Economic Sanctions: Agencies Face Competing Priorities in Enforcing the U.S. Embargo on Cuba

The 48-year U.S. embargo on Cuba aims to deny resources to the Castro regime by prohibiting most trade, travel, and financial transactions with Cuba. The Depts. of Commerce, Homeland Security, Justice, and the Treasury are responsible for enforcing the embargo as well as protecting homeland and national security. Since 2001, U.S. agencies have changed the embargo¿s rules in response to new laws and policies. This report examines: (1) the rule changes in 2001-2005 and their impact on U.S. exports, travel, cash transfers, and gifts to Cuba; (2) U.S. agencies¿ embargo-related activities and workloads; and (3) factors affecting the embargo¿s enforcement. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.

This is the first book that explores whether there are any rules in international law applicable to unilateral sanctions and if so, what they are. The book examines both the lawfulness of unilateral sanctions and the limitations within which they should operate. In doing so, it includes an analysis of State practice, the provisions of various international legal instruments dealing with such sanctions and their impact on other areas of international law such as freedom of navigation, aviation and transit, and the principles of international trade, investment, regional economic integration, and the protection of human rights and the environment. This study finds that unilateral sanctions by a state or a group of states against another state as opposed to 'smart' or targeted sanctions of limited scope would be unlawful, unless they meet the procedural and substantive requirements stipulated in international law. Importantly, the book identifies and consolidates these requirements scattered in different areas of international law, including the additional rules of customary international law that have emerged out of the recent practice of States and that increase the limitations on the use of unilateral sanctions.

It is impossible to fully understand Cuba today without also understanding the economic sanctions levied against it by the United States. For over fifty years, these sanctions have been upheld by every presidential administration, and at times intensified by individual presidents and acts of Congress. They are a key part of the U.S. government’s ongoing campaign to undermine the Cuban Revolution, and stand in egregious violation of international law. Most importantly, the sanctions are cruelly designed for their harmful impact on the Cuban people. In this concise and sober account, Salim Lamrani explains everything you need to know about U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba: their origins, their provisions, how they contravene international law, and how they affect the lives of Cubans. He examines the U.S. government’s own official documents to expose what is hiding in plain sight: an indefensible, vicious, and wasteful blockade that has been roundly condemned by citizens around the world.

This Analysis was presented live by the author in a seminar at St Thomas University School of Law. A book made out of A research paper. A research paper divided in three parts: a Plan, a Presentation, and a Draft on an Analysis on the US Economic Sanctions & the Cuban Embargo.