Problem Statement - (Cuba) - Assignment Example

The main source of oil was sesame seeds. However, such kind of living is rather unfeasible to employ to the modern Cubans who are habituated with larger consumption. Specifically, energy is one of the most critical quantifiable resources that modern Cubans are direly counting on; even the slightest decline in the country's energy supply could result into a massive adjustment in daily activities. Energy Crisis in Cuba The economy and infrastructure of Cuba, after going through an undesirable muddle, especially when the Soviet Union terminated its aid to the country in 1991, have significantly improved following the government ratification of a sequence of fleeting economic reforms during the early 1990s.

The unavoidable prolongation of the free market policies, especially in a forthcoming "post central planning system", would produce generous profits, economic advantages, and investment prospects both for domestic and international corporations (Cervera, 2004). Within the last decade, market reforms in Cuba, which are focused on drawing foreign investment, have absolutely succeeded in the energy sector. As the country’s upcoming economy progresses by means of a wide-ranging surge in construction, which is essential in order to reconstruct and restructure Cuba’s infrastructure and principal industries, and generating considerable number of jobs along the way, Cuba could turn out into a target market when it comes to energy products and services (Cervera, 2004).

The establishment of a lasting inclusive and wide-ranging domestic energy scheme is of supreme importance to Cuba’s economic recuperation and eventual success. Such is vital in order to promote and equalize the following key issues: economic growth, the conservation of energy, and environmental defense (Cervera, 2004). This paper shall afford its readers with a general idea regarding the existing energy market situation in Cuba. By this means, this paper will also elaborate on the historical causes of Cuba’s energy crisis, and the involvement of the United States in the process.

The US Boycott and Restriction The United States boycott of Cuba took place after Fidel Castro, Cuba’s president, municipalized United States properties within the Cuban region in 1959 (Park, 2010). The island country’s foreign policy, which was in favor of the then Soviet Union and was obviously anti-US, was just another basis for the boycott. However, following the downfall of the Soviet Union, the restriction in trade on Cuba has never been cancelled (Ratliff & Fontaine, 2000); although, in 1990, the prohibitions were no longer as effectual and operative to collapse the country's economy and conquer its political firmness.

Cuba’s economic activity was seen to be, by and large, reliant on the Soviet Union on 85% of its commerce (Park, 2010). Money remittances that were brought in to the country by Cubans who worked overseas in order to seek autonomy and economic break became a robust economic reinforcement to Cuba (Askari et al., 2003). Thus, the United States government boycotted deliveries of human usable materials such as clothing to families in Cuba and prohibited stays to families in Cuba way back in 2004 (United Nations, 2006).

On the word of the Cuban government, the United States embargo has drastically impacted nearly all facets of its citizens. A downward trend of Cuba’s energy production, consumption and importation has been observed starting