Comments on the U.S.-Cuban Embargo

The U.S.-Cuban economic embargo has been maintained for more than 50 years, having been imposed in 1951 in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs. It is, and has been during this period, the most comprehensive and stringent of all U.S. embargoes. Yet, Cuba has never posed a military let alone economic threat to the U.S. This paper will analyze the reasons why I believe the Cuban embargo is wholly anomalous and deserves to be terminated or at least substantially modified by this administration. I will first review the existing components of the embargo including those that the Obama Administration has slightly liberalized. I will then compare our embargo policy against that of Cuba with the absence of such a policy directed at Vietnam, a country that bears many characteristics similar to those we see in Cuba. Finally, I will draw some conclusions and make suggestions for the future course of U.S.-Cuban relations.