“A Very Polite Misreading of the Cuba situation”

THE ISLAND OF CUBA IS IN THE PROCESS OF SHEDDING COMMUNISM

Chatham House versus Versailles (Miami that is)

The staff caught on to this interesting article on Cuba and Trump so we had to go through it. The page is here: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/02/how-far-will-trump-push-cuba

Dare we say, we were not impressed.

“We must avow that we were not a little taken aback by the representations set forth in this Cuba report, and deemed it our solemn obligation to record, with such candour as the occasion demands, the truth as it presents itself to our understanding, respecting those particulars which Chatham House has seen fit to underscore for the enlightenment of its readers and the several gentlemen of influence who peruse its pages.”

The claim that Cuba’s agricultural export economy “failed because of the U.S. embargo” oversimplifies a much more complex reality. While U.S. sanctions have restricted financing and direct access to American markets, they did not prevent Cuba from exporting to Canada, the European Union, China, Latin America, or — during the Cold War — the Soviet bloc. Even with preferential Soviet oil-for-sugar arrangements and guaranteed purchase agreements under COMECON, Cuba’s sugar production steadily declined, and the government shuttered dozens of mills in the early 2000s.

Moreover, since the passage of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSRA) of 2000, U.S. agricultural products — including food — have been legally sold to Cuba on a cash basis, and the United States has frequently ranked among Cuba’s significant food suppliers (U.S. Department of Agriculture; Congressional Research Service). This undercuts the narrative that sanctions alone “starved” Cuban agriculture.

The more proximate causes of collapse are structural: centralized state procurement, distorted price controls, input shortages (fuel, fertilizer, machinery), currency instability, and chronic underinvestment. Export markets matter only if there is competitive production to sell. Cuba’s agricultural crisis reflects a production failure first, compounded — but not created — by U.S. sanctions.

We bid you “Good Day”, sir.