Cuba+Writing+Task

Cuba Argumentative Essay Unit One Writing Task
 * // Argumentative Writing Assignment: Should the U.S. end the embargo with Cuba? //**

After reading the articles on the United States and Cuba, write an essay that argues whether or not the United States should end its embargo with Cuba. Support your position with evidence from each text. Be sure to acknowledge the counter argument.

v Remember copying ideas is plagiarism. Use proper citation when using another person’s ideas.

v The rubric that will be used to assess your response is included at the end of this packet.

v The graphic organizer provided may help you organize your thoughts before you begin writing.



Ice never forms in the warm Caribbean Sea. Yet U.S. relations with the island nation of **Cuba**, only 90 miles from Florida, have been in a deep freeze for nearly 50 years. The two nations have no high-level diplomatic relations. They regard each other as enemies, and deeply mistrust the other's government's.
 * Cuba: U.S. Moves to Change Policy Toward Cuba **
 * * Embargo: an official ban on trade with a particular country **

President Barack Obama wants that to change. Shortly before leaving for the Summit of the Americas (April 17-19) in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the president fulfilled a campaign promise by taking the first step in breaking the ice in U.S. relations with **Cuba**. He eased travel restrictions on Cuban Americans who wish to visit their families in **Cuba**. He also changed a regulation that limited the amount of money Cuban Americans could send to relatives.

Obama said he hoped that the changes would begin to reverse "decades of mistrust" between the two countries. He was ready, he said, to seek "a new beginning with **Cuba**."

Only hours after the White House announced the changes, Cuban President Raul Castro responded. He told a meeting of other Latin American leaders that he was willing to discuss "everything, everything, everything" with the United States, including human rights, political prisoners, and freedom of the press. Raul replaced his brother Fidel Castro as Cuba's president last year. Raul had been serving as acting president since 2006, when Fidel, 82, fell ill.

Raul Castro also surprised the White House by admitting for the first time that Cuba's hostile attitude toward the United States might have been a mistake. "We could be wrong," he said. "We admit it. We're human beings."

U.S. involvement with **Cuba** goes back more than 100 years. In 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, Spain gave up claim to the island, and the United States occupied it. In 1902, **Cuba** officially gained independence, but it still was subject to the power of the United States. The Piatt Amendment (revoked in 1934) gave the United States the right to intervene in Cuba's affairs. In 1906, U.S. troops entered **Cuba** a second time and occupied the island until U.S.-supervised elections were held in 1909. The United States sent troops to **Cuba** in 1912 to put down riots. By 1952, **Cuba** was ruled by the dictator Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar. Batista was a friend of the United States, but he was widely hated in **Cuba** because of his corrupt and antidemocratic rule. In 1959, Fidel Castro led his victorious rebel troops into Cuba's capital of Havana as Batista fled the country. At first, the United States hailed Castro's victory, but relations soon turned sour. In 1960, Castro took over all U.S.-owned businesses in **Cuba**. The U.S. responded by breaking off diplomatic relations and enacting a trade **embargo** with **Cuba**, banning most trade with the island.
 * A Rough History **

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy further hurt relations by backing an invasion of **Cuba** by a force of anti-Castro exiles. The invasion, at Cuba's Bay of Pigs, was quickly turned back by Cuban forces, but it signaled to Castro that another, more powerful invasion could soon follow. Castro declared **Cuba** to be a communist country and allied **Cuba** with the Soviet Union. At that time, the Soviet Union was the United States' chief rival in the Cold War. American leaders saw Castro's Soviet alliance as a direct threat to the United States. Tensions rose, and in October 1962, a Soviet attempt to station missiles in **Cuba** nearly led to a nuclear war.

The trade **embargo** against **Cuba** is still in effect today. It was designed to cause economic hardship and lead to an overthrow of Cuba's government. Nine U.S. presidents - both Democratic and Republican-have enforced the **embargo**. Yet, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at the Summit of the Americas, "the policy has failed." The trade **embargo** has failed to change Cuba's communist dictatorship, but it has succeeded in hurting Cuba's economy. The global economic recession has been especially hard on the lives of Cuba's citizens.
 * Toward a New Day? **

Most everyone agrees that lifting the U.S. **embargo** would greatly help Cuba's struggling economy. Goods would trade freely between the nations. Businesses, both Cuban and American, would hire workers and lower Cuba's high unemployment rate. Consumer goods, from clothes to electronics to cars, would flow into the country at a higher rate. At the Summit of the Americas, many of the 34 democratically elected Latin American and Caribbean leaders urged Obama to end the **embargo**. Will he do that?

Not yet. The White House expects **Cuba** to make progress toward granting the Cuban people more democratic freedoms before engaging in talks aimed at removing the **embargo** and other restrictions. **Cuba** is known to have a number of political prisoners people whose only crime was to criticize the Cuban government. Freedom of the press is also severely limited under communist rule.

"There are actions that the Cuban government can take [before any talks can take place]," said White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs at a summit press conference. "They're certainly free to release political prisoners....They're free to institute greater freedom of the press." He later added, "We are anxious to see what the Cuban government is willing to do."

Obama appears hopeful. He said changes in the relationship between the countries will not take place overnight, but that the first steps "have been taken...toward a new day" in Cuban-American relations.


 * Current Events  (Vol. 108, No. 24)  May 4, 2009, pp. 4+   Copyright © Weekly Reader Corporation. May 4, 2009. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. **

Should the U.S. End Its Cuba Embargo?

• //The **embargo** has severely restricted trade and travel between the two nations. Its value and impact are hotly disputed.// The United States is the only nation that still has a trade **embargo** against **Cuba**. After four decades, it's clear that our policy has failed to achieve its goals: the end of Fidel Castro's regime and a peaceful transition to democracy. Today, **Cuba** remains under totalitarian rule, with Castro still firmly in power. The real victims of our policies are the 11 million innocent Cuban men, women, and children. Our **embargo** has exacerbated already-miserable living conditions for Cuban citizens. Cuba's economy has suffered because it is prohibited from exporting goods to the U.S. In addition, most Cubans have very limited access to American products. Moreover, our policies restrict Americans' right to travel freely to **Cuba**, making exchange between our two cultures essentially impossible. There are many other countries whose governments are not freely elected. Yet none of our policies toward these nations resemble our treatment of **Cuba**. With the Cold War over and **Cuba** posing no threat to the U.S., there is no justification for our outdated approach to **Cuba**. To make matters worse, we are spending extraordinary resources to enforce the **embargo**--resources that could be used to secure our nation against terrorism. It's time for a fundamental change in our **Cuba** policy. We can start by ending the trade **embargo** and by lifting the ban on travel to **Cuba** by American citizens. Only by engaging the Cuban people, and by building bridges between our citizens and theirs, will we succeed in bringing freedom and democracy to our neighbor. --**//Senator Christopher J. Dodd//**//, Democrat of Connecticut// || ** No ** The **embargo** against **Cuba** has been a valuable tool in putting pressure on **Cuba** to reform. Lifting the **embargo** now would send the wrong message to the Castro regime. It would give undeserved credibility to a regime that came to power through revolution, promised democratic elections, and never delivered. One of the original goals of the **embargo** was to limit Castro's ability to support Communist revolutions in other countries. For many years Castro sent Cuban troops to foment revolution around Latin America and in Africa. The **embargo** has forced a significant reduction in the size of Cuba's military, so Castro no longer has the money to do this. (The **embargo** was also intended to drain resources from the Soviet Union, which spent billions of dollars a year to prop up the Castro regime.) The **embargo** remains an important way to restrict the flow of funds that end up in the hands of the Cuban government--money it would use not to feed its people, but to spy on its own citizens, censor information available to them, and lock up political opponents. Even money that well-meaning tourists spent in **Cuba** would end up mostly in the government's hands, and would therefore support the corrupt regime rather than helping the Cuban people. Along with the positive things we're doing to help end the Castro regime--such as funding Cuban opposition groups and transmitting objective news via TV and radio--the **embargo** continues to play an important role in encouraging a democratic transition in **Cuba**.
 * ** Yes **

--**//Jorge Mas Santos//**//, Chairman, Cuban American National Foundation// ||