Sanctions in Latin America

• 2000: Approval of The US Trade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act during the Bill Clinton presidency (1993-2001) is part of a limited thaw in bilateral relations, since it authorises certain exports of medical and agricultural goods to Cuba, as well as easing travel and financial transactions.
• October 2003: President George W Bush (2001-2009) announces a series of measures designed to hasten the end of communist rule in Cuba, including tightening the travel embargo and cracking down on illegal cash transfers.
• February 2008: Raul Castro formally sworn in as president of Cuba, replacing his brother, Fidel Castro, due to the latter’s ill health.
• April 2009: President Barack Obama announces plans to lift restrictions on family travel to Cuba and on the sending of remittances.
• December 2014: the administration of Obama says it intends to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba. A diplomatic thaw begins. The two sides release prisoners, ease travel restrictions, and allow certain kinds of previously blocked financial remittances.
• April 2015: the US government rescinds Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor or terrorism.
• September 2015: US Commerce Department relaxes rules on licence exceptions allowing limited trade in certain goods such as those relating to aviation safety.
• January 2017: Donald Trump of the Republican Party takes office in the US at the beginning of a four-year term, having campaigned on a nativist Make America Great Again (MAGA) platform. He opposes relaxing the Cuban embargo.
• November 2017: The new Trump administration reverses and limits the thaw that had been initiated by Obama. A regulation known as the “U-turn exception” which allows US financial institutions to process Cuba-related dollar payments between third parties is removed. Restrictions on dealing with entities deemed to be linked to Cuban military or security services are tightened. The scope to mount legal challenges to Cuban government asset seizures is widened.
• January 2021: Just days before the end of his term, Trump redesignates Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. On 20 January, Joe Biden of the Democratic Party takes over as the new US president.
• June 2022: Biden opts not to fully reinstate the Obama presidency’s thaw in relations with Cuba. However, a series of regulatory amendments to the CACR are introduced following a US foreign policy review which recommends facilitating family reunification, expanding travel, easing restrictions on remittances, and supporting the private sector.
• July 2022: Anti-government, pro-democracy protests break out across various cities in Cuba which are also motivated by the economic crisis and the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The US government responds by sanctioning various individuals, the Cuban police, and the Cuban interior ministry, under the terms of the Global Magnitsky Act.
• April 2023: Cuban and US government officials meet in Havana to discuss bilateral issues, reportedly including the possibility of taking Cuba off the state sponsors of terrorism list.
• November 2023: The UN General Assembly passes a resolution condemning the US embargo of Cuba, for the 32^nd time. In this case the resolution is approved by 187 of the general assembly’s 193 members, with two opposing it (Israel and the United States) and one abstaining (Ukraine).

According to an estimate made by the United Nations in 2018, since it began the US financial and trade embargo has cost Cuba over US$130bn in lost revenue. By mid 2024, six decades-plus after the initial imposition of sanctions by the United States, three very basic things seemed to be true. First, sanctions have deeply and adversely affected the Cuban economy. Second, they have not demonstrably eased the repressive political climate on the island or assisted any moves towards a more democratic system. Third, sanctions seem to have become ossified and politically self-sustaining. Amid the 2024 US election campaign, for example, none of the frontline candidates is proposing a review of their effectiveness or any kind of fundamental reset.