Hello, and welcome to the Latin America Weekly newsletter. In this issue: 60 years of the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Truck drivers protests break out in Chile. Áñez on trial for Bolivia coup.
Cuba: 60 years of the U.S. embargo
February 2022 marks the 60th anniversary of Proclamation 3447, by which U.S. President John F. Kennedy imposed an “embargo on all trade with Cuba.” According to a declassified U.S. government memo, the measure sought to bring down the island’s Communist Party by “provoking disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship.”
By the numbers. In 2018, the UN calculated that the embargo has cost Cuba USD 130 billion since its inception.
Zig-zags. Under former President Barack Obama, the U.S. began lowering tensions and pushing for bilateral relations between the two countries. Donald Trump, however, hardened sanctions and put Cuba back on the U.S. list of terrorism sponsors.
- These measures created barriers for Cuba to get much-needed medical supplies during the pandemic, smothered its tourism industry — which makes up 10 percent of GDP — and restricted ways Cuban-Americans can send money back to the island.
- Joe Biden promised to scale back Mr. Trump’s measures, but has yet...