Cuban Embargo Crisis

Cuba and America are only separated by ninety miles, but until 2016 a president had not been there in almost ninety years, a cruise ship has not landed there in over forty years, and commercial flights between the countries had not been around for fifty years. Relations between the U.S. and Cuba were not toxic until Fidel Castro took power in 1959. In the 1960s relations quickly plummeted before remaining in a constant state of isolation for both countries until 2008 when Raúl Castro replaced Fidel and Obama became President. In the past two years, relations between America and Cuba have increased significantly leading to a larger amount of immigrants entering into the United States. Since the 1960s Cuba has been an important part of U.S. foreign …show more content…
Kennedy sent a group of Cuban exiles to Cuba to overthrow Fidel Castro. This event was referred to as the Bay of Pigs and was a failure as the Cuban army defeated the exiles in less than three days. Less than a year after Bay of Pigs, JFK announced an embargo on Cuba that restricted trade and travel. This embargo completely ravaged Cuba’s economy. “The embargo [resulted] in a loss of approximately $1.126 trillion over the next fifty years, according to Cuban government estimates” ("Timeline: U.S.-Cuba Relations"). Also during Kennedy’s presidency was the Cuban Missile Crisis, which took place from October 14, 1962 to October 28, 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis refers to when the U.S. satellites discovered Soviet missiles in Cuba and in response ordered a naval blockade on Cuba that lasted thirteen days. The last major act of the sixties involving Cuba came in 1966 when Congress passed the Cuban Adjustment Act that allowed anyone who flees from Cuba to the United States to be able to apply for citizenship ship after one year. After the sixties, the next major act came in 1996 when the U.S. passed the Helms-Burton Act which tightened the embargo that was still in place on Cuba from 1962 ("Timeline: U.S.-Cuba …show more content…
Guantanamo Bay is a U.S. detention facility located in Cuba that the U.S. has used since 2002 to mainly hold international criminals. After being sworn in as president in 2009, Obama made an Oval Office vow to shut down the prison, but he faced objections and legal issues. In February 2016, Obama presented a plan to Congress to close Guantanamo Bay that included, “transferring the bulk of remaining detainees to other countries and moving the rest -- who can 't be transferred abroad because they 're deemed too dangerous -- to an as-yet-undetermined detention facility in the United States” (Liptak, Labott, "Guantanamo Bay: Obama Sends Closure Plan to Congress”). There are ninety one remaining prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. It is said that thirty five are in the final stages of being resettled in other coutnries, ten are to undergo military tribunals, and the remaining forty seven are subject to review. Many of the prisoners are hoped to be transferred by the summer of 2016 (Liptak, Labott, "Guantanamo Bay: Obama Sends Closure Plan to Congress”). With the upcoming election in November of 2016, Obama only has a limited time to complete the vow he made to shut down Guantanamo Bay before the responsibility is passed on to his