The Torricelli act also known as The Cuban Democracy Act is another part of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

' long running embargo against Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

. The law was enacted in 1992, on an initiative by Robert Torricelli

Robert Torricelli

Robert Guy Torricelli , nicknamed "the Torch," is an American politician from the U.S. state of New Jersey. Torricelli, a Democrat, served 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Senate...

, who was then a member of the United States House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

, and supported by Senator Bob Graham

Bob Graham

Daniel Robert "Bob" Graham is an American politician. He was the 38th Governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States Senator from that state from 1987 to 2005...

. The act was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush

George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

 just before the 1992 elections. It was then put into force under President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

. The Torricelli Act made the economic embargo on Cuba more severe than it had previously been. It prevented food and medicine from being shipped to Cuba. The only exception was humanitarian aid.

Background

The Torricelli act was the first significant change in US Cuban relations since the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion

Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...

, by then-president John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 and the subsequent economic embargo. The Act represents a dramatic aggravation of economic restrictions against Cuba. The original embargo didn't prevent food and medicine sales for the sake of appearing to be different than the Soviet blockade of West Berlin, which the USA heavily condemned at the time. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the comparison no longer prevented the United States from doing the same.
The intended goal of the Torricelli act, as described by Torricelli, was to paralyze the Cuban economy, in the hopes that after a few weeks would lead to the fall of Cuban president Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

.

Contents

The Torricelli act forbids American companies, including subsidiaries abroad, from engaging in any trade with Cuba. Foreign ships using American ports were not allowed to travel to Cuban ports for a period of 180 days, in hopes of causing economic collapse. Foreign ships returning from Cuba were also interned. Moreover, it also forbade Cuban families living in the United States from sending any cash remittances to Cuba.

Effects on Cuba

The Cuban governments call the USA-imposed sanctions a "blockade", as the law prohibits Cuba from getting subsidies from the Export-Import Bank

Export-Import Bank of the United States

The Export-Import Bank of the United States is the official export credit agency of the United States federal government. It was established in 1934 by an executive order, and made an independent agency in the Executive branch by Congress in 1945, for the purposes of financing and insuring...

 or from trading with U.S. companies. Yet a blockade is a military operation, so the term is ill-employed here.

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