In the wake of the Clinton Administration’s recent decision to reject a bipartisan commission’s recommendation to lift the U.S. embargo, Peter Schwab’s Cuba: Confronting the U.S. Embargo is a particularly relevant and timely text.
Schwab provides a concise history and critique of the embargo from a human rights perspective. He also offers a discussion of how the contested language of human rights has led to different meanings of the concept in socialist and capitalist societies. He analyzes the distinct emphases on economic and social rights versus political and civil rights as a way to frame his central argument—that the embargo itself constitutes a human rights violation.
The initial chapters of Cuba provide a brief overview of the embargo, its origins and the economic and political role the United States has played in the eastern Caribbean. Educators and students will find these chapters particularly useful in that they provide a succinct overview of the conflict and of the region. They also offer a useful historical background for understanding current U.S. Cuba policy.
The strength of Schwab’s work, however, lies in illustrating how the embargo has affected the lives of ordinary Cuban citizens in the areas of public health, food, religion and political dissent. Schwab combines political analysis and personal insight to show how the embargo has permeated all facets of daily life in Cuba.
An excellent tool for discussion and classroom use, Cuba: Confronting the U.S. Embargo is valuable reading for anyone concerned with the issues surrounding the embargo. The book is carefully written, and it makes a compelling argument for the dismantling of an egregious policy.
