there’s a book published in 1999 titled “Cuba: Confronting the US Embargo” which i was advised to read in advance of a trip i took to Cuba, to get a grasp on how the trade embargo works. i read about half of it, but the reason that wouldn’t work is that the embargo doesn’t target countries who trade with cuba, it targets private corporations who trade with cuba.

so, if you own a company not based in the US that does not do any business with the US, go for it. sort of. the restrictions also prevent any ship that docks with a cuban port from docking with any US or US allied port in the hemisphere for 6 months, or it is subject to millions of dollars in fines and search/seizure of any “stolen” goods that the US state department defines as all things cuban. because, to the US, anything that comes from cuba was made with property stolen from US business interests during the revolution.

so basically, to elide the embargo, your business can only do business with cuba and the handful of other countries in the hemisphere that give the US the finger. additionally, you can only use a shipping company that is willing to skip all those other ports when setting up a route.

there’s more to it than that, but suffice to say the fines and penalties are company killing, so only typically state owned enterprises that specifically want to help cuba trade with cuba.

it’s disgusting as hell, and americans never ever learn how any of it works on purpose. cubans are affected by intimately and they wonder why americans allow it to happen to them. they are often confused to learn we know less about it than they do.