Forty-seven years ago, President Kennedy initially erected the economic embargo that prevents commerce and travel to Cuba—and it has only stiffened with the ensuing US administrations. Depriving the island of its closest and most optimal trading partner has forced the Cuban government and its firms to incur the extra costs of buying and selling goods and services farther afield. Cuba can neither import needed medicine and scientific supplies, exploit the natural market for its tourism industry, nor often send its scientists, artists, and athletes to participate in events held in the US. In addition to the human suffering, the blockade has cost Cuba more than $86 billion over the course of its implementation.
Although limited agricultural cash sales to the island are now permissible, the US continues to lose out on over $3 billion per year due to the blockade. Its imposition divides families and impinges on US citizens’ constitutional freedoms to travel.
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