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The Beginning of The Cuban Embargo
President Eisenhower approves a covert action plan against Cuba that includes the use of a "powerful propaganda campaign" in an attempt to overthrow Castro. The plan includes: the termination of sugar purchases, the end of oil deliveries, continuation of the arms embargo in effect since mid-1958, and the organization of a paramilitary force of Cuban exiles to invade the island. -
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Cuban Embargo Important Events
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A Taste Of No Medicine
October 19. U.S. imposes a partial economic embargo on Cuba that excludes food and medicine. -
No Trade Allowed
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 passes in the U.S. Congress. It prohibits aid to Cuba and authorizes the President to create a "total embargo upon all trade" with Cuba. -
Expansion of the Foreign Assistance Act
The Foreign Assistance Act is amended to prohibit aid to "any country" that provides assistance to Cuba. -
No Flying Zone
The Kennedy administration prohibits travel to Cuba and makes financial and commercial transactions with Cuba illegal for U.S. citizens. -
Negotiation
President Kennedy asks French journalist Jean Daniel to tell Castro that he is now ready to negotiate normal relations and drop the embargo. According to former Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, "If Kennedy had lived I am confident that he would have negotiated that agreement and dropped the embargo because he was upset with the way the Soviet Union was playing a strong role in Cuba and Latin America…" -
Making Up
In a TV interview from Mexico City, U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy urges the U.S. government to lift the embargo and normalize relations with Cuba. "I believe the idea of isolating Cuba was a mistake," says Kennedy. "It has been ineffective. Whatever the reasons and justifications may have been at the time, now they are invalid." -
Getting Back Together
Cuban-Americans are permitted to visit their families in Cuba. More than 100,000 visit in the coming year. -
Budgeting In Cuba
According to new regulations by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. citizens who travel to Cuba can only spend a maximum of $100 per day. -
Taking Down Castro Take Two
President Bush signs the Cuban Democracy Act into law. Congressman Torricelli says that it will bring down Castro "within weeks." -
Dropping The Embargo
By a vote of 137 to 3, the United Nations General Assemblyrecommends, for the 5th consecutive year, that the U.S. end the embargo against Cuba. -
Bureaus in Cuba
The Clinton Administration approves licenses for U.S. news organizations to open bureaus in Cuba. (The Cuban government allows only CNN into the island.) -
Dropping The Embargo Prt. 2
November 5. For the 6th straight year, the U.N. General Assembly passes a resolution to end the Cuban embargo. The vote is 143 to 3. -
Strict Budget
March 20. U.S. regulations on Cuba are amended as follows:
- U.S. citizens may send up to $1,200 annually to relatives in Cuba.
- Direct passenger flights are permitted, although implementation of these amendments is not immediate. -
Freedom?
US Senator Michael B. Enzi introduces the "Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act" on the floor of the senate: "If you keep on doing what you have always been doing," he says, "you are going to wind up getting what you already got. …We are not hurting the Cuban government; we are hurting the Cuban people. …It is time for a different policy."
