The United States of America’s (“US”) embargo against Cuba is the most enduring trade embargo in modern history. For 60 years, the US asphyxiated the Cuban economy in the hope that the island’s authoritarian regime would crumble under the pressure. Yet, despite such hope, the embargo continues to hurt the Cuban people more than the regime itself as democracy remains a distant dream on the island. Such an unproductive policy must be abandoned, and a new approach must be taken if the US’s true desire is to help achieve democracy in Cuba. After six decades of vinegar, it is finally time for Washington to switch to honey and forge a diplomatic and productive relationship with Havana.

Although the embargo was designed to apply the economic pressure necessary to dismantle authoritarianism on the island, the reality is that the embargo has provided the regime with a scapegoat for the country’s pressing social and economic issues. While the Cuban people suffer under the embargo, the Cuban government is handed a convenient narrative in which US policy is painted out to be the key source of the Cuban people’s grievances. This scapegoating tactic is essential to the survival of oppressive institutions, as the legitimacy of an authoritarian regime hinges on the illusion that the people’s suffering is not a result of systemic issues with leadership, but rather external factors and actors. [1]

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has repeatedly blamed the US embargo for the nation’s significant economic troubles. For instance, speaking of the Cuban people’s hardships and the reasons for anti-government protests around the island, Díaz-Canel said, “What is their origin, what is their cause? It is the blockade”. So long as the embargo is in place, the Cuban government will never have to take full accountability for the suffering of its people.

Of course, supporters of the hardline stance may argue that the Cuban protests in the summer of 2021 were the greatest anti-government demonstrations the island had ever seen since Castro’s rise to power, and, therefore, signal the embargo’s success. However, it is important to note that Western media outlets exaggerated the size of these protests. By using images of pro-government rallies, and falsely captioning them as anti-government protests, media constructed the false narrative that Cuba is closer than ever to regime change. The creation of such inaccurate depictions in the media is incredibly dangerous, as policy must be informed by fact, not fiction. The fact that the Cuban people are nowhere near a future free from the shackles of authoritarianism is necessary to highlight, as it captures the undeniable reality that the embargo has failed to serve its purpose.

The embargo is as cruel as it is unproductive, as the punishment of the Cuban government extends to the millions of innocent Cubans who have been denied the right to health because of this policy. For instance, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, “the cargo carrier of Columbia-based Avianca Airlines declined to carry the donation of 100,000 facemasks and 10 COVID-19 diagnostic kits because its major shareholder is a USA-based company subject to the trade embargo on Cuba”. The obstacle this policy presented in the effort to send life-saving equipment to ordinary Cuban citizens further illuminates the cruel reality of the embargo.

The time to spark fundamental change in Cuba is now. The embargo that was born from Cold-War era hostilities must be abandoned, and the US must instead pursue a diplomatic and productive relationship with the island. By ending the embargo, the US can help the Cuban people’s pursuit of a better life, both by taking away the Cuban government’s power to construct a narrative that US policy is the source of all the nation’s struggles, and by actually removing the embargo-created obstacles to improving the quality of the Cuban people’s lives.

[1] Michael Reid, Forgotten Continent: A History of the New Latin America (Yale University Press 2017).

Sarah Nouri is a second-year master’s student at Northeastern University. She is in the Global Studies and International Relations program within the College of Professional Studies.