The United States-led economic blockade against Cuba is extreme, immoral and illegal. It began in 1962 when President John F. Kennedy moved to suffocate the small Caribbean nation – a response to the Cuban Revolution’s nationalisation of U.S. owned property and assets.

US corporations’ properties that were nationalised were actually compensated by the Cuban government. For years however, companies had been corruptly under-declaring the value of their operations for Cuban taxation purposes. The revolutionary government simply compensated the low declared value.

In April 1960, U.S. Undersecretary of State, Lester D. Mallory wrote, “every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba… [By] denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government”.

Having failed to defeat the Cuban Revolution militarily through the Bay of Pigs mercenary invasion launched from Miami in 1961, the U.S. turned to economic warfare and political subversion. Therein was born the draconian Cuban Assets Control Regulations. Following the collapse of Soviet and Eastern European socialism in the early 1990s – Cuba’s most important trading partners – more stringent measures were imposed, including the Cuban Democracy Act and the LIBERTAD Act.

After a ‘thaw’ of sorts under Obama which saw a reduction in the number and severity of restrictions, the blockade has been tightened by Trump and the ever-hawkish Biden. Until today, Cuba remains on the ‘state sponsors of terror list’ – for its role in peace talks between the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The economic blockade aims to attack economic development and the wellbeing of the Cuban population by cutting off income and investment, while isolating it from the rest of the world. Because third parties are punished under the sanctions, both nations and businesses are often unable to have economic relations with Cuba without facing heavy penalties from the United States.

In 2022, Cuba estimated that the U.S. blockade had cost the nation $154.22 billion. It has impacted every aspect of Cuban society, causing of severe shortages of food and medicine for Cuba’s 11 million citizens.

The blockade is also illegal. Punishing the Cuban people for the nationalisation of assets owned by US corporations, sugar barons and mafiosos in the 1960s falls under the category of “collective punishment”. According to Médecins Sans Frontières’ Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law:

“International humanitarian law posits that no person may be punished for acts that he or she did not commit. It ensures that the collective punishment of a group of persons for a crime committed by an individual is also forbidden, whether in the case of prisoners of war or of any other individuals”.

At the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in November 2022, 185 countries voted in favour of a non-binding resolution condemning the U.S.-led embargo on Cuba. This was the 30th time the UN has voted to condemn the blockade. Only the U.S. and Israel voted against.

At any one time, there are tens of thousands of Cuban medical workers across the world. In November 2019, the United Nations estimated that there were over 30,000 Cuban doctors active in over 67 countries. Cuba even offered to send 1,600 medics, field hospitals and 83 tons of medical supplies to the U.S. in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 – an offer turned down by President George W. Bush.

The Cuban Revolution has achieved remarkable feats. For many of us, it is an inspiration and reminder that a better world is possible.

Imagine what the Cuban Revolution could achieve if it was freed from the scrouge of economic blockade and suffocation.

End the blockade now! Let Cuba live!