Thoughts and opinions on Cuba
The US embargo on Cuba needs to end
In his op-ed entitled, “Cuba has been under US embargo for 60 years. It’s time for that to end”, columnist David Adler writes a compelling argument supporting the humanitarian need to abolish this cold war relic that unfairly punishes the island nation of Cuba.
Adler works through a number of explanations of where this relic of cold war diplomacy has failed and has had a catastrophic and regressive impact on Cuba. One could even argue that the impact of the embargo has ultimately had the opposite than planned outcome and maintained Cuba’s Communist system when globally there are very few bastions of the Communist system in existence.
One only has to visit Cuba to see and understand the impact on the six-decade old embargo the United States placed on Cuba back in the days of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Having personally visited the island I can attest that this embargo continues to detrimentally affect the residents of this island nation.
The everyday commodities that most of us enjoy are non-existent of if they do, are reserved for as a method for foreign tourists to spend their hard currencies in Cuba which the country desperately needs.
As a small country Cuba has limited options for generating hard currency, currency that is needed to pay for much needed imports on the global market. The US embargo prohibits US companies and citizens from buying Cuban products.
According to “Statista.com”, roughly 9 per cent of the world’s population is over the age of 65. The missile crisis occurred in 1962 so this would mean that roughly 90 per cent of the world’s population wasn’t even alive when the crisis occurred and thus has no first-hand knowledge of what led to the crisis and how it ultimately unfolded.
Worse yet, with the collapse of the mighty Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba lost its primary benefactor and all aid to the island was lost. This loss of Soviet support threw the Cuba into an economic freefall that had a devastating impact on the people of Cuba.
One only has to visit Cuba to see and understand the impact on the six-decade old embargo the United States placed on Cuba back in the days of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Having personally visited the island I can attest that this embargo continues to detrimentally affect the residents of this island nation.
The world has changed significantly over the last 60 years and it’s time the US government came into the 21stcentury and scraped their repressive embargo on Cuba. The island is not a threat to the American way of life. Canada’s policy is an example what American policy should mirror.
Related articles:
“Cuba has been under US embargo for 60 years. It’s time for that to end” by David Adler
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/03/cuba-us-embargo-must-end
Proportion of selected age groups of world population in 2021, by region
https://www.statista.com/statistics/265759/world-population-by-age-and-region/