Most of the interesting points in this discussion have already been made ... but just FYI for anyone reading this thread and believing absolutely everything CasuallyRed says: the US embargo on Cuba specifically exempts food and medicine from its provisions. (Not that that is any excuse for its international bullying to be excused, but...). Yes, everythign else down to printer cartridges is covered and yes the US even attempts to extend this outrage to allegedly "allied" countries thru Helms Burton (i.e. British travel agencies which deal with Cuba being monstered and told they can't use paypal / mastercard / amex to process payment from UK clients, etc.)
Cuba is indeed free to trade with any other country in the world other than the US (that's willing to withstand US pressure) and has shortages even of the food which is (or should be) produced inside the country ... leading many Cubans I know to conclude that many shortages are not in fact generated by the embargo but by internal inefficiency, red tape, command economy not working, and corruption and theft at every level.
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But it patently isnt free to trade with countries. Those countries may not be subject to US sanction but their companies are .Countries dont trade in a globalised capitalist economy, companies and firms do. While the United states cannot stop a country trading per se it can stop a firm by means of threats of severe financial repercussions, fines, hassles, jail sentences, extradition and even rendition ,extra territorial measures. For most companies in the world theres a stark choice, either trade with a multi billion dollar powerhouse or a small impoverished island. Its not hard to guess what most choose. But youve consciously described that as
free to trade with countries...it patently isnt.. It amounts to countries not being free because their local companies arent. While some consciously do trade with Cuba for most its simply not worth the hassle. Because in economic terms it simply isnt and businesses arent charities.
We even had a situation here in Ireland were there was a nightclub in Galway called
Cuba.It turned out the staff couldnt get their pay processed simply because the bank ..or more precisely its european head office..freaked out at the name and blocked the processing. Thats an indication of the extra territorial methods used to strangle the economy.
Another thing. You mention US law permits the sale of foodstuffs and some medicines. What you deliberately omit to mention is how such sales are actually carried out . First of all theres no credit permitted,no US firm is permitted extend any line of credit as is normal . It has to be paid up front with dollars there and then before its permitted leave a warehouse...the dollar mind isnt Cubas currency so they have to be accrued from a variety of sources.Even the payment itself cannot be made direct, it has to go through a third country. Which leads to more sources taking their cut from the transfer and multiple currency conversions and more delay.
. US beauraucracy then has to issue a raft of licenses and permits and until thats done...at the US governments pleasure..it goes nowhere.
Its then not a simple matter of it going to Cuba, it has to go to a third country first and then be unloaded. And it cant go to Cuba until theres a ship willing to take it. Because any ship that goes to havana cant enter a US port for the next 6 months. For most independent shipping it doesnt make any business sense to take stuff to Havana, unsurprisingly. Now, unsurprisingly this massive fucking rigmarole causes delays. And when theres delays then very simply those foodstuffs arent in the shops on time. And very often they go off...because its food thats been sitting in a panamanian warehouse going nowhere. And sometimes live animal exports that just die . For the Cubans even buying this stuff from the Americans accrues tens of million dollars in losses, one estimate over a 100 million dollars a year racked up in unneccessary fees and logistical losses. For a small poor country like Cuba losing 100 million dollars unnecessarily is simply disastrous.
So as its basically not really worth the trouble of buying food from them, and timely deliveries cant be guaranteed, they have to look elsewhere. Trouble is elsewhere is a lot further away, and therefore also expensive. And Cuba is poor, at least in terms of hard currency.
You also never mentioned that 3 massive hurricanes in a row have wiped out a lot of Cuban agriculture, which tends to cause the odd shortage or 2 given the difficulties involved. Its been sort of important.
But youd have us believe its going into Fidels pocket instead because one of the women in white told you.
