After the fall of the Axis Powers in World War II, the United States found a new adversary in the rapidly growing Soviet Union, initiating the Cold War. The Cold War, stretching from 1947 to the fall of the USSR in 1991, saw the two ideologies of capitalism and communism clash and wreak havoc across the globe, notably in Asia, Latin America and Europe. But, perhaps the most worrying space for the United States, in particular, was the small island of Cuba.
When socialist revolutionary Fidel Castro took power in 1959, Cuba became a blip on America’s red scare radar. The more Castro’s communist regime grew over the years, the more the United States began to implement anti-Cuban policies in order to take a strong stance against the ideology of communism and to “liberate the Cuban people.” Invasions, refugee acceptance, assassination attempts, nuclear threats — America did everything to overthrow Castro’s reign, all to no avail.
Though the United States no longer employs such extreme strategies as the hardline stance against Cuba and Communism has dissipated, one ugly policy remains from that contentious era: the trade and travel sanctions the United States placed on Cuba in the form of an embargo. This embargo represents the grim history of Cuban-American trade relations in the past 70 or so years. Since the Cuban Revolution America has barred any trade and migration to and from the nation of Cuba. From 2014 to 2017, the Obama administration tried to improve relations in the region by easing travel and trade restrictions, signaling hope for a better future. Unfortunately, the Trump administration reinstated the embargo and travel restrictions at the same level they were at prior while putting Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism List, reversing that progress almost completely.
These sanctions were implemented in the past, and that is where they should stay. The United States needs to ease the embargo and travel restrictions it has placed on Cuba in order to improve the quality of life of the innocent citizens on the island and lower tensions between the two nations.
The trade embargo blocks all trade to the island, including humanitarian assistance like food and medicine. Historically, the blocking of necessities to the island has had a drastic effect. For example, after the United States tightened its sanctions on the island in 1992, Cuban islanders suffered terrible ramifications. According to a study published by Science from two Stanford researchers, which views trends in Cuba after the 1992 sanctions, “medication shortages were associated with a 48% increase in tuberculosis deaths from 1992 to 1993; the number of tuberculosis cases in 1995 was threefold that in 1990.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba could not receive supplies for vaccine development from the United States due to the embargo, with Cuban developers stating that the sanctions were, “hindering and even blocking purchase of dozens of equipment, supplies and ingredients for clinical trials and production.” This forced them to fully research and fund their own solution, delaying the possibility of saving lives and protecting the vulnerable. During times of food shortages, the United States’ embargo has proved detrimental to the livelihood of Cubans, denying them necessities they could receive. Up until very recently, even remittances to and from the island have had varying levels of restriction, hurting families that may rely on foreign incomes. The embargo hurts innocent Cubans who never asked to be part of this enduring feud.
The trade embargo was initially put in place to pressure and eventually make the regime forfeit. However, seeing as that has not worked and the communist state of Cuba has endured, the United States ought to focus on mending relationships in the region to better the situation for both parties.
Easing the embargo and travel restrictions seems to be the first logical step. By once again connecting the two countries via trade and travel routes, both economies benefit from increased goods and migration. The two countries will have a less strenuous relationship with one another, fostering increased diplomacy and civility. This could bolster cooperation between the two nations and even help grow the increasing private sector on the island, which, according to a study from Columbia University, has seen a rise in employment in the domestic sector from twenty percent at the turn of the century to nearly one-third of the working population in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 crisis.
Moreover, families, once separated, can reunite and exiled Cubans-Americans longing to visit the island can return home. Both the governments and people of each nation benefit from peeling back economic and trade restrictions.
For too long, America has held an antiquated stance against Cuba through the means of a trade embargo. The United States government must replicate the path that the Obama Administration was pursuing, and ease the trade embargo and travel restrictions currently in place. Only then can the island of Cuba prosper.