Description
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, several U.S. administrations implemented additional economic sanctions policies on Cuba that further restricted trade, travel, and communications, and negatively impacted the island’s political and economic development. The unilateral nature of these sanctions was internationally opposed because of the severity of the restrictions that not only targeted Cuba but also third-party countries and firms that conducted business there. One of the most visible societal and economic transformations that resulted was increased disastrous effects on the country’s most vulnerable communities. This thesis traces the political, economic, and social implications of the economic sanctions implemented in Cuba in the late 1990s. It evaluates how the communities experienced and responded to a U.S. policy of economic strangulation within the international market. This country-level thematic analysis of economic sanctions in Cuba suggests that the policy of financial manipulation and resource restriction widened economic, political, and social inequality in Cuba. Despite partial relaxation of the sanctions from subsequent U.S. administrations, marginalized and subaltern groups continued to find themselves in situations of socioeconomic scarcity and political disenfranchisement. A critique-focused analysis of the rise and tightening of U.S. policies toward Cuba supports the economic sanctions literature linking the restriction of resources and economic development to the suffering of innocent civilians. Using the lessons from the Cuban case, I attempt to draw connections from the elasticity of the sanctions to the quantifiable human suffering experienced by the most vulnerable populations. To alleviate the violation of a nation’s political, economic, and social freedom, policymakers must treat the removal of the inhumane foreign policies toward Cuba as a valid goal within the development of international diplomacy. Consequently, the human rights violations of long-enduring economic sanctions confirm the necessity of creating more humane approaches to foreign policy that respect the dignity, sovereignty, and autonomy of the targeted state.
