Embargo? What Embargo?

[Sandokan]

For over 30 years the embargo was a non-issue. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Castroist regime received support from ideological bedfellows such as the USSR, China, Venezuela and Iran and there is already plenty of tourism income from the other major countries of the world.

 

[Sandokan]

Blockade, Schmockade: Cuba spent $38 million on imports from U.S. in August, $280 million thus far in 2024 | Babalú Blog (babalublog.com)

October 14, 2024 by Carlos Eire

Big lie, big snake
From our Bureau of Socialist Shopping Sprees with some assistance from our Bureau of Big Lies That Keep Getting Bigger and Bigger

Some blockade, huh? Castro, Inc. bought cars, trucks, food, razors, ink, and even some human blood from the U.S. during the month of August. And it had to pay cash for all of these goods. The total bill for Cuba’s imports from the U.S. since January has now reached nearly $ 280 million.

Yet, Castro, Inc. keeps blaming the “blockade” for all of its failures. Good thing the U.S. insists on cash purchases only. Imagine what kind of bill Castro, Inc. would be racking up if it could buy on credit, and how much debt would have to be eventually forgiven at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.
Click link above for full article.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary this is the definition: “Blockade: the isolation by a warring nation of an enemy area (as a harbor) by troops or warships to prevent passage of persons or supplies.”

A blockade historically took place at sea, with the blockading power seeking to cut off all maritime transport from and to the blockaded country. Blockades should not be confused with embargos, which are legal barriers to trade.

 

[Sandokan]

Embargo: A legal prohibition by a government on certain or all trade with a foreign nation (trade embargo). As we can see the economic sanctions of U.S. against the Castroist tyrannical regime is an embargo, not a blockade. The U.S. embargo is to the communist system and its members and not the Cuban people.

 

[Sandokan]

The United States embargo was enacted in response to the illegal expropriation of properties belonging to US citizens by the Castro brothers’ military tyranny, with a value of over $1 billion at the time of the expropriation. Taking into consideration that 65 years has passed since those claims were made; the actual value of the claims including inflation and interest is close to $ 8 billion.

 

[Sandokan]

The United States government’s embargo has had little effect on the Cuban economy, since it only represents 6% of Cuba’s commerce with the rest of the world. The embargo only affects the American companies and their subsidiaries. The rest of the countries, around 190 and companies are free to conduct business with Cuba and are doing so.

 

[Sandokan]

Cuba is a bankrupt inefficient country that doesn’t generate the wealth necessary to a healthy trade. The embargo was a self-inflicted consequence of the treacherous confiscation of US owned property in Cuba, and nothing else. You don’t do business with those who steals from you.

 

[Sandokan]

What the Castroist tyrannical regime really wants are loans and lines of credit guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury Department, since it doesn’t have hard currency to pay the interests on the lines of credit for the importation of merchandise. These credits will not be paid, and the American taxpayers will be the losers, the ones to pick up the debt.

 

[Sandokan]

Cuba’s problems are not the result of the embargo; they are due to the corruption and ineffectiveness of a system that is against private property and free enterprise. These and no others are the real reasons of the problems

 

[Sandokan]

Lifting the embargo and travel ban, without meaningful changes in Cuba, will: Guarantee the continuation of the current totalitarian structures; strengthen state enterprises, since money will flow into businesses owned by the Castroist regime; lead to greater repression and control since the leadership will fear that U.S. influence will subvert the revolution and Delay instead of accelerate a transition to democracy on the island.

 

[Sandokan]

Lift the Cuba Embargo? You don’t need to look further; here you have the answer from the “horse” mouth: “It is necessary to impose financial, economic and material restrictions to dictatorships, so that they will not take roots for long years….Diplomatic and morals measures do not work against dictatorships, because these make fun of the Governments and the population.” Fidel Castro, “Fidel Castro and Human Rights”, Editora Política, Havana, Cuba, 1988. What better justification of the embargo than his own words.

 

[Sandokan]

What will bring "Change" to Cuba are free elections, the freeing of all political prisoners, and the implementation of a market economy. Everything else is “mental masturbation!”

 

[Sandokan]

Communism is the social system which institutionalizes envy, which uses pressure and the organized violence of the State to expropriate wealth from those who produce. Everything is shared by everyone and control by the government, there are no incentives to work and compete. A large percent of the Cuban people fake that they work, and the farmers do the minimum, since the regime pay them the minimum.

 

[Sandokan]

Top US diplomat in Havana promises more sanctions on Cuba | Reuters

By Dave Sherwood

May 23, 2025

• Summary
• Trump administration intensifies sanctions, adds Cuba to terrorism sponsor list
• Embassy chief Hammer travels Cuba, engages with dissidents and citizens
• Cuban government blames US embargo for economic crisis, disputes Hammer's claims

HAVANA, May 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. has more sanctions in store for Cuba, the U.S. top diplomat in Havana said on Friday, just days after the U.S. punished several Cuban judicial officials for their roles in jailing political dissidents on the island nation.
Click link for full article.

During the second Trump administration, on January 20, 2025, it restores Cuba to the “State Sponsor of Terrorism” list with an executive order, revoking the previous one by the Biden administration.

 

[Sandokan]

Three Cuban judges and a prosecutor have been forbidden from entering the United States due to a "gross violation of human rights" in the case of Cuban dissident Luis Robles. He was arrested while protesting in the capital Havana in December of 2020 and holding a sign that read "Liberty" and "No more Repression", and charged with "disobedience" and "enemy propaganda." The judges and prosecutor played a critical role on Roble’s prosecution.

 

[Sandokan]

Mike Hammer, a career U.S. diplomat, the new ambassador in Havana, has traveled around the country, talking with dissidents, small-business owners and Cubans of all walks of life. He says that the people recognize that worsening of the economy is not due to the embargo, but to the mismanage of the Cuban regime.

 

[Sandokan]

Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), on behalf of the Cuban military, control a number of companies in Cuba, including the Cuban Export-Import Corporation (CIMEX), which control over 60 percent of the Cuban economy. Sanctions by the Trump admiration will redirect foreign currency from the Cuban military to the private sector.

 

[Sandokan]

An investigation by the American newspaper uncovered that GAESA, Cuban military conglomerate, kept up in March last year, about $18,000 million in assets, of which $14,500 million were deposited in unidentified bank accounts. These accounting documents show that the company controlled by the Armed Forces not only survived the US sanctions, but also achieved multimillionaire income while Cuba suffered blackouts, food shortages and collapse of basic services.