The Cuban Enbargo

The Cuban Embargo

Valeriia Sram

Harper College

While Cuba locates 90 miles from Key West, Florida, the island nation and the United States have had no diplomatic relations since 1961. Since then, Switzerland has acted as a mediator between Washington and Havana, representing the interests of each of the two countries before the other. The trade embargo was imposed on Cuba after Fidel Casto came to power on January 1, 1959. Fidel Castro, a Cuban politician and revolutionary, and his band of guerillas sucessfully overthrew the government of the dictator, Fulgencio Batista with support of the U.S. government. However, the United States expressed some misgivings over the revolutionaries' execution of more than 500 supportets of the Batista regime and Castro's communist tendencies. Moreover, ''the Cuban government expanded trade with the Soviet Union while taxing American products so heavily that the U.S. exports were halved in just two years'' (''U.S.-Cuba'', 2009). The last straw in a relationship between the two countries was when the U.S. spy planes discovered evidence that the Soviet Union was building new bases for nuclear missiles in Cuba on October 15, 1962.The United States responded by cutting all diplomatic ties, and John Kennedy, the president of the United States, issued a permanent embargo restricting nearly all trade with the island nation on February 3, 1962.

Cuban embargo is the most enduring embargo in modern history. The embargo consists of economic sanctions against Cuba and restrictions on Cuban travel and commerce for all people and companies under U.S. jurisdiction. ''According to U.S. Treasury, Americans can face up to a 65,000 dollars fine for spending money in Cuba'' (''10 questions on the embargo'', 2015). Also, the U.S. government imposed a limit on remittances to Cuba (up to 500 dollars) (''10 questions on the embargo'', 2015). Since 1961, the United States and Cuba broke off their diplomatic ties, and the sutiation become even more complicated with the arrest of Alan Gross.

Alan Gross worked for an American company specialized in installing computer electronics in remote areas. He had also been working in many developing countries in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. In 2009, he was paid by the United States Agency  for International Development (USAID) to go to Cuba to install military-grade Internet equipment in Jewish synagoges that could not be detected by the government in Havana. ''He was arrested in 2009 on suspicion of trying to destabilize the Communist government regime'' and was held for 5 years in jail cells'' (''Held 5 years by Cuba'', 2015). The arrest of the former USAID subcontarctor made the relations between two nations even worse.

        Nevertheless, a public dialogue between the countries resumed in December 2014 when Cuba agreed to release Alan Gross and by that, demonstrated seriousness and good faith of the island's government. Raul Castro, a Cuban politician and a revolutionary, has been the president of Cuba since 2008. Fidel Castro stepped down as Cuba's premier in favor of his brother Raul. Negotiations, aimed to reestablish diplomatic ties and normalize relations between U.S and Cuban officials, led to reopened embassies in Havana and Washington. ''John Kerry, the first US Secretary of State to visit Cuba in 70 years, presided over the ceremony in Havana'' (''US flag raised'', 2015). Even though John Kerry said the U.S. administration wants to lift the trade embargo on the island, in fact, Congress is not going to lift the economic embargo because Cuba has not met the conditions required to lift it. To lift the embargo, according to U.S. law, the island nation must legalize all political activities, release all political prisoners, commit to free and fair elections, grant freedom to the press, respect human rights, and allow labor unions. While talking in front of Cubans, the US secretary of state pointed out that ''Cubans will be best served by a genuine democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders" (he implicitly said communist principles work against its own people).