Why Sanctions Have Not Worked

When Washington first imposed a trade embargo on Cuba in October 1960, it hoped to force Havana to abandon Marxism. Today, nearly 25 years later, the Cuban government is still Marxist, and it is one of Moscow's closest allies. The example is mentioned by Carmelo Mesa-Lago, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, as evidence that trade sanctions are at best only temporarily damaging. In the long run, he believes, the embargo against Nicaragua "will not work. History shows it did not work in the case of Cuba."

The longest-standing and strictest American trade restrictions...

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