A Deeper Look Into The Cuban Economy.
A Closer Look at the Impacts of The Cuban Embargo
A little bit of context...
The country of Cuba is known throughout the world for its rich rum, delectable cigars, and of course, its communist values. As you may know, Cuba has had an embargo placed on them since 1962 by President John F. Kennedy. The Embargo does place a heavy economic burden on Cuba, but to what extent does the embargo impact Cuba's ability to trade with foreign nations? and to what extent does the embargo hinder Cuba's capability to develop economically?
Well for a start, as we can see in Figure 1, in 2021 Cuba had the lowest economic complexity technology out of 96 countries, and out of 226 countries Cuba has one of the lowest export and import values. Cuba's economy is not growing as fast as compared to other countries, but this does not mean that the embargo is the sole purpose for Cuba to be struggling economically, to get a better understanding we need to go back a couple of decades.
Figure 1: Shows us how Cuba's Economy compares to other countries in the world in terms of Economic Complexity, Research, Imports, and Exports.
Cuba:Pre-Embargo...
There are a couple of major events that you need to understand as to why the United States placed the embargo and why Cuba's economy fell in the mid to late 1900's.
- The Fall of Batista.
- Cuba Revolution.
- Bay of Pigs invasion.
- Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Fall of Fulgencio Batista:
The history of Batista is a complicated one. Batista came to power after overthrowing the previous Cuban dictator, Gerardo Machado. He then became president and established a new Cuban constitution. In 1952, when Cuba was electing a new president he tried to run again, but he wasn't the most popular among the Cuban population. Since he was about to lose the election he took control of the Cuban military and established himself as a dictator backed by the United States government due to his ideologies being aligned with the United States' capitalist ideologies. He remained in power until Fidel Castro took over in 1959.
The Cuban Revolution 1956-1959:
In 1956, Fidel Castro led a group of Cuban exiles to overthrow Batista and his tyrannical rule. He launched the attack from the south end of Cuba called The Sierra Maestra Mountain Range. After 3 long years of fighting Batista's military forces, Castro finally succeeded in 1959 and took over the Cuban government. Once Castro took over, Cuba declared itself a communist state.
Bay of Pigs Invasion 1961:
The Bay of Pigs Invasion occurred in 1961. This invasion was initiated by the United States government because they feared how close of a relationship Cuba had with the Soviet Union. In an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government, The United States launched this attack with a small army of Cuban exiles backed by CIA forces who backed them up with training, planes, and ships. Due to some miscommunication between the United States government and Cuban exiles, this attempt failed and it only lasted 3 days before the Cuban military overpowered these forces. (Click place mark for more information)
Cuban Missile Crisis 1962:
The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred after Cuba established ties with Russia and the Soviet Union. After this relationship was established, the Soviet Union sent over missiles to Cuba to defend themselves from United States attacks. They sought military and economic assistance from this powerhouse to have some sort of protection in case the United States tried to invade Cuba again. To try and weaken the Cuban government, the United States placed a trade embargo in 1962 to try and prevent Cuba from gaining more economic power and to make a statement that they do not support the relationship between Cuba and the Soviet Union. (click placemark for more information)
(Top to Bottom: Click on "figures" for references) Figure 1.2 , Figure 1.3 , Figure 1.4 , Figure 1.5 .
The Cuban Economy...
For this section, we will be looking at the amount of money countries have spent when trading goods and services with Cuba. For this, we will be looking at a total of 4 countries:
- Spain
- South Africa
- United States
- China
Total Money Spent 1995 | Total Money Spent 2000 | Total Money Spent 2005 | Total Money Spent 2010 | Total Money Spent 2015 | Total Money Spent 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spain | $92.4M | $159M | $168M | $164M | $135M | $118M |
Table 1: Money spent on Cuba from each country from 1995-2021 (M=Million dollars, K= Thousand Dollars) || Source|" OEC WORLD "| " World Bank "||
Figure 1.6: Money Spent on Cuba by Spain 1995-2000 (1 Meter= $210)
Figure 1.7: Money Spent on Cuba by Spain 2005-2010 (1 Meter= $210)
Figure 1.8: Money Spent on Cuba by Spain 2015-2021 (1 Meter= $210)
Total Money Spent 1995 | Total Money Spent 2000 | Total Money Spent 2005 | Total Money Spent 2010 | Total Money Spent 2015 | Total Money Spent 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
South Africa | $39K | $940K | $2.77M | $9.7M | $1.98M | $701K |
Table 2: Money spent on Cuba from each country 1995-2021 (M=Million dollars, K= Thousand Dollars) || Source|" OEC WORLD "| " World Bank "||
Figure 1.9: Money Spent on Cuba by South Africa from 1995-2000 (1 meter= $12.12)
Figure 2.0: Money Spent on Cuba by South Africa from 2005-2010(1 meter= $12.12)
Figure 2.1: Money Spent on Cuba by South Africa from 2015-2021(1 meter= $12.12)
Total Money Spent 1995 | Total Money Spent 2000 | Total Money Spent 2005 | Total Money Spent 2010 | Total Money Spent 2015 | Total Money Spent 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | $642K | $265K | $560K | $347K | $1.2M | $2.9M |
Table 3: Money spent on Cuba from each country 1995-2021 (M=Million dollars, K= Thousand Dollars) || Source|" OEC WORLD "| " World Bank "||
Figure 2.2: Money Spent on Cuba by The United States from 1995-2000 ( 1 Meter= $562.5)
Figure 2.3: Money Spent on Cuba by The United States from 2005-2010 ( 1 Meter= $562.5)
Figure 2.4: Money Spent on Cuba by The United States from 2015-2021 ( 1 Meter= $562.5)
Total Money Spent 1995 | Total Money Spent 2000 | Total Money Spent 2005 | Total Money Spent 2010 | Total Money Spent 2015 | Total Money Spent 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
China | $184M | $81.1M | $218M | $735M | $308M | $419M |
Table 4: Money spent on Cuba from each country 1995-2021(M=Million dollars, K= Thousand Dollars) || Source|" OEC WORLD "| " World Bank "||
Figure 2.5: Money Spent on Cuba by China from 1995-2000 (1 Meters= $918.75)
Figure 2.6: Money Spent on Cuba by China from 2005-2010 (1 Meters= $918.75)
Figure 2.7: Money Spent on Cuba by China from 2015-2021 (1 Meters= $918.75)
When looking at the impact that the Cuban embargo has on their ability to trade with these 4 countries is quite small. However, there are still a lot of factors that need to be considered when looking at the data. For example, we need to look at the change in leadership in the United States because they are the ones in control of deciding how strict or loose they enforce the embargo.
For example, in 2014 President Obama made significant progress to try and establish a relationship with Cuba. Obama was one of the first presidents to visit Cuba since the embargo was created. He even removed Cuba from the terrorist watch list ( The White House Archives, 2015) . In conclusion, there are so many other factors to take in when trying to understand the holistic impacts of the embargo. For example, economic mobility, economic opportunities in these countries, and national events happening or have happened in these countries( Pandemics, Civil wars, migration patterns). This research only took into consideration Gross Domestic Products, imports, and exports so this project does not take in any other factors when analyzing the raw data collected. More research needs to be conducted to fully understand the impacts of this embargo.
