[Zarathustra]

Originally Posted by transplant99

My bad...didnt read the article yet.

But the US doesn't have autonomy to deal with who they like....they HAD to buy sugar from Castro?

Like I said...if castro had gone to a democratic system, the embargo was gonzo..he refused.

What about your oil argument? Why did they need the USA for that? How was it the USA's responsibility to supply Oil to a country whom they didnt have/share similar beliefs with?

This has nothing to do with an article, this is the basic knowledge of the Cuban embargo and the major reason why the Cuban economy has faltered. You are a pretty knowledgeable poster but I think you are in over your head on this particular matter. The matter is very deep and complex, and to fully understand it you need to do a lot of research.

The US had been buying sugar from Cuba since the 1800s. The economy relied so much on this product:

By 1860, Cuba was devoted to growing sugar. The country had to import all other necessary goods. They were dependent on the United States who bought 82 percent of the sugar.

-from The History of Cuba, wikipedia

Because the economy was so dependent on sugar, it also became extremely dependent on the United States.

This democratic argument is a fallacy. The United States had propped up authoritarian leaders throughout the world and supported them. If the propped up leaders allowed democratic elections, they were completely corrupt and only the elite ruling class could vote. Fidel Castro and his ideals were the main reason why the United States enacted the trade embargo. At the time, the United States was involved in imperialism throughout the world and specifically imperialism in Central and South America. Castro's main principles were founded on anti-imperialism and fighting the American imperialists in the Americas and in Africa. Castro actually disliked the Soviet union because of their imperialistic pursuits, but was forced to trade their sugar with them after the American embargo.

The U.S. imposed a complete diplomatic and commercial embargo on Cuba. At this time U.S. influence in Latin America was strong enough to make the embargo very effective and Cuba was forced to direct virtually all its trade to the Soviet Union and its allies.

-from wikipedia

As for the oil issue, with the trading with the USSR, Castro traded large amounts of sugar for Soviet oil.