The singers Beyonce and Jay-Z have sparked controversy in the USA with their recent visit to Havana to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. For 53 years there has been a trade embargo placed on Cuba by the United States. Under the terms of this embargo, US citizens are not technically prohibited from visiting Cuba, but it is illegal fro them to spend money in the country without a license from the Treasury. These licenses are usually restricted to journalists, students and citizens with Cuban relatives.
The first restrictions were imposed on Cuba in October 1960, in retaliation to the decision of the Cuban government to nationalise the property of American citizens and companies. In February 1962, President John F Kennedy extended these trade restrictions into a near watertight embargo. The embargo was lapsed by Jimmy Carter in 1977, but this was re-imposed by Ronald Reagan in 1986, when the President simultaneously tightened immigration requirements for Cuban nationals entering the USA.
The measures taken against Cuba were codified into law under the Cuban Democracy Act stating that the sanctions would be maintained so long as the Cuban government refuses to move toward “democratization and greater respect for human rights”. The American government then pushed these sanctions further under the Helms-Burton Act which restricts US citizens engage in business with Cuba and in fact prevents any public/private assistance to be given to any successor government without stringent conditions being met. Hilary Clinton, the Secretary of State, feels the ban on Cuban-American family travel should be lifted, stating that “Cuban-Americans are the best ambassadors for democracy, freedom and a free-market economy”.
Despite the strict rules on visiting Cuba, the embargo is regularly flouted by US citizens, who circumvent the restrictions by entering Cuba via countries such as Mexico or Canada, and lying to officials on their return. If caught, the offence carries a maximum of ten years imprisonment. The flexibility of the American people’s attitude extends to Congress, with President Kennedy asking his press secretary Pierre Salinger to pop across to Cuba and buy 1,200 of his favourite brand of Petit H Upmann Cuban cigars immediately before prohibiting trade in 1962.
The embargo has been met with fierce criticism and the UN General Assembly has passed over twenty resolutions against the US embargo of Cuba (for its most recent resolution in 2012, see: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/67/4). The embargo has had a drastic effect on the health of the Cuban population causing malnutrition and poor access to particular US-produced drugs. The embargo has also had an impact on breast cancer, which has been raised by the US-Cuba Medical Project, a humanitarian organisation dedicated to sending medical supplies to Cuba and was confirmed in a report by the UN Refugee Agency:
“More than 1,000 women in Cuba die of breast cancer each year and many of these deaths can be ascribed to the United States economic embargo. Before the early 1990′s every Cuban woman over 35 received regular mammograms and comprehensive early detection programs were in place throughout the country. Today, as a result of the [embargo], spare parts for the best mammography equipment, produced only by U.S. companies or subsidiaries, are not available and equipment is in disrepair. Shortages in medicines and supplies are having an equally devastating effect.”
Daniel Griswold, Director of the Cato Institute’s Centre for Trade Policy studies, writing for the Guardian emphasises the futility of the embargo:
“The embargo has been a failure by every measure. It has not changed the course or nature of the Cuban government. It has not liberated a single Cuban citizen. In fact, the embargo has made the Cuban people a bit more impoverished, without making them one bit more free. At the same time, it has deprived Americans of their freedom to travel and has cost US farmers and other producers billions of dollars of potential exports.”
Politically, US politicians continue to pay lip service to the embargo, and the recent visit by Beyonce and Jay Z (whose visit was fully licensed by the US authorities) has attracted debate and criticism. In an open letter to the office of foreign assets control, two members of Congress called for an investigation into the Carters’ visit to Cuba. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wrote:
“Despite the clear prohibition against tourism in Cuba, numerous press reports described the couple’s trip as tourism and the Castro regime touted it as such in its propaganda. US dollars spent on Cuban tourism directly fund the machinery of oppression that brutally represses the Cuban people”.
The criticism of the singers is also leveled at the Obama administration, with the implication the President’s office was complicit in granting the license. The couple are close to President Obama, with Jay-Z appearing as the warm-up act in many of Obama’s election campaigns, and Beyonce famously lip-synched the national anthem at the President’s recent second inauguration.
For further information, please see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jun/15/cuba-us-trade-embargo-obama
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/apr/09/beyonce-jay-z-cuba-us-treasury?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/08/us-usa-cuba-beyonce-idUSBRE93600V20130408
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,IRBC,,CUB,,3df4be284,0.html
If you are interested in issues such as this then you may wish to attend our International Relations Summer School on the 5th-9th August.