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While I think the embargo is stupid, it should be noted that it does not cover agricultural products or medical supplies. Both of those categories of goods are

by ch4s3 5y ago

While I think the embargo is stupid, it should be noted that it does not cover agricultural products or medical supplies. Both of those categories of goods are in VERY short supply in Cuba which imports more than 70% of their food and that number has been increasing over the last decade. They have the least productive agricultural sector in all of Latin America or the Caribbean. Cuban agriculture is choked by bureaucratic inefficiency, fuel shortages, disincentives for farmers and so on. The Cuban government is so bad at collecting the portion of crops they demand from farmers that the majority of some farms outputs rot and are never collected. The embargo has nothing to do with that. On the healthcare front, the Cuban government's only real export is doctors which they churn out at a dizzying rate and send abroad to generate state revenue. They could spend some of that revenue importing or manufacturing medication and medical supplies, but they do not. You can not find aspirin or antibiotics outside of clinics for foreign medical tourists in Cuba. These are the stated complaints of the protestors. Again, the embargo is bad policy and makes peoples' lives worse. Moreover, the embargo give a convenient excuse to the Cuban government for its malfeasance, but it isn't the reason things are so shitty. Their government just doesn't deliver basic goods and services.

ModernMech 5y ago
> is choked by bureaucratic inefficiency, fuel shortages, disincentives for farmers and so on...The embargo has nothing to do with that. Bureaucratic inefficiency and disincentives for farmers aside, the fuel shortage seems directly tied to the embargo: HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba must implement emergency measures to stave off an acute fuel shortage in September caused by the Trump administration’s efforts to block oil shipments to the country, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Wednesday. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-economy-idUSKCN1VX01S https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-economy-idUSKCN1VX01...
- ch4s3 5y ago
  They've been having fuel shortages since the collapse of the USSR, which were temporarily alleviated at the height of Venezuelan production int he early 2000s. As Venezuelan production slid (due to the ham handed firing of striking workers by Chavez) relations started to thaw with the US in 2015-2016. At that time there was more wiggle room for trade. In 2017 that move was unilaterally reversed by the US, which I agree was bad policy. However Cuba has offshore oil which they've failed to develop, either with the help of Venezuela pre 2015 or with Pemex, Russian, or Chinese investment. The problem is that even when Cuba was trading with the USSR, Venezuela, Bolivia, China, etc. they never managed to build any local industry, and as such have nothing to trade for oil. None of these trade partnerships were effected by the embargo. If Cuba had any foreign reserves or anything at all to trade they could buy gas from any number of places that are opposed to uS interests. I agree the embargo sucks, but Cuba was letting crops rot in the field when they had oil. The government just sucks. They could have tried to regularize relations like Vietnam did in 1995 and implement pragmatic reforms, but they have continued to stay the course with ruinous policies in the name of political purity.
- 908B64B197 5y ago
  Of course, the regime will blame the embargo and not itself for the shortage.
hristov 5y ago
The embargo effectively covers agricultural products because it bans any private institutions from funding agricultural trade. Since the great majority of trade happens with the aid of import/export banks that essentially curtails any agricultural trade. See this US congressional report that explains it pretty well: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R46791.pdf https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R46791.pdf
908B64B197 5y ago
> These are the stated complaints of the protestors. Again, the embargo is bad policy and makes peoples' lives worse. Moreover, the embargo give a convenient excuse to the Cuban government for its malfeasance, but it isn't the reason things are so shitty. Their government just doesn't deliver basic goods and services. They know they can trade with 180+ countries right? And that the embargo can be lifted in as little as a week; all the regime has to do is return property that was stolen during the coup and transition to a democratic government. The fact that they prefer mass starvation and people dying because they can't get medicine should tell us all we need to know about the current regime.

by ch4s3 5y ago

ModernMech 5y ago

> is choked by bureaucratic inefficiency, fuel shortages, disincentives for farmers and so on...The embargo has nothing to do with that. Bureaucratic inefficiency and disincentives for farmers aside, the fuel shortage seems directly tied to the embargo: HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba must implement emergency measures to stave off an acute fuel shortage in September caused by the Trump administration’s efforts to block oil shipments to the country, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Wednesday. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-economy-idUSKCN1VX01S https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-economy-idUSKCN1VX01...

ch4s3 5y ago
They've been having fuel shortages since the collapse of the USSR, which were temporarily alleviated at the height of Venezuelan production int he early 2000s. As Venezuelan production slid (due to the ham handed firing of striking workers by Chavez) relations started to thaw with the US in 2015-2016. At that time there was more wiggle room for trade. In 2017 that move was unilaterally reversed by the US, which I agree was bad policy. However Cuba has offshore oil which they've failed to develop, either with the help of Venezuela pre 2015 or with Pemex, Russian, or Chinese investment. The problem is that even when Cuba was trading with the USSR, Venezuela, Bolivia, China, etc. they never managed to build any local industry, and as such have nothing to trade for oil. None of these trade partnerships were effected by the embargo. If Cuba had any foreign reserves or anything at all to trade they could buy gas from any number of places that are opposed to uS interests. I agree the embargo sucks, but Cuba was letting crops rot in the field when they had oil. The government just sucks. They could have tried to regularize relations like Vietnam did in 1995 and implement pragmatic reforms, but they have continued to stay the course with ruinous policies in the name of political purity.
908B64B197 5y ago
Of course, the regime will blame the embargo and not itself for the shortage.

hristov 5y ago

The embargo effectively covers agricultural products because it bans any private institutions from funding agricultural trade. Since the great majority of trade happens with the aid of import/export banks that essentially curtails any agricultural trade. See this US congressional report that explains it pretty well: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R46791.pdf https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R46791.pdf

908B64B197 5y ago

> These are the stated complaints of the protestors. Again, the embargo is bad policy and makes peoples' lives worse. Moreover, the embargo give a convenient excuse to the Cuban government for its malfeasance, but it isn't the reason things are so shitty. Their government just doesn't deliver basic goods and services. They know they can trade with 180+ countries right? And that the embargo can be lifted in as little as a week; all the regime has to do is return property that was stolen during the coup and transition to a democratic government. The fact that they prefer mass starvation and people dying because they can't get medicine should tell us all we need to know about the current regime.