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Embargo
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, Cuba was left bankrupt and isolated by the disintegration of the Soviet bloc. Eighty-five percent of its markets had disappeared, along with the subsidies and trade agreements that had supported its economy. The situation became desparate. Daily life was a struggle with extended gas and water outages, severe power shortages, and dwindling food supplies available for rationing.

By 1994 the island's economy, which had survived over 30 years of tough sanctions by the US, teetered on the brink. Cuba was plunged into what is called their "Special Period" during which there were shortages of everything. To survive, Cuba legalized the US dollar and turned to tourism. Even as late as 2004, Castro was forced to shut down 118 factories, including steel plants, sugar mills and paper processors for the month of October to deal with the crisis in fuel shortages.

Many have condemned the embargo ranging from Pope John Paul II (in 1998 and 2005), to Steven Spielberg for humanitarian reasons.

The American Public Health Association, in a May 1994 report titled "Health In Cuba and The U.S. Embargo", expressed alarm over the impact of the U.S's 30-year embargo against Cuba and the further tighting of the embargo by The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992. This act prohibits all foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies from trading with Cuba and bars merchant ships that stop at Cuban ports from any U.S. market for six months after they leave Cuba. The tightened U.S. embargo extends to food, medicines and medical supplies, making up over 90 percent of Cuba's trade with the U.S. Combined with the results of 1989 fall of the Soviet Union, the tightened U.S. embargo resulted in a severe shortage of food and medical supplies in Cuba, jeopardizing public health.

The Helms-Burton Act of 1996 penalises foreign companies that do business in Cuba by preventing them from doing business in the US. The European Union resented this act because it felt the US was dictating how other nations conducted their trade and challenged it on that basis. The EU eventually dropped its challenge in favor of negotiating a solution

After the massive damage caused by Hurricane Michelle in 2001, Castro proposed to the U.S. a one-time cash purchase of food after declining a U.S. offer of humanitarian aid. The food (frozen chicken, wheat, rice, and corn) arrived in Cuba in December 2001. The U.S. authorized the shipment, the first since the embargo was imposed in 1962, because of the devastation caused by the hurricane.

In 2001 Maine was the first US state to call for a complete end to trade and travel bans with Cuba.

In 2003, the United States announced newly tightened sanctions to include tightening the American travel embargo to the island, imposing controls of shipments to Cuba, and cracking down on illegal cash transfers aimed to end of Communist rule. The tightened sanctions also put a blanket ban on Cuban musicians entering the U.S. Castro condemned the new sanctions which went into effect on June 30, 2004, calling them "merciless and inhumane".

In 2004 the Bush administration cut back family visits of American Cubans to the island from once a year to once every three years. The list of people in Cuba who are allowed to receive cash remittances and packages from the United States was also reduced.

In 2005, for the 14th year in a row, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution condemning the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

No one can assess how weak Cuba's economy is, as Cuba is resourceful in attempting to meet its needs. While life is hard and nothing is wasted, no one is starving and hospitals and schools continue to function. Although Castro rails against the US embargo against Cuba, he has used it to unite the Cuban people for over 40 years. A former Prime Minister of Spain has written that the embargo is Castro's greatest ally, as it perpetuates the regime and, if lifted, Castro would lose his presidency in three months.