Buzzword: Foreign Assistance Act
Life is hard enough without having to decipher everything. Each week, Marketplace Money brings you a word or a phrase that has bubbled to the top of the news. For instance, Foreign Assistance Act. You hear it, you see it, but do you really know it?
The law that drives cigar lovers crazy brings us this week's Marketplace Money Buzzword: Foreign Assistance Act
Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act in 1961. It defines which countries can receive US non-military aid.
Cuba didn't make the cut. In fact, the law began the American trade embargo of our Communist island neighbor.
In 2004, the U.N. issued a resolution opposing the embargo. Not that it made Cohibas any easier to come by in the States.
When Fidel Castro fell ill this week, many hoped it'd signal a political change in Cuba.
And that the embargo might therefore go up in smoke.
