The U.S. imposed a limited economic embargo against Fidel Castro's Cuba in 1960, during the
Eisenhower administration. The embargo was imposed after Cuba nationalized banks, oil
refineries, and other U.S. business interests there.
Earlier in 1960, President Eisenhower approved a secret plan to overthrow the Castro regime. The
plan included a propaganda campaign and the organization of a paramilitary force to invade the
island.
In 1963, after the Cuban Missile Crisis and the embarrassment at the Bay of Pigs, the U.S.
expanded its unilateral economic embargo of Cuba. Its purpose:
- "The basic goal of the sanctions is to isolate Cuba economically and deprive it of U.S. dollars."
- Formalized as the Cuban Assets Control Regulations and issued under the Trading With the Enemy
Act, the embargo prohibited U.S. citizens from travelling to Cuba, from engaging in financial and
commercial transactions with Cuba, and from exporting technology to Cuba, under pain of heavy
criminal and civil penalties.
- The embargo is still in effect today, stronger than ever. In 1996, the Helms-Burton Act imposed
penalties on foreign companies that do business with Cuba. More recently, President Bush has
tightened the embargo even further, with measures such as restricting visits to family members in
Cuba to once every three years, making it more difficult for Cuba to buy foreign goods with U.S.
dollars, and vigorously pursuing any and all U.S. citizens who threaten national security by "trading
with the enemy" -- including a 75-year-old grandmother vacationing in Cuba, and a Christian
fundamentalist delivering bibles there.
Some say it's time to end the embargo. It has accomplished nothing except help make the lives of
ordinary Cubans unnecessarily difficult. As a way of inducing the populace to overthrow Castro, it
has been an utter failure, as underscored by its four-decade existence and el presidente's
comfortable old age.
Others say that, in good conscience, we can never lift the embargo as long as the dictator continues
to oppress and brutalize his citizens. According to U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart:
- "To lift sanctions would not only reward Castro's injustices against the Cuban people but also it
would further strengthen this dying dictatorship and prevent Cuba from much needed democratic
change."
- You decide.