The Economic War Against Cuba: A Historical and Legal Perspective on the U.S. Blockade

It is impossible to fully understand Cuba today without also understanding the economic sanctions levied against it by the United States. For over fifty years, these sanctions have been upheld by every presidential administration, and at times intensified by individual presidents and acts of Congress. They are a key part of the U.S. government’s ongoing campaign to undermine the Cuban Revolution, and stand in egregious violation of international law. Most importantly, the sanctions are cruelly designed for their harmful impact on the Cuban people.

In this concise and sober account, Salim Lamrani explains everything you need to know about U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba: their origins, their provisions, how they contravene international law, and how they affect the lives of Cubans. He examines the U.S. government’s own official documents to expose what is hiding in plain sight: an indefensible, vicious, and wasteful blockade that has been roundly condemned by citizens around the world.

Salim Lamrani is Docteur ès Études Ibériques et Latino-américaines at the University of Paris- Sorbonne Paris IV, and associate professor at the University of La Réunion. As a widely published French journalist, he specializes in Cuban-American relations. Besides being a regular guest lecturer in France, Lamrani has lectured widely around Europe, Latin America, and the United States, and has spoken in the company of Noam Chomsky, Ken Livingstone, Ignacio Ramonet, and Howard Zinn, among others. He is also a commentator for Radio Miami in Florida and Opera Mundi in Brazil.

Paul Estrade is professor emeritus at the University of Paris VIII and a recognized expert on contemporary Hispanic Caribbean history. He is considered the most knowledgeable French scholar of the works of José Martí, the Cuban national hero, and Ramon Emeterio Betances, the principal figure in the Puerto Rican independence movement against the Spanish Empire.

Wayne S. Smith, a professional diplomat, has been an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University since 1985 and director of the Cuba program at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C. since 1992. He is considered the premier U.S. specialist on relations between Cuba and the United States. Smith received a PhD from George Washington University and has served in diplomatic posts in the Soviet Union, Argentina, and Cuba, where he witnessed the victory of the Cuban Revolution firsthand. In 1961, he was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as Executive Secretary of the Working Group on Latin America, and from 1979 to 1982 he served as head of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba.