The US embargo on Cuba is one of the world’s broadest and longest lasting trade disputes. It was triggered by a deep ideological fault line that emerged after the Cuban revolution, dividing US capitalism on the one hand, from Cuban communism on the other. Technically the embargo’s background stretches back to 1917, when, during the First World War, the Washington government adopted the Trading With the Enemy Act (TWEA), which was used to restrict trade between the US and hostile powers. Decades later TWEA was applied against Cuba. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 barred the Washington government from providing foreign aid to Cuba, authorising the president to maintain a total trade embargo. The US also piloted an early version of secondary sanctions through the Cuban Democracy Act (CDA) of 1992 which restricted US foreign aid to other governments if they, in turn, were aiding Cuba. There have been other laws tightening the trade ban, many of which are codified under the title Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR). The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act (LIBERTAD) of 1996 introduced further measures, for example authorising private legal action against persons who are deemed to traffic in property confiscated by the Cuban government on or after 1 January 1959 (the day Fidel Castro’s revolutionary government seized power). Broadly speaking, for political reasons bilateral relations have ebbed and flowed: following those pendular movements, so too has the embargo been tightened and relaxed.
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