Why does the United States impose sanctions on Cuba? From the perspective of Americans, do they also agree with continuing the sanctions on Cuba?For what？

I guess maybe the U.S think the Cuban government is bad? If so, what exactly is bad about it?
I’m not very familiar with the situation. I’ve heard that Cuba has an advanced healthcare system in the world and has donated amounts of medical resources to other countries when cov19. The Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union ended many years ago，Castro has been dead for decades.So what America worried about？

Question

Why does the United States impose sanctions on Cuba? From the perspective of Americans, do they also agree with continuing the sanctions on Cuba?For what？

I guess maybe the U.S think the Cuban government is bad? If so, what exactly is bad about it? 
I’m not very familiar with the situation. I’ve heard that Cuba has an advanced healthcare system in the world and has donated amounts of medical resources to other countries when cov19. The Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union ended many years ago，Castro has been dead for decades.So what America worried about？

hans99 · Answer

To briefly summarize, the sanctions were initially put in place as a response to Castro's agricultural reform, which impacted U.S. businesses operating in Cuba. Not from that point up until Obama's presidency in the late 2000s, long after the Cold War, did relations warm up in a significant way. Throughout his two terms, travel restrictions were eased, the first meeting between the two countries in over 50 years occurred, Cuba was removed from the "state sponsors of terrorism" list, and he even pushed to fully end the embargo and the Guantanamo bay detention camp (unsuccessfully, though). However, under the last two presidents, Trump and Biden, relations have continued to get worse and more sanctions and restrictions have been put in place.

In regards to public opinion, a 2015 poll says that 59% of people support ending the embargo on Cuba, though things have changed since then and I cannot find a newer poll on this specific issue.

Also, it's not that the U.S. government is "worried" about Cuba, but rather that it wants to punish it. This is why the embargo was put in place to begin with, as Marxist-Leninist land reform policies impacted U.S. interests in the region. If you compare Cuba to similarly sized countries, it has a roughly equivalent human rights record and doing far better than average in regards to poverty, health care, and living standards, so it makes no sense to have such harsh sanctions against Cuba other than out of geopolitical interest.

Megan8 · Answer

My understanding is that the initial reason for the embargo was that Cuba seized a lot of property and businesses from some Americans there and the US demanded they pay compensation for it which Cuba refused. Then of course relations between them got even worse during the bay of pigs and Cuban missile crisis. I think that’s pretty much ancient history at this point and most Americans support ending the embargo, but it’s just not a major issue for most Americans. The people who feel most strongly about it are Cuban-Americans who mostly support the embargo because they don’t like the Cuban government. My guess is that congress just finds it politically easier to go along with the minority who strongly support the embargo than the majority that moderately oppose it. Obama did try to improve relations with Cuba during his presidency, but a lot of that was undone by Trump. I’m not sure if it was a factor but there was also suspicion a few years ago that the Cuban government was responsible for “Havana syndrome” which was a medical issue several American diplomats experienced in Cuba, but as far as I know they never actually determined the cause of that for sure.

Ask native speakers questions for free