Economical With the Truth
28th September 2021
It is a particular fantasy of the western left that the abject failure of the Cuban economy is somehow the fault of the USA. For example, some 58 British Corbynista and SNP MPs have recently signed a motion attacking what they call the US “blockade” of Cuba.
Of course there is no blockade, only a partial embargo. The two are absolutely different. A blockade would require the US to prevent the movement of goods and people to and from Cuba. The US laws that constitute the embargo only limit what US citizens and companies can do in relation to Cuba. They don’t prohibit Cuba from doing anything.
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Ending the US embargo wouldn’t make much difference to Cuba. Its essential problem is the failure of its economic model. The regime is not only unable to breed chickens. Prior to the communist takeover the largest Cuban export to the US was sugar, and the second largest export was coffee. Both sectors have been largely destroyed as a consequence of nationalisation and under-investment.