The United States and Cuba An Embargo for the Ages Essay

The United States and Cuba: An Embargo for the Ages Cuba’s colorful history can be documented to before the days of the American Revolution in 1776, but today, American policy directly affects many Cubans’ lifestyles because of a nearly 45-year-old trade embargo that has been placed on the island nation. It is crucial to analyze the development of Cuba and its neighboring island nations in order to discern the reasons for Cuba’s current political situation with the United States. The following paper will discuss the events that shaped Cuba and larger Caribbean nations like Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica; next, a detailed description of Cuba’s turbulent history will help in explaining the Cuban transformation into a†¦show more content†¦Another similarity is the struggles each country faced after gaining its independence. This will be a quick, but thorough overview of the manner in which each of these countries came into existence today. Christopher Columbus discovered Haiti in 1492 during his inaugural foray into the New World. The island that Haiti now shares with the Dominican Republic was dubbed ‘La Isla Espanola,’ shortened to Hispaniola. Despite this Spanish moniker, the western side of the island soon became an enclave for French Huguenots that had migrated to Hispaniola from the northwest side, via the island of Tortuga. The French took advantage of the Spanish capital, Santo Domingo, being all the way on the other side of the island, and they managed to established a vital trading post in their new territory they called Saint-Domingue, after the Spanish capital. By 1697, a treaty had been signed and the western portion of Hispaniola officially belonged to the French, who made the territory flourish. The French made Hispaniola thrive, producing sixty percent of the world’s coffee supply by the mid-18th century, utilizing land that the Spanish had neglected until the French took over (http ://www.haiti.org). As was the norm in colonial Caribbean island territories, slavery was the main source of labor in Haiti, and slavery practices were especially brutal here, as the majority of black slaves did not survive past the age of reproduction, asShow MoreRelatedShould the U.S. Government Drop Its Sanctions against Cuba?1676 Words   |  7 Pagesuse of force as a primary method of international coercion. Cuba is one of the countries considered as a rogue state by the United States and its allies. The emergence of Cuba as a communist country in the western hemisphere in 1960, and the nationalization of a huge amount of US assets in Cuba by the then new regime led to the sanctions against Cuba. However, starting from the end of the 1980’s the Communist block begin falling apart. Cuba lost its international allies and became helpless both economicallyRead MoreRelationship between Cuba and the United States1430 Words   |  6 PagesCuban Missile Crisis, Cuba is still a ruthless nation. 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