Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Embargo in Cuba and the United States
Embargo in Cuba and the United States
Cuban embargo essays
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Embargo in Cuba and the United States
In five decades, the Cuban embargo has failed to achieve its purpose, damaged U.S interest, and affected the Cuban people. Since the year 1959 when Fidel Castro took over Cuba, the country has been under communist rule. It’s been over 50 years since the United States placed and embargo against Cuba. The embargo also known as “the blockade” places travel restrictions and trade of commerce on any one who is under the US jurisdiction. One of the purposes of the embargo was to turn Cuba into a democratic country and to fight for human rights. Nothing has changed and now Cuba is blaming the U.S. for its chronic starvation and economic devastation.
The U.S has had relations with Cuba since the Spanish-American war in 1898. Since Spain was defeated by the Americans, Spain signed the rights to its territories including Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam over to the U.S. It granted Cuba its own independence with the stipulation that the US could intervene in the country’s affairs if necessary. Then came the Cuban revolution in 1951 and Fidel Castro’s guerrillas took over President General Batista government. Castro’s Marxist-Leninist ways took over the whole island and began to tax the U.S. heavily. President Eisenhower responded by imposing trade restrictions on everything except food and medical supplies. Castro then expanded its trade with the Soviet Union and the U.S responded by cutting all diplomatic ties. President John F Kennedy signed a permanent embargo in 1962, right after ordering 1200 Cuban Cigars. Cuba and the U.S have been communicating through Switzerland since then.
The intent of the embargo was to encourage democracy and to fight for human rights. The country has been under communist rule since the Castro Regime began. Nothing...
... middle of paper ...
...gs we have in this world. We should all be United as a whole and share what we have. As a free country we should be able to travel to Cuba. Why not? Other Countries are able to travel there. We are a free country and I feel that by restricting us from traveling to Cuba it defeats the purpose of being a free country. How does traveling to Cuba Lifting the embargo would be beneficial to the U.S. financially and politically.
Works Cited
"Cuban Dissident Calls to End Embargo." NYTimes.com Video Collection 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
Berrios, Ruben. "Why America should lift its Cuban embargo." Contemporary Review 265.1545 (1994): 182+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Katz, David. "Sanctioned state: the US embargo on Cuba." Harvard International Review 27.1 (2005): 8+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
The 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act grants Cubans a unique place in U.S. Immigration Law and Policy by declaring that all those who arrive in the United States are accepted as political refugees, and are eligible to become legal permanent residents after one year (Marc R.). It was created to offer protection to Cubans escaping oppression from their Communist government. As might be expected, this law is always the debate of Cubans who think about coming to America seeking freedom and a better life. For many Cubans to reach American territory is all a dream, mostly because of the chances of attaining a better economic situation for themselves and their families. A lot of them also pursue to reunite with their families in the United States after many years of separation. Some others are opponents of the Castro regime. Because they don’t have freedom of speech and can see their lives threatened if they speak out against the government, seek for more political freedom and a democratic form of government, in a land of capitalism where there are fewer restrictions and more opportunities.
Paterson, Thomas G. Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Pp. 352.
"JFK Announces a Blockade of Cuba." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Cuba and the U.S.: The Tangled Relationship. New York: The Foreign Policy Association, 1971. Flaherty, Tom.
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.
Thomas G. Paterson's essay, "Kennedy's Fixation with Cuba," is an essay primarily based on the controversy and times of President Kennedy's foreign relations with Cuba. Throughout President Kennedy's short term, he devoted the majority of his time to the foreign relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union. After the struggle of WW II, John F. Kennedy tried to keep a tight strong hold over Cuba as to not let Cuba turn to the Communist Soviet Union. Kennedy seen Cuba and the Soviet Union as a major threat to the United States. As Castro fell farther and farther into the Communist party, he inched his way closer and closer to becoming a close ally with the Soviet's, As Kennedy seen this happen before his eyes, he was astonished. Kennedy, a newly formed president, did not want to seem like the kind to just sit back and roll with the punches, he wanted immediate action taken for these measures. "As someone said, Cuba was one of the four-letter words of the 1960s" (268). Cuba was not viewed as a very potential power before Fidel Castro took office. It was viewed more as a neutral country that we sent aide and military supplies to in exchange for sugar and other products. When Castro took office, things drastically changed. He started taking back land that we had set aside for military bases, he wanted the American forces no more than what they had in Washington, and he openly defied orders from America. Unknown to Kennedy Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, was also watching everything that played out between Cuba and the United States. President Kennedy, later realizing, would make a few decisions for the worst. These decisions would haunt him for the re...
The Platt Amendment of 1903 granted the United States certain power and control over Cuba as a condition for the removal of American troops after the Spanish-American War of 1898. It gave the United States the right to interfere in Cuba’s economic, military, and political affairs. The Platt Amendment was revoked in 1934 but only a few Cubans had forgotten about it. One could argue that the amendment was beneficial for Cuba because a school system was organized, finances were set in order, etc. but through the eyes of the Cubans, the United States presence was an assault to their sovereignty. America had long controlled the country’s economy that left an impression of United States hegemony. “Eighty percent of Cuban utilities… were owned by Americans prior to the Castro administration.” Forty percent of the sugar industry was also owned by Americans and they “accounted for the lion’s share of the sugar market”. Cuba lived by what the United States were willing to pay for the sugar. Due to the dominance and the presence of the United States within Cuba, Castro became the speaker of his fellow Cubans’ resentment toward the United States. As much as he can successfully paint the United States as the enemy of Cuba, the easier it is to explain the fact that Cuba’s economy was failing. The Bay of Pigs invasion was the perfect opportunity for Castro’s goals and its outcome exactly did that. It became the catalyst that spurred the destructive series of events. The long history between Cuba and the United States built up bitterness among the Cubans for so long and the failed operation gave them additional reasons to further despise the United States and enough reason for Castro to accept Khrushchev’s
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 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).
American settlers in East and West Florida declare independence and rebel against Spain for control of land.
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.
However, the US played a much larger role in Cuba’s past and present than the building of casinos and the introduction of the first taints of corruption. In the past, even before Batista, Americans were resented by Cubans because the Americans made a lot of Cuba’s decisions. Under Batista, 80% of Cuban imports came from the US, and the US controlled at least 50% of sugar, utilities, phones and railroads. If Cuba was a business in the stock markets, then the US would have been close to owning 50% of its shares. When combined with a long history of US-backed leaders, and US involvement, it is understandable that Cubans begrudged the Americans....
When looking back at the crisis that happened in Cuba, many things can be blamed. A stance that could be ...
“The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: A National Security Archive Documents Reader” edited by Laurence Chang and Peter Kornbluh and “Cuba on the Brink: Castro, the Missile Crisis and the Soviet Collapse” by James G. Blight will be evaluated by referring to their origin, purpose, value and limitation.
I think that the government should come up with a way to fund Universal Health Care that is provided to each citizen. U.S healthcare cost about 7000 dollars a year for one person and 200 dollars a year for someone in Cuba. How is it that they are receiving quality healthcare and having to pay little to nothing for it. The government can find a way to treat the sick, teach, and care for the babies. All that has to be done is budget differently and look out for one