Following historical protest In Cuba, where thousands took to the streets, Cuban officials have repeatedly blamed a six-decade US embargo on Cuba’s lack of food, fuel and medicine.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Cuban health officials insist Embargo limits imports of vital vaccine component The communist country has produced its own COVID-19 vaccines – as well as components for medical equipment such as respirators.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has said that the sanctions “massacre“And it’s called America”economic suffocation politics”
Although the US can export food, medicine and medical supplies to Cuba, sanctions make this more difficult.
The United Nations and human rights groups have called for an end to the ban; When it comes to US-Cuban policy it is a subject of constant debate in the US.
When the ban was imposed outright by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, there was no trade. It was initially a reaction to the seizure of American businesses and properties on the island by Fidel Castro after the 1959 Revolution, the largest ever seizure of American property. There 5,913 unresolved confirmed claims – A total of $1.9 billion at the time – made by US citizens.
Over the years, the US has added more laws on the ban, making it stricter – while also creating more exceptions. It is now a complex set of laws with many layers.
“The embargo has more holes than Swiss cheese,” said Pedro Freire, president of Ackerman International Practice, which provides legal advice to US-based companies affected by the ban.
While food from the US is available for export to Cuba, those wishing to sell the island require authorization or licenses from the Treasury and Commerce Departments, which makes it more cumbersome.
It is more difficult to send medicine and medical supplies from the US to Cuba because they cannot be exported, if any.reasonable probability“The products may be used for torture, re-export or production for the Cuban biotechnology industry. It must be verified on site that the products are being used for their intended purposes.”
The State Department said it regularly authorizes the export of agricultural products, medicines and medical equipment as well as humanitarian goods to Cuba. In the first six months of 2021, Cuba imported $123 million worth of chicken from the US
Most of the exports are in the agricultural sector and include chicken, soybeans and corn. America was in the middle in 2007 Cuba’s top five business partners, and in 2008, the US exported agricultural products to Cuba. reached $684 million. According to some experts, that number has dwindled since Cuba diversified its supplier network.
The ban does not prevent other countries from doing business with Cuba, but if a product contains 10 percent American-made ingredients, it must obtain a license from the US to export to Cuba.
Rick Herrero, executive director of the Pro-Engagement Cuba Study Group, said, “When you take into account global supply chains, it limits the amount of products that can be exported to Cuba, even Even from third countries.”
Other countries may fear investing and trading with a heavily sanctioned country that is also on the US state sponsors of terrorism list.
Because the embargo does not allow Cuba to receive money from American companies, Cuba has to pay for imports with hard currency.
Banks in other countries often avoid doing business with Cuba, not only because of the complexity of US sanctions, but also because Cuba “doesn’t have a very good payment record,” Freire said. Cuba missed Billions of dollars in debt.
“The Cuban economy is so small and the conditions are so difficult that it is not a very attractive market,” said Freire, who cited Cuba’s centralized, Marxist economy as the main reason for its poverty.
After the embargo by Kennedy, Relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union strengthened, eventually leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis. over the decades, Soviet Union heavily subsidized Cuba and accounted for 80 percent of Cuba’s international trade. But when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, it plunged Cuba into a deep economic crisis from which it never really recovered.
During this period America had passed Cuba Democracy Act, which strengthened the ban and suppressed the power of the president, saying it could only be lifted if the president reports to Congress that Cuba has met a number of conditions, including free and fair elections.
The CDA allowed the export of medicines and medical supplies for humanitarian reasons. It also banned ships that enter Cuba from loading or unloading for trade in the US within 180 days of leaving Cuba. As long as OFAC . not authorized by – Making it more expensive to send a shipment.
The next phase of the ban came in 1996. Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) ActIt is also known as Helms-Burton Act. Law was signed a week after Cuban MiG fighter jets shot down two planes Four people killed belonged to the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue.
“This prompted Congress to act,” Herrero said. “It was an election year, and President Bill Clinton wanted to lock in Florida.
The Helms-Burton Act made it difficult to lift the ban by making existing laws and regulations permanent unless removed by Congress or if a wide range of conditions are met, including “a transition government” by Cuba.
It allowed the original owners of Cuban properties confiscated by Castro to prosecute foreign companies that were using them for business in US courts, although this part of the law was not enacted by President Donald Trump until 2019. had gone.
A subsequent US law enacted in 2000, Trade Restrictions Reform and Export Promotion Act, allowed direct sale of agricultural products and other food items to Cuba.
“This measure makes it easier to export food and medicine,” said Jason Poblet, a lawyer who supports the sanctions on Cuba, when exporting to a non-approved country. Doesn’t add the required steps. “
During the Obama years, restrictions on US-Cuba trade, financial transactions and travel were eased, but Trump reversed most of them.
Six decades later, some supporting sanctions on Cuba say there is no denying that the embargo has been primarily about domestic politics.
“Sanctions are a tool, not a policy,” Poblet said. “All parties should agree on this, but people keep talking to each other without paying attention to the solution.”