Probably the landmark year to start analyzing what shit went down when was actually in 1958 with Eisenhower in the Oval Office and Batista the leader of Cuba.
The first volley was actually from the US who refused to honour a contract purchase of 700,000 tons of Cuban Sugar already delivered and shut off all oil shipments to Cuba which was their primary source of energy. In retaliation, the Cuban's now under Castro, unilaterally nationalized the US owned oil refineries.
What else could they do? No revenue to speak of and no control of the oil refineries on their own soil.
From Wiki:
The United States embargo against Cuba (in Cuba called el bloqueo, "the blockade") is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba. An embargo was first imposed by the United States on sale of arms to Cuba on the 14th of March 1958, during the Fulgencio Batista regime. Again on October 19, 1960 (almost two years after the Batista regime was deposed by the Cuban Revolution) the U.S. placed an embargo on exports to Cuba except for food and medicine after Cuba nationalized American-owned Cuban oil refineries without compensation. On February 7, 1962 the embargo was extended to include almost all imports.[1] Currently, the Cuban embargo is enforced mainly through six statutes: the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Cuban Assets Control Regulations of 1963, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the Helms–Burton Act 1996, and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000.[2] The stated purpose of the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 is to maintain sanctions on Cuba so long as the Cuban government refuses to move toward "democratization and greater respect for human rights".[3] The Helms–Burton Act further restricted United States citizens from doing business in or with Cuba, and mandated restrictions on giving public or private assistance to any successor government in Havana unless and until certain claims against the Cuban government were met. In 1999, President Bill Clinton expanded the trade embargo by also disallowing foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies to trade with Cuba. In 2000, Clinton authorized the sale of "humanitarian" U.S. products to Cuba.
Castro didn't have to worry about somebody else destroying Cuba's economy he managed to do that all by himself for 50 years. Anybody that thinks socialist central planning works for a country please give me an example. Castro was responsible for bringing the US and the Soviets to the brink of nuclear war. Anybody that gives him a pass is a fool, of which our foppish pm is a prime example.
The Trade embargo with the largest consumer of products 90 miles north of Havana did have a significant impact upon Cubans. Cuba's only real trading partners were the then Soviet Union, eastern block countries, North Korea and China. More liberal countries like Canada, UK, EU etc traded with them and gladly took their cigars, sugar, rum etc.
The assertion that Castro was responsible for" bringing the US and Soviets to the brink" . . . is the equivalent of saying it was the tribals in Afghanistan who created UBL and they are responsible for 9/11. It is simply not correct. Castro was from 1960 until the demise of the Soviet Union a puppet much like the many puppets the USA had in place to counteract the spread of Communism. He wanted the foreign products, currency and investment in their infrastructure and in return he had to do what the Russians requested.
The Soviets planted the rocket launchers on Cuban soil in retaliation for the US placing missiles facing USSR based in Turkey. Tit for Tat and a very dangerous game the Russians and the Kennedy administration played out in October 1962.
