The US boycott of Cuba as the result of the importance of Florida's electoral college votes has caused your basic Cuban untold grief while simply solidifying the power of Castro.

Cuba's most prosperous times came when American gangsters and gambling dominated the economic landscape of Havana and Cuba could sell sugar into the vast American market.

Castro threw out the gangsters, gambling and prostitution, too, which seemed to piss off the American government. And the US responded with the boycott, reducing the country to the same economic conditions as many other Central and South American countries.

Arf