Embargo on Cuba
The U.S. imposed an Embargo on Cuba on Oct. 19, 1960. Has the time come for the United States to lift the 5-decade embargo? The Embargo on Cuba was a part of America’s Cold War strategy against the Soviet Union, imposed on the basis that Cuba was a threat to the U.S. National Security because of their 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.
The Cuban Embargo, also known as “el bloqueo” to Cuban citizens, was declared by the United States in 1960 to eliminate imports of Cuban goods. When the embargo was first set, it was only to eliminate food and medicine, but then on Feb. 7th, 1962 the embargo was extended to all exports. President Kennedy announced the embargo citing, “the subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet communism with which the government of Cuba is publicly aligned” (Galeano). “We have a hemispheric commitment to freedom and democracy and respect for human rights”, said Jose Cardenas, a former National Security Council staffer on Cuba. With only 90 miles of sea between the U.S. and Cuba the embargo chokes off Cuba’s number one trade partner and tourism of the island.
By the early 1960’s the U.S. had cut off ties with Cuba and was engaging to overthrow the Castro regime. In 1961 the Bay of Pigs Invasion, a fumbled CIA attempt to crush the government, inflamed
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Cuban mistrust and nationalism, was resulting to secret agreements allowing the Soviet Union to build a missile base on the island. The U.S. found out those plans setting off a fourteen-day standoff. U.S. shi...
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William J. Clinton
"Remarks on Signing the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996," March 12, 1996. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=52531 Frank, Merc. n.d., n. pag.
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Galeano, Javier. ""No Cigar: Economic Embargo on Cuba turns 50"."
USA Today News 07 02 2012, n. pag. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-02-07/cuba-us-embargo/53000402/1>. Lindsay, James. n.d., n. pag.
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Sullivan, Mark. Congressional Research Service, Octo. 0.
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In January of 1959 , Communist dicator Fidel Castro took over Cuba. The United States in 1961 tried to overthrow Fidel by arming rebels and attempting to support them. This was the failure known as the Bay of Pigs. In October of 1962 , The US finds evidence that medium range nuclear sites had been installed in Cuba. They annonce that on the twenty-third that a quatntine was being Cuba and that any ship carrying offensive weapons to Cuba wasn’t allowed. Five days later , the crisis was averted when the Soviets began to remove the
It seems that the United States has been one of the most dominant, if not the most dominant, countries in the world, since the Declaration of Independence. Yet, on Monday, April 17, 1961, our government experienced incredible criticism and extreme embarrassment when Fidel Castro, dictator of Cuba, instantly stopped an invasion on the Cuban beach known as the Bay of Pigs. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, his advisors, and many Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials, made the largest error of their political careers. Once the decision was made to invade Cuba, to end Castro and his Communist government, Kennedy and his administration were never looked at in the same light nor trusted again. Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev was affiliated with Castro, and the two countries made many military decisions together. As Kennedy and the United States tried to stop Cuba and Russia from becoming a threat to the world, an invasion was planned out and executed. The results were a disaster. The Bay of Pigs invasion was the largest military mistake ever made by the United States government and the CIA in the 20th century and brought America to the brink of war with Cuba and Russia. The Bay of Pigs invasion was not a quick decision, many hours of meetings and conferences occurred before President Kennedy gave permission for the attack. President Kennedy was inaugurated on January 20, 1961, and immediately wanted to take the initiative with the Soviet and Cuban governments (Pearson 12). Russia was already under Communist control, and Fidel Castro took over the Cuban government with heavily armed troops and policeman. Castro’s policemen filled the streets, and he ran the newspapers, as well as many assembly buildings (Frankel 60). At the beginning, Castro did not run a Communist government, but once he began to meet with Russian leader, Nikita Khrushchev, Castro started a Communist government (Crassweller 23). Max Frankel, writer for the New York Times, summarizes the situation in Cuba by saying, “Little by little, the vise tightened. Little by little the free people of Cuba came to realize it could happen there. The grim facts of life on an island that became a police state” (Frankel 59). Every day, Castro came closer to controlling every aspect in life in Cuba. Fidel Castro even took control of the schools in Cuba, throwing out any teacher who he thought...
The U.S.’s relationship with Cuba has been arduous and stained with mutual suspicion and obstinateness, and the repeated U.S. interventions. The Platt agreement and Castro’s rise to power, served to introduce the years of difficulty to come, while, the embargo the U.S. placed on Cuba, enforced the harsh feelings. The two major events that caused the most problems were the Bays of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis.
Cuba was recovering from the Bay of Pigs invasion. They held off the American forces and were able to avoid the invasion. They weren’t sure if the United States would attack again. Cuba’s dictator (Castro) wanted to convert Cuba into communism. In doing this they allied themselves with the USSR while being dangerously close to the “enemy,” the USA. Cuba was now in the middle of the Cold War. Although they believed getting involved with the USSR would protect them, at the same time it put them in more danger. Castro did not think it would get Cuba tangled into the Cold War. In an interview he said, “Our problem is above all of national sovereignty. Cuba does not mean to get involved in the Cold War.”(Beck 551)
Is the Cuban Embargo a cruel reminder of the Cold war, or is it an important factor of American Democracy fighting the spread of Communism? The Cuban Embargo was a declaration issued by American President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The embargo was issued because of the threat that the Communist government of Cuba, led by Fidel Castro in 1959, had on American security, assets and democracy at the height of the Cold War. Some 1.8 billion worth of industrial assets were lost with Cuban communist nationalization. (Mr. D’Angelo personal interview) In support, constant influence of the Soviet Union during the early 1960s, particularly the time between 1961 and 1962, led to the creation of the embargo. In addition, the Soviet Union had planned to build a missile base on the island, which drove the Cold War to its height and made nuclear destruction a real possibility. Consequently, The Embargo called for total economic sanctions for Cuba and the institution of a blockade around the island, as shown by the seven-day stand off that followed the embargo with the USSR. Unfortunately, this blockade completely restricted any trade to foreign countries and even restricted travel to and from the island. The shattering of The USSR, or Soviet Union, should have called for the end of the embargo, but instead the federal government, in 1992, further restricted the embargo with the 1992 Cuba Democracy Act and the 1996 Helms-Burton Act. The Cuban Democracy Act was a bill presented by U.S. Congressman Robert Torricelli and passed in 1992, which prohibited foreign-based subsidiaries of U.S. companies from trading with Cuba, travel to Cuba by U.S citizens, and family remittances to Cuba (Lee). Most importantly, the Helms-Burton Act extended the territoria...
The time of the Cuban Naval Blockade the Unites States was at war with the Soviet Union, the war already preexisting for almost twenty years. The war already had United States and all its citizens at the edge of their seats. The rise of nuclear weapons was relevant and a high scare factor for everyone.
Excitement was high for Cuba, when Fidel Castro overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in January 1959. With a heady mixture of nationalism and left - wing ideologies US became very cautious for its southern comrades Central and Southern America and perhaps herself. When Castro took over Cuba, the US lost valuable investments in the sugar and tobacco crops of Cuba.
The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing number of anti-American developments during the height of the cold war, including the “expropriation of United States-owned properties on the island… [and] the Soviet Union [agreeing] to purchase sugar from Cuba and to supply Cuba with crude oil” (Hass 1998, 37). Bad sentiments continued to pile up as Cuba imposed restrictions on the United States Embassy and especially when, after the United States “officially broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, and travel by United States citizens to Cuba was forbidden ... Castro openly proclaimed his revolution to be ‘socialist’” (Hass 1998, 38). The day after this, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, but it failed in its job to topple Castro (Hass 1998, 38). Left with no diplomatic options and a failed military attempt, the United States decided that the only way to end Castro’s socialist regime was to sever all ties, and from 1961 to 1996, a series of acts were passed prohibiting the majority of trade and interaction with Cuba. (Hass 1998, 38).
Clarke, Philip. “Cuba’s Newest Revolution Bloodless but Plenty Bewildering as New President Breaks Army Grip, Aims at Democracy.” The Washington Post. 22 July. 1945: B3. ProQuest. James Madison University library. 16 September 2003
However, these economic sanctions have seen its efficacy come to an abrupt end. The ban on Cuban trade should be lifted in order to reduce poverty on the island, boost the economies of both the United States and Cuba, give America access to superior healthcare and allow America to acquire some cheap labour. In this essay, I will inform you of four things; (1) Cuba’s poverty caused by the sanctions, (2) how lifting the embargo would benefit Cuba, (3) how lifting the embargo would benefit America, (4) why continue the sanctions (5) how close are we to lifting the sanctions.
In an attempt to over throw the Cuban government the United States fully funded and planned the invasion of southern Cuba also know as the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The U.S. had landed armed Cuban exiles in southern Cuba in attempting to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro in 1961.this marked the climax of anti Cuban U.S. actions. The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion was caused by misinformation lack of strategic planning and mismanagement, the consequences of that was 2x4 to the face for the Americans and a major increase in tensions between the two super powers of the world during the cold war.
On April 17, 1961 one of the greatest foreign policy mistakes of the Cold War was made, the attempted invasion of the Bay of Pigs, Cuba. The failed invasion happened under the administration of John F. Kennedy and caused the deaths and imprisonment of over 1500 Cuban exiles fighting to over throw the rule of Fidel Castro. The aftermath caused much larger impacts towards United States foreign policy. The invasion made the United States look imperialistic to the rest of the world and allowed the Soviet Union to portray America as an aggressive and hostile country to its neighbors, which in turn allowed the Soviet Union to aid Cuba even more for future affairs. The Bay of Pigs also caused President Kennedy to distrust many of his advisers from the CIA for misinforming him. The CIA led him to believe the invasion would be over quickly and successfully after Kennedy had only been in office for three months. This distrust of his advisers certainly affected how Kennedy acted in future crises involving both Cuba and the USSR. This of course leads the question did the Kennedy Administration act appropriately for the Bay of Pigs invasion and how did the outcome affect United States foreign policy with Cuba and USSR?
The nation of Cuba has been at odds with the United States since Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959. The United States embargo and sanction on Cuba stems from the fact that the United States will not tolerate Communist governments and "the most important objective of the Cuban government is to remain in power at all costs," says Felix Martin, a professor at Florida’s Cuban Research Institute. The conflict and reason for why the embargo has stayed intact over the years can be summarized in three major points of dissent: Human rights violations, Guantanamo Bay, and the Cuban exile community.
The tropical island of Cuba had been an object of empire for the United States. Before the Missile Crisis, the relationship between Castro and the US were strained by the Bay of Pigs occurrence in 1961. This was where counterrevolutionary Cubans were American funded and tried to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. However, the counterrevolutionaries failed. Castro then found an alliance with the Soviet Union and an increase of distrust that Castro had on the US. On January 18, 1962, the United States’ Operation Mongoose was learned. The objective would be “to help the Cubans overthrow the Communist regime” so that the US could live in peace. Consequently, Castro informed the Soviet Union that they were worried about a direct invasion on Cuba, thus longed for protection against th...
The main reason for the Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba was the change to communism. The January 1, 1959 , the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista fled the country for the safety of the Dominican Republic ( Goode, Stephen 75). Fidel Castro and his guerrilla warriors overthrew the former government dictated by Batista. Over the next couple of weeks , Castro established a new government and on February 16 was officially declared premier ( Finkelstein , Norman H. 127). The United States accepted this new ...