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The United States embargo on Cuba is a trade 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. Today the embargo is still in effect, making it one of the longest embargoes in modern history. It remains an extremely controversial issue worldwide.

While the U.S. government had initially been supportive of 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 U.S. 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 U.S., Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau voted aganist the resolution (with Micronesia abstaining).

The embargo was re-enforced in October 1992 by the Cuban Democracy Act and in 1996 by the Helms-Burton Act. While the U.S. has sought to normalize trade relations with other Communist states such as 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.

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External links

• The Effects of the US Embargo Against Cuba
• A timeline of votes by the UN General Assembly
• A 2001 report by the Cato Institute
• A timeline of the embargo

• Foreign relations of the U.S.