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U.S. Blockade Against Cuba

Before the success of its revolution in January 1959, Cuba was essentially an economic colony of the U.S., with American investments of more than one billion pesos in the island country. After the revolution, the new government immediately implemented policies to reclaim its nation's wealth and put the economy in the service of the Cuban people. Big American monopolies, such as the United Fruit Company, were nationalized and the government began the long road of building an independent country.

The U.S. government responded by imposing an economic blockade of Cuba, which has continued in one form or another until today. With the goal of trying to cut Cuba off from the rest of the world and force it to back down from its independent stand, the U.S. has taken various measures and enacted legislation to blockade Cuba - legislation that is illegal under international law.

Initially, a partial blockade was implemented, which included imposing a quota on sugar, suspending oil supplies, refusing to refine crude oil or supply spare parts for machinery. When these measures failed to defeat the new Cuban government, in February 1962 President Kennedy implemented a full blockade through passage of a new section of the Foreign Aid Act by Congress. This remained in effect for the next 30 years, but failed to bring about the collapse of the Cuban regime.

In 1992, the American government moved to intensify the blockade by passing the Cuban Democracy Act, otherwise known as the Torricelli Bill. Its provisions included: imposing sanctions against other countries that traded with Cuba, particularly countries in Latin America; banning ships from entering U.S. ports if they had been engaged in trade with Cuba in the previous six months; funding and supporting groups involved in anti-Cuba activities both within Cuba and elsewhere - in particular ex-patriot Cubans in Miami who were known to be responsible for engaging in hundreds of terrorist acts against Cuba, including bombings and murder; ending American subsidiary trade - mostly of food and medicines - that had been taking place.

When these measures too failed to bring down the Cuban government, in 1996 the Clinton administration oversaw passage of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act. This legislation, known as the Helms-Burton Act, added further restrictions to the blockade. On the political front, it pressured other countries to adopt anti-Cuba positions including opposing Cuba's membership in international financial organizations and the Organization of American States, amongst others. Economically it attempted to intimidate foreign businesses into not investing in or trading with Cuba.

It was specifically in opposition to the Helms-Burton Act that Canada, in 1996, introduced the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act. This specifically forbids Canadian businesses from following this U.S. law.

The Helms-Burton Act includes numerous other hostile provisions. It and the other instruments of the U.S. blockade against Cuba have been condemned year after year by numerous countries and the United Nations.