Starving a Nation: The US’s Vengeful Siege on Cuba
Map of Cuba with inset of the West Indies.
Just over a year after the Cuban Revolution’s resounding victory, a secret memo from Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, Lester Mallory, dated 6 April 1960, exposes the cold calculus behind the United States’ decision to impose a trade embargo on Cuba. Mallory’s covert words reveal the brutal truth: Fidel Castro’s revolution enjoys broad popularity in Cuba, and with no effective opposition on the horizon, the only way to destabilize Castro’s support is by inducing “disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship.” Mallory advocated a ruthless course of action—stripping Cuba of funds and supplies, cutting wages, and forcing the nation into “hunger, desperation, and the overthrow of [the] government.” This wasn’t a policy grounded in democracy or diplomacy; it was economic warfare, a vengeful tactic to break the will of a small island nation that dared to defy US dominance. And it has been devastatingly effective—this calculated vendetta has crippled Cuba for decades, imposing a chokehold America would never dare impose on more powerful adversaries.
For the 32nd time this October, the United Nations witnessed an overwhelming majority of nations condemning the US embargo—a scathing rebuke to this anachronistic hostility. Yet, undeterred, US officials continue to insist, “The United States stands with the Cuban people,” a statement drenched in irony as nearly a thousand alleged political prisoners remain detained in Cuban prisons. Whether or not these detentions are fair, the fact remains: the embargo was never intended to foster democracy, human rights, or political liberty; it was born out of an insatiable drive to punish and control. Mallory’s secret memo encapsulates this vendetta, exposing that for over six decades, US policy toward Cuba has been an exercise in calculated cruelty under the guise of justice.
The US embargo on Cuba, initiated in the early 1960s, is often framed as a crusade for democracy and human rights. Yet Mallory’s memo lays bare its true intent: it is a tool of economic warfare aimed squarely at the Cuban people. While the US claims to be an advocate for Cuban human rights, its actions are a blatant contradiction.
Cuba’s revolution was centred on social reform, prioritising healthcare and education over militarisation—a direct counterpoint to the economic stranglehold the US has employed. The Cuban model, lauded for its focus on healthcare and social equality, underscores the power of a nation that chooses to resist foreign domination by empowering its citizens. Yet the US, hypocritically engaging with regimes that exhibit blatant human rights abuses, singles out Cuba for punishment, raising serious questions about its motivations. As Noam Chomsky once noted, “The embargo is not designed to liberate the Cuban people; it is designed to punish them.” This cruel approach has only fuelled Cuban nationalism, reinforcing the country’s resistance and echoing Castro’s declaration: “We will not be the colony of anyone.”
The US’s actions against Cuba go beyond economic sanctions; they include covert and overt acts of aggression aimed at destabilising the Cuban government and society. The Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961—an attempted coup—was explicitly crafted to overthrow Castro and reinstate a pro-American regime, but its catastrophic failure only solidified Cuban resistance. Plots to assassinate Castro with exploding cigars and poisoned milkshakes illustrate the extremes the US has gone to eliminate a leader who dared defy its authority.
Moreover, the US has resorted to economic and biological warfare, even introducing diseases to destroy crops and livestock—a clandestine form of economic terrorism aimed at decimating Cuba’s food supply and economic stability. Such actions starkly reveal the hypocrisy of American claims to support human rights while intensifying suffering for ordinary Cubans. Globally, a growing chorus of nations, from Venezuela and Nicaragua to European allies, has condemned these sanctions as vestiges of Cold War imperialism that destabilise the region and trample Cuba’s sovereignty. The Biden administration’s continued support for sanctions, despite widespread global opposition, is a glaring ethical failure. As Brazilian President Lula da Silva remarked, “The real crime against humanity is to allow people to starve while the powerful hoard wealth”—a searing indictment that resonates deeply in the context of Cuba’s enduring struggle under an embargo that impoverishes a nation for daring to choose its own path.
The question is clear: what will it take for the United States to abandon this outdated, punitive siege on Cuba? Cloaked in rhetoric of democracy and human rights, the embargo is a tool of calculated suffering, intended to coerce an entire nation into submission. The relentless hardships imposed on Cuban families—the deprivation of medicine, food, and basic resources—lay bare the hollow benevolence the US claims to offer. This blockade isn’t about safeguarding freedom; it is a political weapon punishing an independent people for defining their own destiny. Cuba’s resistance to this oppressive stance is not merely a national struggle; it is a rallying cry for the world to confront the hypocrisy of powerful nations that proclaim liberty while enforcing collective punishment on a small nation that defies their will. Ignoring the Cuban people’s suffering only perpetuates a cycle of coercion that mocks the very ideals of justice and liberty the US claims to uphold.
The US embargo against Cuba stands as a profound moral failure of humanity. The original intentions behind the embargo, as spelled out in Mallory’s secret memo, reveal a political vendetta dressed up as human rights advocacy. The continuing suffering inflicted on the Cuban populace exposes the profound ethical flaws of such policies. Not once, but 32 times, countries with a conscience and ordinary Americans have called for an end to this unjust embargo, recognising that this putrid, outdated policy punishes the Cuban people. It is a moral duty for all American leaders to dismantle this economic warfare that shackles humanity.
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