The 48-year U.S. embargo on Cuba aims to deny resources to the Castro regime by prohibiting most trade, travel, and financial transactions with Cuba. The Depts. of Commerce, Homeland Security, Justice, and the Treasury are responsible for enforcing the embargo as well as protecting homeland and national security. Since 2001, U.S. agencies have changed the embargo¿s rules in response to new laws and policies. This report examines: (1) the rule changes in 2001-2005 and their impact on U.S. exports, travel, cash transfers, and gifts to Cuba; (2) U.S. agencies¿ embargo-related activities and workloads; and (3) factors affecting the embargo¿s enforcement. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.
This is the first book that explores whether there are any rules in international law applicable to unilateral sanctions and if so, what they are. The book examines both the lawfulness of unilateral sanctions and the limitations within which they should operate. In doing so, it includes an analysis of State practice, the provisions of various international legal instruments dealing with such sanctions and their impact on other areas of international law such as freedom of navigation, aviation and transit, and the principles of international trade, investment, regional economic integration, and the protection of human rights and the environment. This study finds that unilateral sanctions by a state or a group of states against another state as opposed to 'smart' or targeted sanctions of limited scope would be unlawful, unless they meet the procedural and substantive requirements stipulated in international law. Importantly, the book identifies and consolidates these requirements scattered in different areas of international law, including the additional rules of customary international law that have emerged out of the recent practice of States and that increase the limitations on the use of unilateral sanctions.
It is impossible to fully understand Cuba today without also understanding the economic sanctions levied against it by the United States. For over fifty years, these sanctions have been upheld by every presidential administration, and at times intensified by individual presidents and acts of Congress. They are a key part of the U.S. government’s ongoing campaign to undermine the Cuban Revolution, and stand in egregious violation of international law. Most importantly, the sanctions are cruelly designed for their harmful impact on the Cuban people. In this concise and sober account, Salim Lamrani explains everything you need to know about U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba: their origins, their provisions, how they contravene international law, and how they affect the lives of Cubans. He examines the U.S. government’s own official documents to expose what is hiding in plain sight: an indefensible, vicious, and wasteful blockade that has been roundly condemned by citizens around the world.
This Analysis was presented live by the author in a seminar at St Thomas University School of Law. A book made out of A research paper. A research paper divided in three parts: a Plan, a Presentation, and a Draft on an Analysis on the US Economic Sanctions & the Cuban Embargo.
Since the early 1960s, the U.S. has maintained an embargo on Cuba through various laws, regulations, and presidential proclamations re: trade, travel, and financial transactions. In Sept. 2009, Treasury and Commerce published regulatory changes that further ease some embargo restrictions. These amended regulations further ease restrictions on travel, remittances, gifts, and exports to Cuba. This correspondence describes: (1) the Sept. 2009 changes to the embargo; (2) options available to the Pres. to further modify the embargo; (3) actions that the Pres. can or must take in the event of certain changes in the Cuban gov¿t.; and (4) possible congressional actions to end the embargo. Charts and tables.
US Policy Towards Cuba is a comprehensive examination of U.S. policy towards Cuba after the Cold War, from 1989-2008. It discusses the competition between Congress and the executive for control of policy, and the domestic interests which shaped policymaking and led to the passage of two major pieces of legislation (the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 and the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996, better known as the Helms-Burton Act) which tightened the embargo on Cuba and were fiercely resisted by U.S. allies. There is also a strong focus on migration as an issue in U.S.-Cuban relations. The book then moves on to examine U.S. policy during the second Clinton administration, when the interest group environment altered for two principal reasons. Firstly the case of the small Cuban rafter boy, Elian Gonzalez, attracted huge media coverage and led to public questioning of the wisdom of current policy, and secondly the agricultural lobby, keen to export to Cuba, lobbied for the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act, which finally passed in 2000. The final section of the book analyses democracy promotion efforts under President George W. Bush. Seeking to cast light upon the US policymaking process, Gibbs demonstrates that U.S. Cuba policy represents a rather extreme example of the influence of domestic politics on policymaking, and provides a significant contribution to this important and under-researched aspect of U.S. foreign policy.
Immigrants and the weight of their past -- Immigrant imprint in America -- Immigrant politics : for whom and for what? -- The personal is political : bonding across borders -- Cuba through the looking glass -- Transforming transnational ties into economic worth -- Dollarization and its discontents : homeland impact of diaspora generosity -- Reenvisioning immigration.