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The Commercial Embargo of the
United States
By: Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba.
Because it is an issue of constant debate and misinformation, we consider it
timely to include in this report a summary of basic information concerning
the embargo.
1. The embargo, established in 1962, was motivated by the confiscation,
without compensation, of American business and properties in Cuba in
violation of international laws that establish monetary compensation to
owners.
2. The embargo also took on a political character as Castro refused to
respect the fundamental rights of the Cuban people. Massive and summary
executions without due process of law, imprisonment of political opponents,
the dissolution of judicial power, the establishment of "revolutionary"
tribunals headed by judges aligned with the political police, the
prohibition of free movement in and out of the country, the dissolution and
prohibition of political parties -except the communist party - and the
intervention of labor unions, were all strong-arm tactics imposed by Castro
to consolidate his absolute control and power, eliminate democracy and
subjugate the Cuban people. The commercial embargo was a measure undertaken
by the United States to send Castro the message that his criminal and
anti-democratic behavior was unacceptable and that he would not benefit from
credits and trade with the United States.
3. Others events that demonstrated the need to adopt measures such as the
commercial embargo were the armed infiltration directed by Castro in
Venezuela, Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala and Colombia with the purpose of
overthrowing their governments, and the well known destabilizing and
subversive activities in other Latin American countries including Peru,
Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.
4. In 1974, following the rapprochement between the United States and China,
the U.S. also sought engagement with Castro. Unilaterally, President Gerald
Ford decreed a partial lifting of the embargo, allowing U.S. business
established in other countries or their subsidiaries, to engage in
commercial transactions with Cuba. This goodwill gesture on the part of the
United States remained unanswered by Cuba, despite the fact that trade
between Cuba and American business reached $704 million in 1989. In
contrast, Castro's behavior became increasingly aggressive as opposed to
conciliatory. For example, he sent Cuban troops to join the Armed conflicts
in Angola and Ethiopia, and was involved in conflicts in the Middle East
(Golan Heights) as well as Indochina.
In the meantime, Cuba' internal situation remained unchanged. Cuban
continued to be deprived of their rights and liberties, indicating that the
U.S.'s attempt to engage Cuba was pointless. For that reason, when Eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union embarked on the reforms of Glasnot and
Perestroika, and Castro rejected them by clinging to the totalitarian model,
the United States concluded that all effort of appeasement with Castro was
destined to failure. In 1992, the Cuban Democracy Act (also known as the
Torricelli Bill) was enacted, reverting the commercial embargo to its
original status, but also authorizing humanitarian assistance in the form of
food and medicine to Cuba, cultural and athletic exchanges, and money
transfers from U.S. residents to family in Cuba.
5. Fidel Castro calls the embargo a "blockade", to mislead public opinion
into believing that the U.S. impedes free trade. That is totally false. The
embargo is simply "no trade" between the United States and Cuba. The island
can trade with any other country it chooses. Cuba can even acquire American
products through Panama, Mexico or Canada. Tourist hotels (for the exclusive
use of foreigners) are stocked with well-known U.S. brands.
6. Some argue that if the embargo is lifted, Castro will induce democratic
change, or at least respect the basic human rights of the Cuban people.
However, during the October 1999 visit to Cuba by Governor George Ryan of
Illinois, journalists posed the following question to Castro: Would the
lifting of the U.S. embargo produce a democratic opening in Cuba or at least
lead to reforms? The dictator' response was categorical: "No, we do not
accept conditions of any kind."
This illustrates what Cuban have known all along, that Castro will never
agree to any political concession that would imply a lessening of his
absolute power in Cuba. The only thing Castro is interested in is speaking
with the President of the United States on the basis that his power and
domain over Cuba remain untouched. Castro considers himself the owner of the
island. That is the basic underlying principle in the Cuban problem.
7. Is the economic embargo responsible for the scarcity of food and medicine
in Cuba? Absolutely not. Despite the U.S. embargo, Cuba can and does trade
with the rest of the world. Any medicine or food that Cuba wishes to acquire
can be obtained in Mexico, Canada or Panama, to mention only a few countries
in geographic proximity with Cuba. In fact, acquiring medicines in Canada or
Mexico is less expensive than buying them in the U.S. The medicines produced
in the United States are on average 25% less expensive in those countries.
In addition, the Cuban people lack even medicines that are produced in Cuba,
such as aspirin, and antibiotics, because Castro exports them to countries
like Nicaragua and Ecuador, thereby depriving the Cuban people. It is the
same with food. To blame the embargo for the lack of food in Cuba is
ridiculous. Food staples such as vegetables, pork, chicken and eggs that
were in natural abundance in Cuba have declined markedly in Fidel Castro'
centralized economy. His failed economic policies have ruined a previously
prosperous nation. Farmers were stripped of land that now lies vacant and
abandoned. The Minister of Agriculture himself recognized that 25% of the
land is overrun with weeds. Farmers are not allowed to cultivate that land.
To blame the United States and the embargo for shortages in Cuba is nothing
more than a myth that has been propagated to hoodwink those who are not
familiar with Cuba' reality.
8. Cuba's budget assigns an average of $4 million annually for importing
medicines. In contrast, the European Union donates to Cuba approximately $10
million in food and medicine each year and the United States, the embargo
notwithstanding, has donated nearly $472 millions in medicine to Cuba in the
last ten years. With this quantities in donations, Cuban would have more
than enough to satisfy internal demand. But, where are those medicines? They
can be found in hospitals for the exclusive use of foreigners who pay for
medical services in Cuba in dollars, and in hospitals reserved for the
political elite of the country (when the average Cuban is prohibited from
seeking medical care). Those exclusive hospitals and clinics do not suffer
from medicine shortages. Medicines can also be found in stores that accept
only dollars. The thruth is that the Cuban people do not have access to that
food and medicine because of Fidel Castro' discriminatory policies.
9. Why is it necessary to maintain the embargo? From 1970 to 1991 Cuba
received in excess of $3 billion each year in subsidies from the Soviet
Union. In all those years, the Cuban people were not given the opportunity
to purchase even on additional pair of shoes over the quota established by
the Ration Booklet, which is one pair per year. New housing was not built,
nor was public transportation improved (private transportation is
practically nonexistent); the rationing system was not discontinued nor did
the people experience an improved standard of living. In other words, those
billions of dollars worth of goods reached Castro' hands but did not benefit
the Cuban people. They were simply used to reinforce Fidel Castro's power
and to build the eighth largest army in the world (imagine a small island of
110,00 square kilometers and 10 millions inhabitants with the eighth largest
army!). Castro also used that money to wage war in Africa and subvert
democratic governments in Latin America, but mostly, to build a gigantic
repressive apparatus known as the Ministry of the Interior, composed of
nearly 100 thousand agents and an equally impressive amount of informants
that constitute an all-encompassing web of support for the political police.
The logical question becomes: If the embargo is lifted, how will Castro use
the credits or funds the United States provides? Not much imagination is
needed to concluded that he will use them for the same purposes he
squandered billions from the Soviet block. And with more reason now that his
situation has worsened by the loss of the Soviet subsidy, and his 49 years
of dictatorship and economic failure suffocate even those who previously
supported him because the privileges they previously enjoyed have all but
disappeared.
The embargo seeks, fundamentally, to impede that Castro obtains more funds
or credits to continue financing the repressive apparatus that keeps him in
power, and that simultaneously increases Cuba' debt without benefit to the
people. Let us recall that since 1992, Castro does not pay the country's
foreign debt and as a consequence he finds it increasingly difficult to
obtain credits. There is only one country that Castro does not owe to and
could provide him with the credit he needs: The United States. For that
reason, all of his effort is concentrated on obtaining the lifting of the
embargo and gaining access to new credit sources with which he can continue
to finance his grip on power.
10. The main reason why Fidel Castro has managed to maintain his
dictatorship after 49 years is the control, fear and terror the people live
under due to a gigantic, repressive military apparatus. The important
contribution of the embargo is that it reduces the amount of money that
would otherwise be available to Castro's repressive apparatus.
The embargo works by eroding the military-repressive capacity that keeps
Castro in power.
11. If the commercial embargo was effective against the racist government of
South Africa; if it worked against the terrorist activities of the
government of Libya; if it succeeded in stemming Iraq' territorial
expansionism, if it helped bring an end to the military dictatorship in
Haiti, why then deny that same effectiveness against the Fidel Castro
dictatorship?
12. Proof that lifting the commercial embargo will not yield economic
benefits for the Cuban people nor lead to political reform for greater
freedom or respect for human rights can be found in the case of Vietnam.
Seven years have passed since the U.S. lifted its embargo and established
diplomatic relations with Vietnam, yet nothing has changed in that country.
Political prisoners are still serving their sentences and the communist
dictatorship remains intact while the people derive no benefits.
The only solution for Cuba's problems is the end of Fidel Castro's
dictatorship of 49 years that has led to the economic ruin of the country
similar to what occurred in the rest of the communist countries. With the
end of the dictatorship, Cuba will be able to return to democracy and freely
decide its own destiny.
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