US is ranked as among Cuba’s top five trading partners

The Cuban government has maintained that the US embargo, identified by Cuba as US blockade, is the root of their economic problems. This conclusion may be found in last year pronouncement by Felipe Perez Roque, Cuba’s Secretary of State, to the UN  as reported by Juventud Rebelde, an official publications of the Cuban government. He declared that the US blockade had cost Cuba $222 billions and, he went on to assert, the blockade is the main obstacle that prevents Cuba’s development.
This Cuban assertion is challenged by a recent report of The New York Times (reproduced below), which shows that the US is ranked as among Cuba’s top five trading partners. It seems that the "blockade" is not very airtight, it may even be considered quite loose, possibly non-functioning. This understanding leads one to question the effect of the embargo and to wonder what excuse will the Cuban government now use to explain the disastrous economic state in the island.

Jose A Hernandez, MD
President, CubaResponde
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Cuba: U.S. Trade Rises

The New York Times

By REUTERS

Published: August 14, 2008

The United States ranked among Cuba’s top five trading partners in 2007 for the first time since imposing a trade embargo in 1962. Data for 2007 on the Web site of Cuba’s National Statistics Office placed the United States fifth at $582 million, up from $484 million in 2006. The United States began selling food to Cuba in 2002 under an amendment to the embargo.
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