"Helms-Burton Act: modern practice of applying sanctions as a tool of a foreign policy in U.S. embargo against Cuba"

Abstract

This project focuses on the embargo law that the United States Congress applied against Cuba in order to seek international sanctions and finally bring downfall of Castro’s government. The harshest ever package of measures against Cuba was passed and signed into law on March, 12, 1996, and known as “Helms-Burton Act” or “Libertad” (freedom), with formal title “Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996”. Intended to provide the democratization of Cuba, the bill strengthened the embargo and increased the economic pressure on Cuban Government in order to curtail foreign investments in confiscated properties in Cuba claimed to be owned by the United States nationals. The bill has been the subject of much controversy because of the provisions stated in Title III of the Act, that infringed on the sovereignty of other countries and violated the basic principles of the international law. Title III of the act has never been implemented. For the past twenty-two years U.S. Presidents with regularity every January and July have used their right to suspend this part of the codified law. The 45th President of the United States Donald Trump is the first who allowed Title III to be in force, by terminating the suspension on May 2, 2019. This can be considered as an important change in the history of the U.S. foreign policy, since it gives to the Helms-Burton law of 1996 a serious renew.

On the basis of this change in the U.S. codified embargo against Cuba, this paper aimed to provide detail explanation of the origins of the embargo, of Washington’s belt-tightening approach to politics in Cuba during the half century after 1959, with emphasizing how this law was drafted and what was the purpose of the two Houses of U.S. Congress behind the rough and egregious provisions.

The paper then discusses the reaction of the Russian Federation on the embargo. The starting point for Russia was the collapse of the Soviet Union and the necessity for the new way of making foreign policy. From 1991 till 2001 Russian foreign policy toward Cuban republic was formed. Specifically, two main periods in the history of Russian-Cuban relations would be analyzed, before 1994, and from 1995 till 2001. The paper consists of introduction, three chapters and conclusion. The first chapter discusses the path that the U.S. government has chosen for its relations with Cuba, the role of Cuban Americans on embargo enforcement, and continuing application of sanctions within the whole term of Castro’s government, paying particular attention to the passage and implementation of the sanctions under the Helms-Burton law. It also explains what is the Helms-Burton Act (or Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act or Libertad), its composition and provisions, and which provisions made this law controversial and in opposition to the basic principles of the international law. The second and third chapters are focused on the Russian politics towards Cuba. With respect to the Russian foreign policy, two periods can be determined: before 1994, and from 1995 till 2001. The second chapter is structed to analyze the policy of the newly formed Russian Federation toward the Republic of Cuba before 1994. It discusses the reasons of the “non-friendly” policy, and Cuba’s economic damage after the Soviet Union breakdown.

The third chapter examines the period of the normalization of relations between Moscow and Havana. Russia’s reaction on the embargo of 1996 and its challenge within the resolutions at the UN General Assembly condemning the U.S. embargo. The third chapter also explains what Russia has to do with Cuban trade policy in the era of Helms-Burton Act, and whether its investment is threatened with legal action after the recent termination of the suspension of the Title III of the Helms-Burton Act under the Trump administration on May 2, 2019.