31 Oct An Answer to the Lies About the U.S. Embargo on the Cuban Regime
By,
Dr. Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, Senior Fellow, MSI²
Luis Zúñiga, contributor, MSI²
It is ridiculous and absurd that in a 3-day visit to Cuba, Mrs. Megan Romer may claim she and her visitors know the reality of Cuba.
The usual technique of the Cuban regime (as it was in all former communist countries) was to take visitors to “show window routes” prepared in advance to cover the topic of interest to the visitors. In this case, the topic was “the blockade.”
It is easily understandable that the homes or places visited were those of people who fully support the regime, people previously trained on the “discourse and data“ (the token points) they should provide to the visitors. Neither of them was allowed to go out by themselves and speak freely to people they ran into on the streets.
Mrs. Romer speaks about the “ample” information given to them (by the regime, of course). It is naïve to expect that the regime is going to give them truthful information. So, we are going to provide truthful information that is easily verifiable on the internet:
1
There is no blockade against Cuba. In 1991, the United States (U.S.) implemented a blockade against Haiti’s military junta. The U.S. Navy sealed key ports, and warplanes prevented all air traffic to and from the country. That was a blockade. In Cuba, the U.S. has never done that. In fact, anyone may verify that the Cuban regime holds commercial relationships with every country in the world. So, there has never existed a blockade against Cuba.
2
The U.S.-limited Economic Embargo on Cuba: In 1960, the Cuban regime “nationalized” all foreign businesses and compensated, economically, all business owners, but not the American ones. The U.S. protested the violation of international law. U.S. President John F. Kennedy made many approaches to Fidel Castro for a solution, but all were rejected, turning the nationalization into confiscation. So, President Kennedy requested from Congress an Economic Embargo on Cuba with the exceptions of food and medicine (this can be verified in the law itself).
Until today, all efforts the U.S. has made to provide compensation to the American business owners whose property was confiscated have failed. So, the source of the problem created by the Cuban regime remains alive.
3
The U.S. Economic Embargo has been modified several times. For instance, in 1975, President Ford authorized U.S. businesses in third countries to trade with Cuba. With the “tolerance” of the U.S., the Cuban regime has been able to buy any American good in the Free Trade Zone of Colon, Panama. In 2000, President Clinton reformed the Embargo to allow the Cuban regime to buy a wider range of goods besides food from the U.S. President Carter allowed Cuban Americans to “visit” families on the island in a sort of tourist-like visits. President Clinton also allowed remittances to be sent to Cuba without limit. Besides, humanitarian assistance is also permitted. Over the years, non-governmental groups in the U.S. have usually taken to Cuba boatloads of various stuff, including buses.
4
Currently, the U.S. Embargo is so tolerant that the Cuban regime imports cars, trucks, buses, tractors, whisky, beer, blood (yes, blood), medical equipment, computers, electric generators, and so many articles that only the exceptions would be worth mentioning. The U.S. is the highest seller of chicken to Cuba.
5
The only condition the U.S. keeps on Cuba is paying cash for its purchases. This rule is logical because the Cuban regime owes over one billion dollars to American business owners whose property was confiscated in the 1960s. Besides, the Cuban regime has unpaid debts, close to a hundred billion dollars, to dozens of countries around the world. It would be nonsense to sell on credit to a regime that does not pay its debts. It is easily verifiable that they do not have any international credit.
6
Besides this information, anyone can understand basic facts: The U.S. Embargo does not forbid poultry, pigs, and cattle to be raised in Cuba. It does not forbid the Cuban regime from growing vegetables, fruits, or any agricultural produce. The Embargo does not forbid fishing in the ample sea around the island. However, the undeniable fact is that in Cuba, agricultural produce, chicken, pork, beef, fish, and food production, in general, are extremely poor. There is hunger on the island.
An instance of the economic disaster the regime tries to hide is that, before the “revolution”, Cuba was the largest exporter of sugar in the world, and today Cuba cannot produce enough sugar for a domestic ration consumption of 3 pounds of sugar per person.
The undeniable fact is that the communist system imposed by the Cuban regime has ruined the economy: its agriculture, industry, and commerce. The political allies of the regime (China, Russia, and Iran) are frustrated that any amount of assistance provided to Cuba is never enough, and the regime continues to ask for assistance. That is why the Cuban regime is involved in a strong campaign to have the U.S. Embargo lifted, but what the regime actually seeks is access to new credit lines, so they can continue buying what they cannot produce.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Miami Strategic Intelligence Institute (MSI²).