Sara Kozameh at the Los Angeles Review of Books:
Cubans call it “el bloqueo” (the blockade). In the United States, we know it as “the embargo.” Technically speaking, US economic sanctions against Cuba comprise a set of laws in place since 1962 that prevent most avenues for trade between the two nations. However one refers to it, it is the longest trade embargo in modern history, and arguably one of the harshest. The measure was passed by President John F. Kennedy two years after the culmination of the Cuban Revolution, when armed insurgents toppled US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista and ushered in an era of leftist radicalism and social transformation. Upon taking power in 1959, the insurgents’ leader, Fidel Castro, swiftly nationalized the land and assets of US nationals and companies across the island. Vastly underestimating the popularity of Castro and his movement, the US government responded with the sanctions and their explicit goal to “bring about hunger, desperation, and the overthrow” of the regime.
While a trade embargo implies legal constraints on bilateral economic trade, the term blockade carries a heavier connotation.
More here.
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