What was the purpose of the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba? Was it ever effective?

Guillermo J. Grenier

A couple of days ago the Quora bot posted a question that I thought required an answer worth sharing. I’ve been asked this question many times, in one way or another. Usually, it’s followed by the next logical question or questions: What embargo? or, Why does the United States still target Cuba for special sanctions since its geopolitical importance is insignificant? We won’t get into in this article, but I will share and expand a bit on the answer that I provided the bot.

Answer Number 1

To answer the first question in a word, ‘regime change’. Ok. Two words. The initial design of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, when implemented in the 1960s, was to choke the revolutionary government of Cuba into submission.

Cuba was dependent on the United States economically and politically so the good-money bet predicted that cutting off Cuba from the American import and export market and withdrawing its political blessing would create chaos on the island. This was not an illogical expectation.

The economic and cultural links between Cuba and the United States were forged during the 19th century and became stronger during…