BACKGROUND: Chronology of US embargo against Cuba

Feb 4, 2012, 6:06 GMT

Havana - After the Cuban revolution in 1959, Washington and Havana began an escalation of hostilities that led to a near-total US economic embargo on Cuba by 1962.

Major events in the embargo's history:

May 17, 1959: Cuba enacts Agrarian Reform Law, triggering seizure of large estates.

February 4, 1960: Cuba and the Soviet Union sign military and commercial agreements.

March 4, 1960: Weapons-laden French ship attacked in Havana Bay. At a crowded rally in response, Cuban leader Fidel Castro first utters his famous slogan 'Patria o muerte, venceremos (Homeland or death, we shall prevail).'

June 1960: US-owned oil refineries in Cuba refuse to process Soviet oil, saying it is of poor quality. Havana responds by nationalizing foreign-held oil refineries.

July 1960: Washington cancels the sugar quota that the United States had previously been committed to buying from Cuba. Moscow steps in to buy Cuban sugar. Soon after, Cuba expropriates large US companies on its soil.

October 9, 1960: US President Dwight Eisenhower imposes partial trade embargo on Cuba.

October 19, 1960: United States imposes tough measures including a ban on all kinds of exports to Cuba.

January 3, 1961: United States cuts diplomatic ties with Cuba.

April 1961: Cuban exiles supported by the United States launch failed attempt to invade Cuba through the Bay of Pigs. Castro supporters celebrate the victory as the first 'great defeat' of US imperialism in Latin America.

February 7, 1962: US President John Kennedy expands Eisenhower's sanctions to an almost total embargo.

October 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis puts the world on the brink of nuclear war. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev negotiate an end to the crisis without consulting Castro. Soviets remove all nuclear missiles from Cuba; US agrees to not try to invade the island.

February 8, 1963: Kennedy imposes restrictions on travel to Cuba.

March 19, 1979: US president Jimmy Carter refused to renew travel restrictions, and they are effectively suspended.

April 19, 1982: US president Ronald Reagan restores travel restrictions.

October 23, 1992: Washington toughens embargo. US president George Bush signs Torricelli Act, making Cuban embargo law. End of sanctions made conditional on Havana's human rights and democratization policies.

March 12, 1996: US president Bill Clinton signs Helms-Burton Act, after Cuban forces shoot down planes operated by the Miami-based anti-Castro group Hermanos al Rescate (Brothers to the Rescue). The law prevents subsidiaries of US companies in third countries from doing business with Cuba and bans US ships that dock in Cuba from using US ports for six months.

October 28, 2000: Clinton signs law allowing the sale to Cuba of agricultural products and medicine, for humanitarian reasons.

August 6, 2004: US president George W Bush implements new restrictions, limiting travel and allowing remittances only to close relatives. Cuban-Americans are allowed to travel to Cuba only once every three years.

July 10, 2006: A new package of measures is implemented to punish trips to Cuba by US citizens more severely, with jail terms or fines of up to 1 million dollars.

March 11, 2009: US President Barack Obama eases travel restrictions, allowing US citizens to travel to Cuba for religious and cultural reasons, among others. Restrictions are eased for Cuban-Americans to travel and send remittances to the island.

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