba
- Timeline of the embargo
- Timeline of votes by the U.N. General Assembly
- U.S. embargo against Cuba fades away article on growing Cuban-American trade in food.
- What Castro wants Time letter about the cuban embargo.