Sanctions as Silent Sabotage
The Actors: Architects and Victims of Coercion The Cuban Government: Currently led by President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, it faces the immediate operational challenge of maintaining essential services, including air travel and critical imports. Their primary incentive is regime survival and maintaining domestic stability amidst external pressures. The United States Government: Specifically, the
Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the State Department. These entities are responsible for enforcing the comprehensive economic embargo against Cuba, initially formalized in 1962 and significantly tightened under various administrations. The stated incentive, which has remained remarkably consistent since the Cold War, is to promote 'democracy' and 'human rights' by
disrupting the Cuban socialist system. International Airlines: Carriers such as Air France, Copa Airlines, and others mentioned in previous reports (e.g., El País, 2022) are commercial entities caught between market demand and sanction policies. Their incentive is profit maximization and risk avoidance. The Funding: A Century of Economic Squeeze The U.S. embargo against Cuba is arguably the
longest-standing and most comprehensive sanction regime in modern history. The economic cost to Cuba is estimated by its government to be over $144.4 billion by 2022 (Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2023). A key component is the application of extraterritorial reach, notably through the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 and the Helms-Burton Act of 1996. These laws allow for secondary sanctions