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October 19. U.S. imposes a partial economic embargo on Cuba that excludes food and medicine.
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September 4. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 passes in the U.S. Congress. It prohibits aid to Cuba and authorizes the President to create a "total embargo upon all trade" with Cuba.
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August 1. The Foreign Assistance Act is amended to prohibit aid to "any country" that provides assistance to Cuba.
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August 21. The U.S. announces that it will allow foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies to sell products in Cuba, and that it would no longer penalize other nations for trade with Cuba.
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March 19. U.S. President Carter drops the ban on travel to Cuba and on U.S. citizens spending dollars in Cuba.
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January 1. Cuban-Americans are permitted to visit their families in Cuba. More than 100,000 visit in the coming year.
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January. Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as U.S. President, and institutes the most hostile policy against Cuba since the invasion at Bay of Pigs. Despite conciliatory signals from Cuba, the new U.S. administration announces a tightening of the embargo.
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April 19. The Reagan Administration reestablishes the travel ban, prohibits U.S. citizens from spending money in Cuba, and allows the 1977 fishing accord to lapse.
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October 15. U.S. Congress passes the Cuban Democracy Act, which prohibits foreign-based subsidiaries of U.S. companies from trading with Cuba, travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens, and family remittances to Cuba. The law allows private groups to deliver food and medicine to Cuba. (At this time, 70% of Cuba's trade with U.S. subsidiary companies was in food and medicine. Many claim the Cuban Democracy Act is in violation of international law and United Nations resolutions that food and medicine cannot
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November 24. The United Nations General Assembly votes heavily in favor of a measure introduced by Cuba asking for an end to the U.S. Embargo. The vote is 59 in favor, 3 against (the U.S., Israel and Romania), and 79 abstentions. State Department spokesman Joe Snyder in the LA Times; "The Cuban government, in violation of international law, expropriated billions of dollars worth of private property belonging to U.S. individuals and has refused to make reasonable restitution. The U.S. embargo - a
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March 20. U.S. regulations on Cuba are amended as follows:
- U.S. citizens may send up to $1,200 annually to relatives in Cuba.
- Direct passenger flights are permitted, although implementation of these amendments is not immediate. -
January. The Clinton administration announces changes to the embargo, which include:
- Sales of some food and agricultural products to private individuals and non-governmental organizations,
- An increase in the number of charter flights to Cuba,
- Allows anyone (not just Cuban-Americans) to send up to $1,200 per year,
- Allows major league team, the Baltimore Orioles, to arrange two exhibition games, on in Cuba, the other in the U.S., and
- Increases the amount of money a U.S. visitor can spend -
July 11. US President G.W. Bush approves $80 million to be used for "boosting democracy in Cuba." The fund is the result of proposals from a commission (members of which include Condoleezza Rice and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez) exploring "US policy towards Cuba after the eventual death of Fidel Castro." The Cuban government refers to this as an "act of aggression," and Cuban dissident-journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe considers the fund "…counterproductive. I believe Cubans have to be the
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November 8. For the 15th straight year in a row, the UN General Assembly votes overwhelmingly on a resolution to demand an end of the US embargo against Cuba. The vote is 183 in favor of the resolution (to end the embargo) and 4 against, with the nation of Micronesia abstaining. Voting with the US is Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau.
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To this day the embargo on Cuba stands for reasons us Americans don't even know.
