<VV> Cars in Cuba

[Jim Becker]

Almost anything can be found on the internet.  You just need to find the 
right sources.  This is from The American Presidency Project at UCSB.

I didn't find anything there that showed the exact date the first of the 
embargo started.  However, I did find a speech that Eisenhower made on 
10/20/60 that included the phrase "recent embargo on most exports to Cuba". 
So it must have been some time mid-1960.  Other documents on that site 
indicate that only food and medications were excluded from the embargo, 
unknown if that was true for the duration.  No cars would have been sent 
there after the 1960 embargo went into effect.  Note that it only addresses 
EXPORTS to Cuba.  The embargo established by Kennedy, Proclamation 3447 was 
dated 2/3/62 and effective 2/7/62.  It prohibited all IMPORTS from Cuba and 
"to continue to carry out the prohibition of all exports from the United 
States to Cuba".  Thus there is one date (1960) that exports were embargoed, 
and another date (1962) that imports were added to the embargo.  The 1962 
proclamation authorized the Secretary or the Treasury to make import 
exceptions and the Secretary of Commerce to make export exceptions.

Jim Becker

-----Original Message----- 
From: JackPinard via VirtualVairs
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2015 1:17 PM
To: Virtual Vairs
Subject:  Cars in Cuba



Research shows Wikipedia and other sources are fuzzy on dates Fidel Castro 
banned imports of cars and dates US banned car exports, 1960 or 1962.

According to The Detroit News, 12/17/14:
After Fidel Castro seized power, only cars owned before 1959 retained full 
private ownership and new car imports were largely banned. Cubans could wait 
for years to get government permits in order to buy used cars.

Encyclopedia Britannica 10/30/14 says:
Batista fled the country on January 1, 1959. . . . In February 1959 Castro 
became premier and thus head of the government.

Wikipedia shows:
In 1962 a United States embargo against Cuba was introduced, effectively 
cutting trade between the two countries.
A U.S. trade embargo, instituted in October 1960 in response to Cuba's 
seizure of U.S.-owned properties,[8] not only ensured that new vehicle 
exports would remain halted, but also denied Cuban motorists a direct source 
of replacement parts.


        John W "Jack" Pinard, 805-340-6533
116 E Garden Green, Port Hueneme CA 93041