The current embargo that the United States has enforced for the past forty-seven years on Cuba has had a multitude of effects. However, in order to understand its current form, an understanding of the past is imperative. In order to make any educated decision regarding foreign policy, the past must be considered, and how the policy currently exists. It is with this in mind that this essay will assess the embargo in three different parts: a brief history; its current state; and why it should be lifted.
The embargo placed upon Cuba began during the Kennedy Administration as a response to the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. Kennedy's hope was that the sudden shock to Cuba's economy would force a counter-revolution and remove Fidel Castro from power. This plan backfired in a highly volatile way when Fidel turned to Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union bought Cuban goods at higher than market prices in order to sustain the now pro-Soviet government ninety miles off Florida's coast. The legislation passed came to be know as the Foreign Assistance Act, which allowed for the total embargo and freezing of Cuban funds. This piece of legislation remained in place until the year 1992, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1992 President George H. W. Bush signed the Cuban Democracy Act, a reinforcement of the Foreign Assistance Act, with one addition: the embargo would remain until Cuba is a democracy. The embargo was further strengthened under President Clinton in 1996 by the Helms-Burton Act, which allowed American citizens to sue for confiscated property, and banned all companies that traded with Cuba from trading in the United States. It wasn't until the year 2000 that the embargo was relaxed slightly under George W. Bush. The Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act was passed, which allowed for food and medicine to be traded with Cuba for humanitarian purposes.
In its current state, the embargo prohibits all trade aside from agricultural and medicinal goods, and also travel between Cuba and the United States. Furthermore, the embargo prohibits any financial transactions, or the reception of gifts from those who are allowed to travel to Cuba. There have been a few major pushes by some groups such as the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, and the Cuba Study Group to pressure the government to lift the embargo. As it stands, the United States is Cuba's number one trade partner in agriculture, and since free trade has been established in at least the agricultural sector, Cuba has seen a major drop in starvation, and an overall increase in health.
As it is, the Cuban embargo is a failed piece of legislation that was passed in the spirit of containment, a Cold-War era strategy to stop the Communist advance. From the very beginning of its institution however, the desired results have only been pushed farther away by the embargo. It was an attempt to keep Communism out, yet Khrushchev is welcomed with open arms. We keep the embargo up to democratize Cuba, yet it has remained highly socialist and totalitarian in nature, and has turned to the populist ruler Hugo Chavez for support now. In order for the United States to bring about democratization, or a gradual transition to a more moderate government, it must lift the embargo against Cuba. With the situation as it is, there is no flow of ideas, and a very strict flow of money, both of which are key components to a thriving democracy. By opening our borders to trade and travel, the United States could bring Cuba out of Hugo Chavez's orbit, and into our own, thus providing an example of more a moderate, and free society. Without an opening up of trade, and normalization of relations, Cuba will be stuck in its Cold-War state until another opens them up. The question is: will it be a crazed dictator, or anti-westerner; or will it be the United States, and subsequently, the rest of the west?