The Cuban coups prevent the lifting of sanctions against Havana.
The Center for the American National Interest recently examined the continuation of the US embargo against Cuba and wrote: Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and the death of Castro, the embargo on Cuba continues due to contemporary US political dynamics.
The translation of the text of the article follows.
On February 3, 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 3447, which began the trade embargo against Cuba. Sixty years have passed since then, but the embargo continues for decades. However, the time has come to end the failed policy.
The problem with the sanctions against Cuba is that these sanctions were flawed from the beginning. Like many policies that date back to the Cold War, the embargo smacks of a capitalist-versus-communist lens. This lens was relentlessly used to view geopolitical issues during the Cold War, repeatedly distorting geopolitical issues and exacerbating threats.
The communist lens against capitalism actually created the brutal US policy of deliberately targeting civilians. The ground for the final embargo was initially a product of the Eisenhower administration’s attempt to weaken and degrade the communist regime of Fidel Castro by weakening the Cuban economy. The logic was based on the notion that only economic problems could weaken the immensely popular Castro so that his government could be overthrown. Kennedy committed to this policy after the embarrassment of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and Castro’s official declaration of Cuba as a socialist country in the Soviet camp.
Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and the death of Castro, the embargo on Cuba continues due to contemporary US political dynamics. The importance of Florida’s electoral district has kept the issue alive as both Democrats and Republicans do not want to lose a significant portion of the Hispanic vote. According to a 2018 Pew Research Center report, Cuban-Americans opposed to the Cuban government made up 29 percent of the registered Latino vote in Florida, while Latino voters made up 17 percent of the state’s total voting population. According to a Florida International University poll, 63 percent of Cuban-Americans in South Florida still support a trade embargo on Cuba. Additionally, 55 percent of Cubans in Florida believe that Cuba is a threat to the United States, while 74 percent support U.S. policies to maximize pressure on the Cuban government.
