The document provides background on the ongoing US embargo against Cuba that was imposed in 1962. It discusses the arguments for and against maintaining the embargo, as well as new developments in US-Cuba relations in recent years. This includes President Obama announcing in 2014 that diplomatic relations would be restored between the two countries for the first time since 1961, though the embargo remains in place. Responses from Cuban American senators expressed skepticism about normalization of relations.

1. U.S. embargo on Cuba
Benedict Gombocz

2. Background
Background
• February 7, 2012 marked 50 years since the ongoing U.S. embargo against trade with Cuba, an
island country 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
• The embargo, known by Cubans as el bloqueo (“the blockade”), includes economic sanctions
against Cuba and limits on travel to Cuba and business for all people and companies under
jurisdiction of the United States.
• Supporters of the embargo claim that Cuba has not fulfilled the United States’ demands for
lifting the embargo, such as a democratic transition and a better human rights record; they
also claim that submitting without compromises from the Castro régime will make the U.S.
look weak, and that only the Cuban (upper) middle class would profit from open trade.
• Opponents of the embargo claim that it should be lifted on the grounds that the failed policy is
a remnant of the Cold War and has noticeably not succeeded in its goals; they also argue that
the sanctions harm the U.S. economy and Cuban citizens, and hinder opportunities to advance
political change and democracy in Cuba.
• They also maintain that the embargo has a negative effect on global opinion of the U.S.
President John F. Kennedy announces that the embargo on Cuba has been
expanded to include almost all Cuban imports, Wednesday, February 7, 1962

3. Location of Cuba

4. Timeline of U.S.-Cuba relations since 1959
(1959-1962 only)

5. Six interesting facts
Six interesting facts
• 1. President John F. Kennedy sent his press secretary to purchase 1,200 Cuban cigars on the eve of signing
the embargo in February 1962.
• 2. Estimations put the cost of the Cuban embargo to the U.S. economy to be between $1.2 billion and
$4.84 billion every year. A 2010 review by Texas A&M University determined that lifting the embargo
could create 6,000 jobs in the United States.
• 3. In 2012, there were a projected total of 6,602 political imprisonments in Cuba, one of the world’s
highest on a per capita basis.
• 4. For 22 straight years, the United Nations has condemned the U.S. embargo against Cuba. In 2013, the
vote to repeal the embargo was 188-2; only Israel backed the United States.
• 5. The United States started a process of sending food to Cuba after a shattering hurricane in 2001 ,
making it the island’s second-biggest food provider; in 2008, yearly food sales to Cuba amounted to $710
million.
• 6. The U.S. government’s policy on immigration from Cuba is referred to as “wet foot/dry foot”: if an
immigrant from Cuba is stopped at sea (“wet foot”), he/she will be sent back to Cuba; if he/she
successfully reaches land (“dry foot”), he/she will be allowed residence in the United States.
President Kennedy smoking a Cuban cigar

6. Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla speaks
at the 69th UN General Assembly

7. Arguments for maintaining the embargo
• 1. The U.S. should maintain the Cuba embargo because Cuba has failed to fulfill the conditions needed to lift it.
• 2. Lifting the embargo before the government of Cuba meets the requirements specified by U.S. law would make the United States look vulnerable.
• 3. The government of Cuba has constantly responded to U.S. efforts to loosen the embargo with belligerence, raising worries about the consequences of lifting the sanctions completely.
• 4. The embargo permits the U.S. to put pressure on the government of Cuba to improve Cuba’s human rights record.
• 5. With no private sector in Cuba, opening trade would help only the Cuban government, not the Cuban people.
• 6. The U.S. can target the government of Cuba while still giving assistance to the Cuban people.
• 7. The indecision concerning who will succeed Raúl Castro makes it risky for the U.S. to alter its policy before a new leader replaces him.
• 8. The majority of Cuban Americans, who best understand how effective or ineffective the embargo is, support leaving the embargo in place.
• 9. There should be sanctions on Cuba because it is known to have frequently sponsored terrorist activities.
• 10. Cuba has so far not shown any intention to negotiate in good faith with the U.S.
• 11. The embargo should be left in place because open travel is not enough to advance change in Cuba; numerous democracies already permit travel to Cuba, but without positive results.

8. Arguments against maintaining the embargo
• 1. The U.S. should end the Cuba embargo because the United States’ 50-year policy’s goals have not met with success.
• 2. The embargo is a remnant of Cold War era thinking and is not necessary because Cuba does not pose a danger to the U.S.
• 3. The embargo hurts the U.S. economy.
• 4. The embargo hurts the people of Cuba, not the Cuban government as was planned.
• 5. The U.S. should not have different trading and travel policies for Cuba than for other nations with governments or policies the U.S. does not support (e.g., China, Vietnam).
• 6. It is wrong on the part of the U.S. government to advance democracy in Cuba by forbidding Americans from traveling there.
• 7. Most American citizens favor closer diplomatic ties and open travel and trade policies with Cuba.
• 8. Cuban Americans, the people who best understand the situation, reason that the embargo has not been successful.
• 9. Free trade, not the isolation by means of an embargo, can better advance democracy in Cuba.
• 10. Lifting the embargo would apply pressure on Cuba to discuss problems that it had once blamed on U.S. sanctions.
• 11. Most of the world is against the embargo, and maintaining it is harmful to the standing of the U.S. among the international community.
• 12. The embargo makes it impossible for the people of Cuba to join the digital age by denying them access to technology, and limits the electronic stream of information to the island.

9. New developments
• In 2004, then-Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) expressed his position against the U.S. government’s policy on Cuba: “The Cuban embargo has failed to provide the sorts of rising standards of living, and has
squeezed the innocents in Cuba and utterly failed to overthrow Castro, who has now been there since I was born. It is now time to acknowledge that that particular policy has failed.”
• Despite developments in relaxing the embargo as president in 2011, most importantly by lifting limits on travel and sending payments, he really supported retaining the blockade.
• “[W]e have to see a signal back from the Cuban government that it is following through on releasing political prisoners, on providing people their basic human rights, in order for us to be fully engaged with
them," President Obama stated. "And so far, at least, what we haven't seen is the kind of genuine spirit of transformation inside of Cuba that would justify us eliminating the embargo...”
• Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton asserted that the Castro régime has harmed the interests of the United States to improve ties between the two almost immediate neighbors.
• She said, “It is my personal belief that the Castros do not want to see an end to the embargo and do not want to see normalization with the United States, because they would lose all of their excuses for
what hasn't happened in Cuba in the last 50 years.”
• In 2013, the UN passed a resolution that denounced the embargo for the 22nd successive year; the vote was 188 votes in favor of lifting the embargo, and only two against; only Israel backed U.S. policy.
• The year before, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla gave a speech before the UN General Assembly about “the inhumane, failed and anachronistic policy of 11 successive U.S.
administrations.”
• U.S. Ambassador to the UN Ronald D. Godard showed support for the sanctions as a tool to “encourage respect for… human rights and basic freedoms.”
• Godard claimed that the U.S. was assisting the Cuban people by sending $2 billion in family payments and $352 million in agricultural, medical, and humanitarian products in 2011.
• He also stressed that the government of Cuba carried out over 4,000 “short-term, politically motivated detentions” in 2011 alone; this number was exceeded in 2012.

10. New developments (cont.)
New developments (cont.)
• Fidel Castro, who ruled Cuba for almost 50 years, is in his late 80s, and is reported to be very ill; his younger brother Raúl Castro is also over
80 years old.
• Raúl Castro was re-elected in February 2013, but announced that he would retire in 2018.
• Some hoped that a new government would make the reforms needed to end the blockade; others looked to President Obama to end the
embargo regardless of Cuba’s approach.
• On December 17, 2014, President Obama announced that full diplomatic relations with Cuba would be restored for the first time since 1961.
• A deal between the U.S. and Cuba was negotiated throughout eighteen months of secret talks presided over by Canada, with a final meeting
supervised by Pope Francis at the Vatican, and a 45-minute phone call and formal meeting between President Obama and Raúl Castro.
• While the U.S. embargo is still in effect and tourism by U.S. citizens in Cuba is forbidden, the United States will loosen restrictions on travel
and remittance; five Cuban spies who were arrested in September 1998 were released, and an embassy in Cuba may be opened.
• For its part of the deal, Cuba agreed to release 53 Cubans who were recognized by the United States as political prisoners, as well as U.S.
contractor Alan Gross and an unidentified intelligence agent who was confined for almost 20 years.
• “This is being done because we believe the policy of the past has not worked and we believe the best way to bring democracy and prosperity
to Cuba is through a different kind of policy,” a White House official stated.
• U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is opposed to normalizing U.S.-Cuba relations, said, “This is going to do absolutely nothing to further
human rights and democracy in Cuba. But it potentially goes a long way in providing the economic lift that the Castro régime needs to
become permanent fixtures in Cuba for generations to come.”
President Obama shakes hands with Raúl Castro at the official memorial
service for the late Nelson Mandela, Tuesday, December 10, 2013

11. Responses from Cuban American Senators
• All three Cuban Americans presently serving in the U.S. Senate- Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Marco Rubio of Florida- expressed skepticism about the reopening of diplomatic
relations.
• Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the son of Cuban immigrants and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, condemned the Obama Administration’s move; referring to Alan Gross,
Menendez said, “Let's be clear, this was not a ‘humanitarian’ act by the Castro régime. It was a swap of convicted spies for an innocent American. President Obama's actions have vindicated the brutal
behavior of the Cuban government.”
• Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who believes the normalization of relations is “a tragic mistake”, heavily criticized the Obama Administration’s approach and accused the president of blaming America for
hostile relations with the Cuban government, and condemned the “Obama, Clinton, Kerry foreign policy”, asserting that the Castro brothers are “state sponsors of terrorism” and that President Obama
“does not understand the difference between our friends and enemies”.
• Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a longtime critic of the Castro government and of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy, said that President Obama, who is, according to Rubio, “the single worst
negotiator we have had in the White House in my lifetime”, will not receive money for his policy on Cuba, no exchange of ambassadors will take effect, and the embargo will never be lifted; Rubio, the son
of Cuban immigrants, told reporters on Capital Hill during a press conference, “This entire policy shift announced today is based on an illusion, based on a lie. The White House has conceded everything and
gained little.”

12. Public Opinion of Sanctions

13. References
References
• http://cuba-embargo.procon.org/
• http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/politics/2014/12/17/cuba-menendez-obama-
castro/20538543/
• http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/17/ted-cruz-normalization-of-u-s-cuban-relations-a-tragic-
mistake-video/
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/17/marco-rubio-cuba-obama_n_6342348.html
• Other links:
• http://cuba-embargo.procon.org/sourcefiles/president-statement-on-cuba-dec-2014.pdf
(President Obama’s statement on Cuba policy changes)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8iGQYZzgZ4 (President Obama’s remarks on the policy
changes)