The Impact Of The Embargo On Cuba

Since 1959, when Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba, relations between the United States and Cuba have been on egg shells. Sanctions were immediately imposed on Cuba as soon as Castro came into power, which resulted in even worse relations between the two countries. However, it was not until 1962 when President John F. Kennedy officially placed an embargo on Cuba. This embargo blockaded any and all transportation to and from the country, disallowed any trade with Cuba, and cut off any ties the United States had with the nation. That was a time when the embargo was needed; with Cuba and the Soviet Union the United States needed something the try to break down the relationship and each individual nation. Now Fidel Castro is not in power, Cuba

The embargo has proved to cause thousands of deaths and illnesses to the Cuban population since it was put in place. The United States has been the leading producer of medicine and medicinal equipment for nearly 20 years, and with the embargo in place Cuba has no way of receiving such goods directly from the U.S. Professor of medicine at Stanford University, Michele Barry, has completed hundreds of hours in Cuba researching the health of the nation. Her intense research in the nation has proven to be very valuable in assessing the damage done by the embargo. In her work “Effect of the U.S. Embargo and Economic Decline on Health in Cuba” Dr. Barry has stated numerous diseases that have hit the Cuban nation because of their need for medicine and machinery produced by the United States. The first and foremost disease that struck Cuba was “optic and peripheral neuropathy” that broke out in 1992 and increased the risk for blindness (Barry 151). An article in the New England Journey of Medicine stated that “from late 1991 through 1993, epidemic neuropathy affected more than 50,000 people in Cuba” (Cuba Neuropathy Field Investigation Team 1). The epidemic peaked in 1993 when there were around 3,000 to 4,000 cases a week. “There was also an epidemic of esophageal stenosis, and Guillain-Barre syndrome,” both of which are very fatal (Barry

Lifting the embargo on Cuba does not just have political purposes. There are social, moral, and economic gains that would result from lifting the sanctions. As a nation built around freedom we are sanctioning people from seeing their families and their home country because of something that happened over 60 years ago. Lifting the embargo has lifetime implements for everyone. For the United States it proves that we are not allowing our enemies to control who we are; Fidel Castro was the problem not the Cuban people who are suffering because of the embargo. We do not want our children growing up in a world of hate and restriction; we want them to see the diversity and freedom that American was built upon. Communication is key; we need to be building bridges, not