It was signed into law weeks after Cuban MiG fighters shot down two planes belonging to the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue, killing four people. It also allowed the original owners of Cuban properties confiscated by Castro to sue in U.
A subsequent U. Jason Poblete, a Washington, D. During the Obama years, restrictions were eased on U. After six decades, even some who support sanctions on Cuba say it's undeniable that the embargo has mainly been about domestic politics.
Carmen Sesin is a reporter based in Miami. IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Cuba-policy hardliners have implicitly accepted the human and economic costs of the embargo as acceptable in order to achieve the goal of undermining the communist regime. They will point towards the unprecedented level of protests currently going on in Cuba as evidence that the embargo is working.
Yes, Cubans are angry at the economic hardships and pandemic suffering happening amongst their population. Counterintuitively, ending the embargo and promoting ties between the US and Cuba is the greatest weapon that America can deploy against the oppressive regime in Cuba. Exposing Cubans to the freedoms and opportunities available to their American relatives will increase outrage and pressure towards the Cuban government for failing to provide these things.
Hardliners will argue that easing the embargo now will lessen the pressure on the Cuban government by lessening the societal desperation that has fuelled these protests. And while economic crises can lead to collective outrage, spontaneous protests against authoritarian regimes usually ends in renewed repression rather than regime change.
Many experts believe that movements for social change are most effective when people and organisations gain the resources that are necessary for sustained political and social activism. It would give undeserved credibility to a regime that came to power through revolution, promised democratic elections, and never delivered.
One of the original goals of the embargo was to limit Castro's ability to support Communist revolutions in other countries. The embargo has forced a significant reduction in the size of Cuba's military, so Castro no longer has the money to do this.
The embargo was also intended to drain resources from the Soviet Union, which spent billions of dollars a year to prop up the Castro regime. The embargo remains an important way to restrict the flow of funds that end up in the hands of the Cuban government—money it would use not to feed its people, but to spy on its own citizens, censor information available to them, and lock up political opponents.
Even money that well-meaning tourists spent in Cuba would end up mostly in the government's hands, and would therefore support the corrupt regime rather than helping the Cuban people. Along with the positive things we're doing to help end the Castro regime—such as funding Cuban opposition groups and transmitting objective news via TV and radio—the embargo continues to play an important role in encouraging a democratic transition in Cuba. Create a List. List Name Save.
Rename this List. The sanctions do not force other countries and non-U. The Kennedy administration imposed the embargo in , three years after Fidel Castro's regime deposed a U. The embargo effectively restricted all trade between the two nations. After the Castro regime formally aligned itself with the Soviet Union, the U. In , the body voted to require all member nations to impose political and economic sanctions on Cuba. Mexico was the only country that resisted. The OAS lifted those sanctions in , after which countries closely aligned with the U.
As of , Spain, China and Italy were among Cuba's top trading partners. Even some American companies, including Marriott and United Airlines, have done business in Cuba over the past few years, although the Trump administration unraveled several components of the detente pursued by the Obama administration. More: As protests roil Cuba, Biden faces pressure to keep Trump policies despite campaign pledge. But experts say it may have a chilling effect.
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