When it comes to Cuba, much of the debate in the United States is centered around subversive propaganda. While there are plenty of reasons to criticize the Cuban government today and throughout history, as with any government, attempting to rationalize the decades of oppressive measures against the Cuban people quickly becomes hyperbolic. Many data points are true, such as rampant poverty and a persistently struggling economy, but anyone refusing to address the biggest reasons for those struggles, the U.S.-imposed economic embargo, is dishonest.
One phrase we often see is “economic mismanagement,” which grossly overlooks what the U.S. Department of State calls an “economic embargo.” The policy has been in place for decades, meant to force a leadership change in Cuba. The idea was to make the people suffer enough that they would bow to the U.S.’s demands for regime change. Claiming Cuba suffers due to economic mismanagement in an environment where over 1,000 economic sanctions stand in the way is brutally disingenuous.
As Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory explained in 1960, “Every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba…denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.”
For decades, that policy persisted, and since the Cuban people refused to bend, it would lead to multiple CIA-backed terrorist attacks and biological warfare against the Cuban people. Actions that did nothing but foment discontent with the U.S. on the island. Also casting doubt on assertions that the Cuban people on the island want to overthrow their government is the high participation rate in elections, a key indicator of support. Many outside of Cuba say that Cuba isn’t democratic, while most Cubans on the island say direct democracy simply looks different.
Looking at the 2022 referendum that codified LGBTQ rights into Cuba’s family code, which the Minnesota Journal of Law and Inequality described as “a remarkably democratic process,” is yet another marker of support. The referendum and previous ones like it highlight what Cubans mean and why they see hope for additional reforms in the future. These added contexts, while not justifying anything the Cuban government does or doesn’t do, provide a much more realistic perspective about Cuba than anti-Cuba hardliners would suggest.
“While Cuba’s government is derided as dictatorial by Western media and politicians, the 2022 Family Code was passed through a remarkably democratic process,” said Buchanan Waller of the Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality
This brings us to so many other dishonest talking points that have had decades to fester.
Government Criticism
One of the most prominent arguments to rationalize the suffering imposed on millions of Cubans is that they can’t criticize their government. The truth is, Cubans criticize their government often, even publicly declaring their displeasure with Cuba’s current president, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez. This has been noted in my reporting and in the reporting of many other independent outlets not afraid to tell the truth about Cuba and to talk with Cubans on the island, such as Belly of the Beast Cuba and Breakthrough News.
It’s when speech becomes subversive, anti-government, and calls for foreign intervention that it can become a problem, just as it is in much of the world, including the United States, where free speech has limits. We don’t have to look far in history to see how the U.S. has targeted free speech; the McCarthy era, the Civil Rights Era, the Black Lives Matter era, and even today, under both Democratic and Republican presidents. The argument can be made that the Cuban government comes down harder in sentencing people than the U.S. does, sure. But ignoring the suppression of speech in the U.S. and Europe while deriding Cuba is dishonest, at best.
Rampant Poverty
People using this argument like to point to Cuba and say, “If socialism is so successful, why is everyone poor?” One only has to look at the more than 1,000 economic sanctions imposed on the island to see where that comes from. Ignoring one of the most glaring issues in modern foreign policy history is disingenuous. It discounts that for more than three decades, the world has been calling for an end to the U.S.-imposed economic embargo in an annual UN vote that the U.S. has vetoed each time.
To get an idea of just how in-depth and crippling the sanctions on Cuba are, the lists of sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Department of State Restricted Entities List, and the Department of Commerce Export Controls alone are overwhelming. Adding legislation such as Trade Sanctions and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act (LIBERTAD) of 1996, Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2370(a)(1)-(a)(2)), Sections 5 and 16 of the Trading With the Enemy Act, and the insurmountable executive orders shows just how damaging the embargo is.
No Economic Embargo
Many Cuban Americans on social media often claim that there is no economic embargo because they argue that Cuba can trade with any country it wants to. They often post these in Spanish to try to reach Cubans on the island with this outrageously blatant lie. Their posts are informed by disinformation articles from groups like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a U.S. government-funded group tied to many coups in Latin America.
“A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA,” said a former acting president of NED, Allen Weinstein, in a 1991 interview. “The biggest difference is that when such activities are done overtly, the flap potential is close to zero. Openness is its own protection.”
As previously mentioned, the sanctions that constitute the embargo are extensive. One of the more damaging policies in recent years has restricted Cuba from purchasing anything with more than 10% U.S. parts in it. This sanction alone covers nearly everything essential that Cuba needs. Any product under this category or originating in the United States requires a license from the U.S. government.
During his first term, Trump enacted this policy at the behest of anti-Cuban hardliners who have consistently advocated for making the Cuban people suffer and have a blatant disregard for Cuban voices on the island. For private corporations and foreign governments, the roadblocks are extensive and costly, inevitably leading to the U.S. simply denying licenses. For Cuba, it means lost access to medical equipment and critical parts to upgrade its power grid or maintain various sectors, such as transportation.
Food and Medicine Are Exempt From Sanctions
This argument is untrue. The aforementioned policy limiting anything with 10% U.S. parts in it is just the latest in a long line of sanctions that bar everything from medicine to food products. When it comes to medicine, U.S. policy treats raw pharmaceutical ingredients not as medicine, but as industrial chemicals. Even travelers to Cuba who want to bring medicine are limited to 22 lbs, and any aid over $800 requires a license. In addition, nothing can be sold to Cuban government entities, which administers the country’s healthcare and agricultural system.
While the U.S. claims it doesn’t block food and medicine from getting to Cuba, lawmakers have created a web of roadblocks that are nearly impossible to overcome. Cuba can only purchase food on a cash-upfront basis, making the acquisition of large imports nearly impossible. Cuba’s cash flow is further limited by being blocked from access to world banking systems. Additionally, for Cuba’s agriculture sector, which was for decades devastated by CIA chemical warfare, Cuba has no access to pesticides, fertilizers, and farming equipment made with U.S. parts or ingredients, further restricting the country’s ability to grow its agricultural industry.
The U.S. Exports to Cuba
On the surface, this is true. But when looking at the numbers and weighing the impacts of that trade, it’s minuscule compared to the damage being done to Cubans every day. Many will point to the $500 to $800 million that the United States exports to Cuba each year. However, when you consider that there are about 10 million Cubans on the island, that amounts to $50 to $80 per person, per year.
Again, Cuba operates on a cash-and-barter system through initiatives such as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) People’s Trade Agreement (TCP), which serves to counteract U.S. control over free trade in Latin America. Everything Cuba receives from other countries has to be paid for either by upfront payments or trade. Meanwhile, trade from the U.S. accounts for about 6% of Cuba’s total import needs.
Conclusion
While many Cuban Americans will say el bloqueo (the blockade) is a lie perpetrated by the Cuban government, the truth is that the data offered by the U.S. government, the National Institute of Health (NIH), and countless scholars across academia dispute that, while highlighting the negative impacts of the U.S. embargo on Cuba. The dishonest discourse serves one purpose: to rationalize starving millions of people to achieve a far-right political agenda. Many U.S. citizens don’t know even a small amount of truth about Cuba, but everyone has an opinion, and they usually echo the Department of State propaganda.
The truth about Cuba is far more complex than the surface-level logic that alleges “dictatorship” at the drop of a hat. It’s much deeper than shouting “repression” while ignoring the same activity in the West, particularly against nonwhite groups. Some of the motivating factors are also based on hyperbolic claims that gloss over the fact that many Cubans who fled the island were white and fleeing desegregation after the Revolution. In an environment where the United States is attempting to starve millions of Cubans, we must be careful with our rhetoric.
Let this article serve as a tool to counter any disingenuous points. Let’s finally start adding the much-needed context to the conversation. It could save countless Cuban lives.
I’m an independent journalist digging deeper into the stories you see or don’t see on the news. Find my work at Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, Orinoco Tribune, and more. I’m also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a donation via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.
Great piece 🤌
I appreciate learning from you! Cuba was *nothing like* I imagined it would be, visiting there in 2019, after hearing a lifetime’s worth of propaganda.