Today, Cubans recall the events of 50 years ago. Half a century ago, on October 19, 1960, the Government of the United States of America laid out a trade embargo on the island of Freedom, which became the longest economic blockade in the history of mankind. In fact, it was an experiment of unusually importance. Having isolated Cuba from the largest economy of the planet, the American authorities came to a surprising result. It turned out that even in a globalized world, one can live in full isolation from the economic “world -system”. Of course, the blockade life can hardly be called good. The economic problems of ordinary Cubans are known to the whole world. And Fidel Castro himself recently made a statement that shocked the whole world. He said that other countries should not be adopted by the Cuban economic model, because it is not even suitable for Cuba itself.
Subsequently, Castro clarified that this statement does not mean at all that the island of Freedom capitulated before capitalism.
Despite the situation in Cuba, we can say with confidence that the hopes of the nine presidents of the United States of America for the collapse of the Castro regime were not justified.
The American authorities gradually tightened the blockade. Dwight Eisenhower introduced the embargo to import Cuban sugar and stopped American tourism. Kennedy stopped supplying spare parts for American cars on the island and introduced a complete sea blockade. From 1963 to 1977 there was a ban on traveling American citizens to Cuba. Jimmy Carter seems to have canceled these restrictions, but Ronald Reagan who came to power again restored old prohibitions in 1981. It is this plan, with small reservations, is used to this day.
