The actions of Fidel Castro are what led the United States to putting an embargo on Cuba. Castro immediately lost American support by enacting laws that were consistent with the philosophy of Communism, even though at the time, Fidel had not officially announced he was a communist. For example, one of Fidel’s first laws was the First Agrarian Reform Law, which “limited the size of land holdings and forbade foreign property ownership”(Raul). Fidel Castro also “imposed heavy taxes on imports from the U.S. In the first year of Castro’s regime, U.S. trade with Cuba decreased 20%” (Fabry). These events indicated to the United States that Fidel Castro was going to turn Cuba into a communist country. At the time, with the Cold War going on, communism was generally viewed as evil by the United States and its citizens. This caused President Eisenhower to place trade restrictions on most products by not food and medicine. Castro responded by trading more with the Soviet Union, which was exactly not what the United States wanted. The United States then completely dissolved relations with Cuba and President Kennedy put into place a complete trade embargo (Fabry). The embargo negatively affected both countries. It hurt Cuba more than it did the United States, but the impact on the U.S. want not small. After the embargo was put into effect, the United States’ Chamber of Commerce noted that, “it [would] cost the United States $1.2 billion annually in lost sales of exports” (Cuba Embargo). Although the economy was able to support itself, American farmers could feel the loss in demand for certain products. This was the worst that the embargo had in store for the United States, but the outcome would be tragically worse for Cuba. The embargo did not only hurt the Cuban economy, it caused the people of Cuba to suffer as well. Cubans
The actions of Fidel Castro are what led the United States to putting an embargo on Cuba. Castro immediately lost American support by enacting laws that were consistent with the philosophy of Communism, even though at the time, Fidel had not officially announced he was a communist. For example, one of Fidel’s first laws was the First Agrarian Reform Law, which “limited the size of land holdings and forbade foreign property ownership”(Raul). Fidel Castro also “imposed heavy taxes on imports from the U.S. In the first year of Castro’s regime, U.S. trade with Cuba decreased 20%” (Fabry). These events indicated to the United States that Fidel Castro was going to turn Cuba into a communist country. At the time, with the Cold War going on, communism was generally viewed as evil by the United States and its citizens. This caused President Eisenhower to place trade restrictions on most products by not food and medicine. Castro responded by trading more with the Soviet Union, which was exactly not what the United States wanted. The United States then completely dissolved relations with Cuba and President Kennedy put into place a complete trade embargo (Fabry). The embargo negatively affected both countries. It hurt Cuba more than it did the United States, but the impact on the U.S. want not small. After the embargo was put into effect, the United States’ Chamber of Commerce noted that, “it [would] cost the United States $1.2 billion annually in lost sales of exports” (Cuba Embargo). Although the economy was able to support itself, American farmers could feel the loss in demand for certain products. This was the worst that the embargo had in store for the United States, but the outcome would be tragically worse for Cuba. The embargo did not only hurt the Cuban economy, it caused the people of Cuba to suffer as well. Cubans