A Policy Long Past Its Expiration Date: US Economic Sanctions Against Cuba

In Cuba, people are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date, Pres Barack Obama declared in his 2015 State of the Union address. When what you're doing doesn't work for fifty years, it's time to try something new. Obama was referring to his dramatic announcement on Dec 17, 2014, that he intended to normalize relations with Cuba and seek an end to the US economic embargo. The embargo against Cuba -- or, as the Cubans call it, el bloqueo (the blockade) -- is the oldest and most comprehensive US economic sanctions regime against any country in the world. The embargo began during Pres Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration as US-Cuban relations deteriorated during the first two years after the Cuban revolution. Fidel Castro's anti-American rhetoric and his nationalization of US property convinced US officials that the Castro regime was incompatible with US interests (Current Basic US Policy 1959).