• @roastpotatothief
    link
    63 years ago

    How the the embargo ever get imposed, if it would have required a unanimous vote?

    • The embargo only concerns the United States; the terms of the embargo changes every once in a while but mainly what it does is any ship that stops in Cuban ports can not stop in Amerikan ports for the next year. Since the US is a much bigger trading partner than Cuba (although Cuba still does export sugar, cigars and rum), most ships choose to avoid Cuban ports completely so they don’t close themselves off to the United States. When you have these giant freighters you would be operating at a loss if you stopped in Cuba but not in the US.

      While on the side topic of Cuban cigars, the only reason they’re illegal in the US is because of the embargo. They’re not any more dangerous or different than other cigars but because there’s an embargo, Cuban products are also not allowed in US supermarkets. You can get them easily in other countries though. Cuba is basically not allowed to trade with the US, through unilateral decision of the USA, and so for example they can’t open bank accounts in the US (which could help with trading, all countries do that).

      The embargo is illegal in the sense that both the US and Cuba are members of the UN and its various orgs and it is not allowed per the charter to restrict trade like this – and that’s why this UN resolution to lift it gets raised every year. But since the UN is actually powerless, and the US is still the prime superpower for now, they can’t do anything about it. They were allowed to declare the embargo because in 1960, who were you gonna side with? The tiny island nation, or the “winner” of WW2? Certainly if they tried today things would probably go different.

      You can also read the resolution above here: https://undocs.org/en/A/75/L.97 if you’re interested.

      • loathesome dongeater
        link
        fedilink
        23 years ago

        Yeah this is it. The US unilaterally imposes sanctions and other countries and their corporations follow it otherwise they would get embargoed by the US too.