The Cuban Embargo

Cuba is a nation that has been conquered by many people over the years and because of decolonization it is hard for the Cuban people to get rid of the rulers who wanted to influence their history. Fidel Castro gave the Cuban people independence. He was a forceful and cunning dictator who controlled the country and negatively effected the economy. The United States did not support the arrogant dictator’s establishment of communism which led to an economic downfall. Due to Castro 's insistence on practicing communism, the Cuban economy suffered as the government nationalized businesses while the United States implemented a trade embargo which resulted in homelessness and unemployment. Cuba has dramatically changed since the end of World War

The United States did not support the dictatorship of Castro and as a result they embargoed Cuba, completely cutting off trade between the countries. “In the 1950s more than two-thirds of Cuban foreign trade was with the United States. By 1961 Cuban-U.S. trade was down to 4 percent, and it soon ceased entirely under U.S. government embargo policies (Levinson).” The country of Cuba heavily relied on the United States for exporting their main goods. The embargo had a negative impact on the Cuban economy because Cuba could no longer export their goods to their biggest foreign country of trade, resulting in money loss. Castro wanted the embargo to be lifted, so the Cuban economy could thrive again. The fact Castro wanted the embargo to be lifted demonstrated how impactful the embargo was on the Cuban economy. “Castro began pressing the United States to lift the trade embargo it had imposed upon Cuba since the revolution. The U.S. government remained firm, however, refusing to negotiate with Cuba on trade matters until Castro ended his dictatorial regime (Newsmakers).” The fact that Castro began to press the United States to lift the trade embargo shows how desperate Castro was and how impactful the embargo was. Castro realized how the embargo was causing the economy to spiral downhill and wanted it to be lifted so his

With a communist government, the government controlled everything and it aggravated the Cuban people. Nothing could be privately owned because majority of property and businesses were publicly owned by the government. “The government’s control of several key sectors of the economy—including transportation, construction, agriculture, and retail sales- was significantly reduced… as a continuation of the economic reforms (Levinson).” Castro established a communism government in hopes for it to be beneficial and help the economy thrive even more. He instituted harsh business enforcement which made the people unhappy and caused them to lose money and status. Because of extreme business enforcement, many people became unemployed, homeless, and starving. The government was too controlling and it resulted in the downfall of the economy. With the establishment of communism, many people’s businesses were put to an end and many Cubans lost a lot of their wealth and property. Other Cubans that got to keep their businesses had to share their earnings with the government, making little money for themselves. “They lost everything they owned to Communist Cuba, which seized private property for the state in order to build a socialist regime (Tkacik).” The initiation of communism in Cuba lead to Cuban businesses being destroyed and taken over. Because of communism,