Cuban Embargo Begins: U.S. Isolates Castro

President Kennedy signed Proclamation 3447 on February 3, 1962, imposing a total embargo on all trade with Cuba, the most comprehensive economic sanctions the US had ever applied to a Western Hemisphere neighbor. The embargo banned all imports of Cuban goods, including sugar and tobacco, and prohibited American companies from doing business with the island. Fidel Castro's nationalization of US-owned refineries, banks, and sugar mills without compensation had triggered the initial freeze. The Bay of Pigs invasion's failure the previous year had eliminated the military option, leaving economic strangulation as Kennedy's primary tool. The embargo pushed Cuba deeper into Soviet dependence, culminating in the missile crisis nine months later. Over sixty years later, the embargo remains in effect, making it the longest-running trade embargo in modern history. Cuba estimates its cumulative economic damage at over billion. The sanctions have failed to dislodge the Castro regime.