A Sixty-Year Experiment: Is it Finally Time for Congress to Repeal the Cuban Embargo?

In February 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced a full trade embargo against Cuba.[1] Starting with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, through the codification of the embargo in the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996, and beyond, the United States has spent decades reinforcing economic sanctions against Cuba designed to not just restrict trade, but also to limit how much foreign aid Cuba can receive.[2]

            When announcing the embargo, President Kennedy declared that the Cuban government had aligned itself with the “subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet Communism.”[3] Tension between the United States and Cuba was a defining part of the Cold War, as Cuba’s proximity to the United States brought fears of communism’s spread closer to home. The Cuban embargo was just one part of the United States’ fight against communism and, by extension, the Soviet Union. The other initiatives, including a naval blockade[4] and invasion,[5] all came to an end by the time the Soviet Union fell in December 1991.[6] The question then arises – why has the Cuban embargo outlived not just these other policies, but the Soviet Union itself?

            Since the 1990s, the United States has rationalized its embargo by stressing the human rights abuses and anti-democratic policies of the Cuban government. President George W. Bush described Cuba as a “tropical gulag,” vowing to keep the embargo in place as long as “the regime maintains its monopoly over the political and economic life of the Cuban people.”[7] Nearly sixty years since the establishment of the embargo, international organizations report that the Cuban government continues to suppress speech and punish dissidents.[8] Over that same amount of time, however, the Cuban government has blamed the United States’ embargo for its citizens’ suffering.[9] The United Nations General Assembly has passed resolutions calling on the United States to end its embargo against Cuba every year for the past twenty-eight years, labeling the embargo a relic that harms the Cuban people.[10] The same international organizations that monitor human rights abuses by the Cuban government argue that the United States’ embargo deprives the Cuban people of economic and social rights.[11]

            In the first major policy shift in U.S.-Cuban relations since the rise of Fidel Castro, President Obama announced in 2014 that he would restore diplomatic relations and pursue new commercial ties with Cuba.[12] In doing so, President Obama aimed to mitigate a failed policy that restricts the Cuban people without effectively moving the government towards democracy.[13] President Obama’s actions did not lift the embargo; however, in combination with the restrictions he loosened in his first term, they allowed more opportunities for Americans to visit Cuba, lifted caps on financial aid to Cuban family members, and encouraged United States companies to begin establishing technological services on the island.[14] Of course, it took only a few years for President Trump to reverse many of these changes and revert back to the anachronistic policies of other administrations.[15]

            On November 7, 2020, applause broke out in Havana following the news that Joe Biden was elected the next President of the United States.[16] Though President-Elect Biden did not discuss U.S.-Cuba policy much during his campaign, an adviser indicated that his administration would be reversing some of the Trump administration’s restrictions.[17] If true, the Cuban people may once again see improved relations with the United States. Yet for all the good that may do, it cannot heal the damage done by decades of embargo. Further, as evidenced by the last two administrations, any executive action may not last.

Under the LIBERTAD Act of 1996, the President cannot lift the embargo unless Cuba adopts a democratically elected government.[18] Though some Presidential administrations in the future may approach relations with Cuba through a policy of inclusion, as opposed to exclusion, such initiatives are limited at best. It is time for Congress to admit that after sixty years, the Cuban embargo has failed to reform the Cuban government. Instead, it has succeeded in bringing condemnation from international allies and stifling the progress of the Cuban people. If the goal remains improving human rights in Cuba, Congress should repeal the Cuban embargo and adopt the more modern approach of diplomatic and commercial influence that the United States has cultivated with other formerly sanctioned countries.

Katherine Szabo is a staff member of Fordham International Law Journal Volume XLIV.

This is a student blog post and in no way represents the views of the Fordham International Law Journal.

[1] See Timeline| U.S.-Cuba Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-cuba-relations (last visited Nov. 1, 2020).

[2] See Dianne E. Rennack & Mark P. Sullivan, Cong. Rsch. Serv., R43888, Cuba Sanctions: Legislative Restrictions Limiting the Normalization of Relations (2018).

[3] Proclamation No. 3447 Title 3—The President Embargo on all Trade with Cuba, 27 Fed. Reg. 1085 (Feb. 6, 1962).

[4] See Forty Years Ago: The Cuban Missile Crisis, Prologue Mag. (2002), https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/fall/cuban-missiles.html.

[5] See JFK In History: The Bay of Pigs, John F. Kennedy Presidential Libr. and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/the-bay-of-pigs (last visited Nov. 1, 2020).

[6] See The Collapse of the Soviet Union, Office of the Historian, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1989-1992/collapse-soviet-union (last visited Nov. 1, 2020).

[7] Press Release, George W. Bush, President of the U.S., President Bush Discusses Cuba Policy (Oct. 24, 2007), https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/10/20071024-6.html.

[8] See World Report 2020: Cuba Events of 2019, Human Rights Watch (2020), https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/cuba.

[9] See generally Cuba: UN Members Overwhelming Support End of US Embargo, as Brazil Backs Washington, UN News (Nov 7. 2019), https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/11/1050891.

[10] See id.

[11] See Amnesty Int’l, The US Embargo Against Cuba: Its Impact on Economic and Social Rights, AI Index AMR 25/007/2009 (Sept. 2009).

[12] See Barack Obama, President of the U.S., Statement by the President on Cuba Policy Changes (Dec. 17, 2014).

[13] See id.

[14] See Michael Shifter, Viewpoint: Obama Secures Legacy with Cuba Policy Shift, BBC News (Dec. 18, 2014), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30538204.

[15] See J. Weston Phippen, Trump’s Cuba Policy Reversal, The Atlantic (June 16, 2017), https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/06/trump-cuba-policy/530514/.

[16] See, e.g., Nelson Acosta, Cubans Applaud Biden Win, Hope for Easing of Sanctions, US News (Nov. 7, 2020), https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-11-07/cubans-applaud-biden-win-hope-for-easing-of-sanctions.

[17] See id.

[18] See Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996, 22 U.S.C. § 6061.