Can We Blame the Embargo for Cuba's Poverty?

See The Cuban Socialist Paradox: Is Cuba rich from socialism, or poor from the embargo? by Benjamin Williams,. He is a fellow with FEE's Henry Hazlitt Project for Educational Journalism. Excerpt:

"We’ve established that Cuba’s prosperity is a myth. But here the Left falls back on their second claim: that Cuba is only poor because of the US embargo.

Yet, even Fidel Castro and Che Guevara didn’t believe this narrative. Their accounts suggest that the embargo, far from crippling the Cuban government, actually strengthened the revolution and solidified anti-US sentiment. When asked if the US blockade was effective, Castro said it was effective “in favor of the revolution.” Political scientists like Steve Chan and A. Cooper Drury argue that “sanctions may create a ‘boomerang effect.’ Instead of increasing public discontent against the ruling elite, they may produce a ‘rally ’round the flag’ syndrome and stiffen the target population’s resolve to resist foreign coercion. Economic hardship can be attributed to the externally imposed embargo rather than the incumbent regime’s poor performance.”

Guevara said the embargo would do “nothing” to the Cuban economy. But why? In a 1985 interview, Castro explained in more detail. He said that other socialist countries “not only pay us much higher prices and sell their products to us at lower prices, but also charge us much lower interest for credit.” We can confirm this with the historical evidence provided by Cuban economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago. In his book Market, Socialist, and Mixed Economies, he points out that Cuba began trading with socialist countries like the Soviet Union as early as 1960, and confirms that “all socialist imports combined significantly surpassed US imports in the early part of that year.” This challenges the argument that the embargo was the primary cause of Cuba’s economic difficulties, as these economic struggles became apparent immediately following the revolution.

Most effects of the embargo were not felt until the fall of the Soviet Union in the early ’90s. So Cuba went through 30 years of economic struggle while being propped up by the USSR. There was a substantial downturn in the ’90s because of this, and the Cuban government resorted to moderate liberalization reforms to offset the resulting problems. The success of these reforms is further proof that Cuba would be better off as a capitalist nation."

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