President Obama addressed the situation and policies between Cuba and the United States in his State of the Union Address. "In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date. When what you're doing doesn't work for fifty years, it's time to try something new. Our shift in Cuba policy has the potential to end a legacy of mistrust in our hemisphere, removes a phony excuse for restrictions in Cuba, stands up for democratic values, and extends the hand of friendship to the Cuban people. And this year, Congress should begin the work of ending the embargo," the President said regarding Cuba and the antiquated policies. The embargo is being lifted and Cuba will once again have a good relationship with the United States. The United States has had a rocky relationship with Cuba for the past fifty years. A series of events lead to the destruction of relations between the two nations: the Cuban Revolution, the announcement of the embargo, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Revolution of Cuba in 1959 started the eventual demise of the trust between Cuba and the United States. Fulgencio Batista, ex-president of Cuba, was a …show more content…
The embargo is estimated to have cost Cuba $1.126 trillion in lost revenue over the last 50 years. The embargo obviously restricts Cuba from buying a lot in the United States, but not everything. Cuba is only allowed to purchase certain things from the United States if they pay in cash. The United States can't buy anything from Cuba though. Due to the restrictions of purchasing things from the United States, Cuba mostly has automobiles from the 1950’s or 1960’s. The cars are redesigned and utilized for different things, such as taxi cabs. It becomes difficult to take care of the cars because parts are hard to obtain. I hope that when the embargo is lifted, Cuba still uses the vintage
The embargo will not eradicate Castro’s government, but it has economic effects that harms the people of Cuba. Historically the embargo has been an obstacle in the development of Cuba’s domestic economic activities. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost their major means of economic support: An article published on the American Journal of Public Health confirms that in 1989 “The 60% Decline in Cuba's Gross domestic product is one of the steepest ever recorded” (Garfield and Santana 15). This drastic worsening of the economic conditions in Cuba was the catalyst for tightening the embargo: The Cuban Democracy Act was approved by Washington on 1992. This Act banned all trade of food and medications of USA companies with Cuba, and it prohibit ships from other countries to dock in American ports until six months after visiting the Island. The Act declares that severe monetary penalties will be implemented to those that violate the mentioned regulations. These economic sanctions are one of the causes why Cubans have had to deal with shortage, and high prices for food and other goods. Cuba could buy the majority of this products from the USA market, but instead has to pay higher transportation prices to get them from farther countries. An article published on the independent general medical journal The Lancet corroborates: “Tightening of the embargo lead to an abrupt cessation of supplies of food and medicine to Cuba
The Cuba Policy came into effect to end all relations between the United States and Cuba. The U.S. policy toward Cuba is controlled by the embargo, which contains economic agreements and restrictions on travel to Cuba. The effect of this policy is to minimize commercial, political and resident relations between the United States and Cuba. The State Department indicated that the purpose of the embargo was to have a nonviolent transition to a secure, democratic form of government and respect for human rights in Cuba.
There are many countries that the United States frequently traded with who are now under a set of economic sanctions today. The sanctions were designed to restrict a country to the resources of their country and their allies until they comply with specific request. The US-Cuban sanctions were suppose was supposed to be in place until democracy and human rights were restored in Cuba. One effect of the sanction resulted in Cuban citizens only being able to purchase vehicles made before 1958. Although this is a minor effect of sanction, can you imagine if you were only able to possess a microwave that was made before 1958?
The U.S. did not help their situation as they proceed to pressure and prevent other foreign nation from trade with them, resulting in Cuba to remain in isolation. This event not only hurt Cuba economically, but socially as well by depriving innocent people from access to the outside. However, the embargo was not meant to cause harm, instead it symbolizes a probable improvement in human rights. In 2016, the Human Right Watch, reported that Cuba was still, “repress dissent and discourage public criticism," resulting to be the primary reason the U.S. would consider lifting the embargo. The U.S. would like to see the Cuban government improve, in return, they would remove the ban on trade or commercial activities.
Goods or services of Cuban origin may not be imported into the United States either directly or through third countries” (2001) . According to the Cuba Policy Foundation, the United States loses up to $4.84 billion annually in trade and exports alone (Pepper 2009) . The amount of money being disregarded because of now defunct reasons is radically lacking in logic. A simple repealing of the embargo would bring both the United States and Cuba great economic success.
“Raw sugar accounts for one quarter of Cuba’s export less than half a billion dollars” (The Economic Impact of Better US-Cuba Relations, 2015). Ending the embargo “Cuban exports can go from $0 to 5.8 billion” (US Cuba Embargo Pros and Cons: Renewed Relations Sets Caps and Limited Success for Businesses). Both economics can benefit massively from lifting the trade embargo this is because one of the most imperative exports of the Cuban economy is nickel. Nickel a mineral used in many industrial processes such as the creation of stainless steel, it can be a major use to the United States economy because it imports around 43% of nickel from the rest of the world therefore Cuba could benefit by entering the United States market. Cuba’s major import is refined petroleum which the United States is one of the largest producers of, the Cuban economy also imports wheat corn, meat, milk and soybeans which the United States also produces. Additionally, Cuba also exports rum and tobacco(cigars) which are said to be legendary in the United States. With the lifting of the embargo these products can be exported to the United States because Americans loves these clichés also, these exports can lead to a major enhancement in the Cuban economy because trade increases sales and profits, strengthen local competitiveness and diversification. Together the countries will be able to trade mutually and exchange
The U.S. and Cuban controversies have been around since 1962. The president has decided that isolating Cuba has not worked and recently loosened travel restrictions and exports restrictions. Although this is a huge step to right directions economically, cultural effects so far have been minimal for both the U.S. and Cuba. Politically, Cuba is a socialist country, however, has been taking steps to democracy. For example, reforms breaking up government owned lands and authorizing self employment in many occupations. With the embargo lifted, it is expected that Cuba takes more steps in the right direction. On the economic side of things, Cuba still has strict control on foreign investment, but it is expected with time that investors will be
Even though the Cold War ended years ago if Donald Trump wins with will begin again. With Cuba not embargoing with the United States can actually benefit from this accomplishment. This has and can be proved by many presidents from the past and even President Obama. In my opinion I feel that the embargo should be lifted for the better for people in
The United States is known for being one of the greatest and strongest countries in the world looking at past events and in this day and age. What might strike some people as shocking is that the U.S. would not be as strong without close ties with other countries or allies. Examples would be France, England, and Canada, plus many more. What people don’t talk about is the U.S.’s rivals or countries that the U.S. has had trouble with in the past leading up to now. One of the most renowned countries is only ninety miles away from the southern tip of Florida and that is Cuba. Cuba is known for the fantastic beaches, some of the most well-known baseball players around, and, of course, Cuban cigars and rum. But, the past with Cuba is not as bright as the U.S. wants it to be because of historical events such as the embargo, the Bay of Pigs, and the Cuban missile crisis during World War II that caused the two countries to separate as allies and close tied nations. Over the past year the U.S. and Cuba have been trying to put the past behind them and have diplomatic and cultural relations once again.
It is plain to see that the embargo has impacted citizens on both sides of the line for medical care. Cubans have lost out on access to American medical research and the United States is clearly missing access to Cuba’s medical research. It begs the question of who the embargo is really hurting. Both sides would benefit on removing the prohibition on exchange of technology and medical
Cuba and the United States are two very different countries. Although they are only nearly 90 miles away from each other it has been over 50 years since both countries have had any real relationship towards each other, other than the hatred that seems to shown by the two countries’ politicians. In October 1960 the United States began to impose its first round of embargoes towards the small island when Cuba decided to nationalize all of the American Oil on its county after the United States without properly compensating the United States. The embargo that was put in place October 1960 limited the on exports to Cuba except for food and medicine. Then in February of 1962 the United States expanded on its embargo from 1960 to include imports as well, but not before John F Kennedy could get his hands on some more of the finest Cigars that Cuba had to offer. There are many reasons for why the United States has placed embargos on the island of Cuba. Some will argue that they should have never placed any embargo against Cuba and some will argue that the embargo should have been lifted a long time ago, but as long as the country remains communist and the Cuban people don’t get an equal opportunity to prosper then lifting or not lifting the embargoes on Cuba will have no real impact on Cuba and its people.
The Cuban Embargo, also known as “el bloqueo” to Cuban citizens, was declared by the United States in 1960 to eliminate imports of Cuban
Cuba and the Affects of the Embargo The island nation of Cuba, located just ninety miles off the coast of Florida, is home to 11 million people and has one of the few remaining communist regimes in the world. Cuba’s leader, Fidel Castro, came to power in 1959 and immediately instituted a communist program of sweeping economic and social changes. Castro allied his government with the Soviet Union and seized and nationalized billions of dollars of American property. U.S. relations with Cuba have been strained ever since. A trade embargo against Cuba that was imposed in 1960 is still in place today. Despite severe economic suffering and increasing isolation from the world community, Castro remains committed to communism. (Close Up
The Cuban people have been under the harsh dictatorship of both Felgenico Batista and Fidel Castro. They both had very strict policies and gave the Cuban people limited or no freedom at all. Batista and Castro were similar but yet different. One major difference that they had was that Batista was friendly with the United States and he had respect for American interest. On the other hand Fidel Castro hasn’t been as friendly with the United States, so the U.S has a trade embargo that restricts and American company to do business with Cuba and also U.S citizens are prohibited from traveling to Cuba unless for special circumstances.
The embargo has constrained the crossing of the borders for Cuban citizens, the exiles of Cuba and the businesses, its subsidiary to not be able to do their business in Cuba without facing penalties. This embargo has forbid the Cuban citizens’ contact to consumer goods that the United States presented. Cuba’s expansion of its infrastructure has also been limited therefore the country continues to be a poor country.