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Background and causes of cuban revolution
Background and causes of cuban revolution
Background and causes of cuban revolution
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Cuba's Relations with the United States
In the early 1900’s, Cuba was a stomping ground for many of the rich and famous from the United States. Many famous movies stars and wealthy business entrepreneurs spend their vacations there along with a substantial amount of money. Trade and commerce between the United States and Cuba flowed freely and abundantly. Even with the Dictatorship-like regime of Batista, the countries benefited from the economic trade between them. This was all about to come crashing down as revolts against Batista occurred and Fidel Castro came to power within Cuba.
It was after Castro took power that the United States changed its way in which it dealt with Cuba dramatically. The United States decided it would place major sanctions against Cuba and would try to cut Castro off of dealing with not only the United States, but any other country the US dealt with as well. It was during this time that the Cold War was in its adolescence stage and the United States was doing everything in its power to make sure that smaller, third world countries did not become communist or even associate themselves with the Soviet Union in any way.
One of the reasons sanctions were placed against Cuba was that during the revolution against Batista, research was done into Castro’s background and it was shown that two of his lieutenants; Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Fidel’s brother Raul, were said to be communists. The research also led one to believe that even though Castro might not be a Marxist-Leninist, he was a Soviet sympathizer . After more in-depth research into Castro’s background, it was shown that he had no ties in any way to the Communist nor did he even have much sympathy for it. These sanctions were put into place against Cuba as Fidel Castro came into power in 1959 and have not seen any real changes up to the present time.
The reason the United States implemented these sanctions against Cuba were for a couple of reasons. One was because of the research that showed Fidel Castro had leanings toward communism. Another reason behind the sanctions was because of how Castro was handling himself as the new leader of Cuba. As he came into power, the country was well off compared to other third world nations but the people were living near poverty level and the country was facing major economic problems. The peso was dropping in value like a rock an...
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The sanctions placed on Cuba are not as stringently guarded as they were when first implemented. In today’s society, many US businessmen bypass the sanctions placed on Cuba by traveling to another country first and then into Cuba to entertain business ventures and find quality cigars. It could be said that the goals of the sanctions were met, since Castro’s regime is slowly dying, but this was not due to the sanctions themselves but instead to the lack of monetary income from the Soviet Union.
References
Dominguez, Jorge L. “Cuba; Internal and International Affairs”
Sage Publications, 1982.
Foner, Philip S. “History of Cuba and Its Relations With the United States Volumes I”
International Publishers, 1962.
Foner, Philip S. “History of Cuba and Its Relations With the United States Volumes II”
International Publishers, 1963.
Perez, Louis A. Jr. “Intervention, Revolution, and Politics in Cuba 1913 – 1921”
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1978.
Plank, John. “Cuba and the United States; Long-Range Perspectives”
The Brookings Institution, 1967.
Smith, Wayne S. “The Closest of Enemies”
W.W. Norton & Company, 1987.
In 1898, three big events got in the way of any peaceful resolution in Cuba. The New York Journal received a letter from the Spanish minister in Washington, Enrique Dupuy de Lo...
United States of America. Library of Congress. Chronology of Cuba in the Spanish-American War. N.p., 22 June 2011. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
Long before our involvement, the Cubans had been leading revolts and revolutions against Spain. The Spanish empire considered Cuba to be its jewel, not only for its beauty but also for its economics. Cuba’s main source of income was from its expansive sugar plantations that greatly contributed to its wealth (more so to the Spanish Empires wealth). Ironically, even due to the high regard to Cuba, it was neglected and oppressed, as the Spanish Empire began its decline in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Empire was falling due to it slowly loosing its control over its territories, closer to the US then to Spain, because of a lack of industrializing. The Spanish would claim ownership, but never contribute back to their land. This opened the door for what is known as the 10-year war and the struggle for Cuban Independence. The United States never got directly involved, but it sympathized greatly with the Cuban’s cause, for ...
Cuba and the U.S.: The Tangled Relationship. New York: The Foreign Policy Association, 1971. Flaherty, Tom.
Along with the above mention things, the U.S. disrupted trade with Europe and outright requested that Europe not trade with Cuba. Also during this period, the CIA began to plan assassination operations against Cuban Leaders, and have eight separate plots to assassination Castro (Perez 252).
The Americans were losing patience over the whole Cuban affair because Spain cut shipping and economic interests from Cuba. Americans wanted the economic situation resolved so they could get back to the economic fortunes they were used to; therefore, the worsening economy was one of the main causes of the War of 1898. When the United States finally denounced the dominance of the Spanish government in Cuba, Spain cut its economic ties with the United States. Trade for the United States was impacted greatly. Due to the sharp drop of sugar prices that took place from early 1884, the old Cuban “sugar nobility,” unable to mechanize and cut costs, began to disintegrate and lose its dominant role in the island’s economy and society (Hernandez). This facilitated the United States’ penetration of the Cuban economy, and the United States took over sugar estates and mining interests. It was American machinery, technicians, and capital that helped save the Cuban sugar mills.
The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing number of anti-American developments during the height of the cold war, including the “expropriation of United States-owned properties on the island… [and] the Soviet Union [agreeing] to purchase sugar from Cuba and to supply Cuba with crude oil” (Hass 1998, 37). Bad sentiments continued to pile up as Cuba imposed restrictions on the United States Embassy and especially when, after the United States “officially broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, and travel by United States citizens to Cuba was forbidden ... Castro openly proclaimed his revolution to be ‘socialist’” (Hass 1998, 38). The day after this, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, but it failed in its job to topple Castro (Hass 1998, 38). Left with no diplomatic options and a failed military attempt, the United States decided that the only way to end Castro’s socialist regime was to sever all ties, and from 1961 to 1996, a series of acts were passed prohibiting the majority of trade and interaction with Cuba. (Hass 1998, 38).
The trade embargo, issued by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, was created in response to Fidel Castro’s expropriation of American assets and his decision to export Marxist-Leninist revolutions to Third World countries. In late 1959, Fidel Castro, Prime minister of Cuba, approached the USSR for support. In May 1960, Castro reestablished diplomatic ties with the USSR, and made an agreement to import Soviet oil. In June, the Cuban government took over foreign-owned petroleum refineries that refused to process Soviet oil. Fidel Castro allowed Cuba to serve as a base for Soviet intelligence operations and allowed Soviet naval vessels to have port access rights at the height of the Cold War. Soon after Cuba established diplomatic ties with the U.S.S.R., the U.S.
The United States and Cuba have a history of tension and discord. The reign of Fidel Castro was marked with despotism and led to toxic relations with the United States. This political climate caused President John F Kennedy in 1960 to impose a commercial, financial, and economic embargo and later travel ban on Cuba. These unilateral sanctions examined under the scope of utilitarianism, are ineffective an unethical.
Fidel Castro was a man who had a target on his head. Lots of people from all over the world wanted him dead. Fidel Castro wasn’t a capitalist person, he was a Communist.
... the majority of which sought refuge in the United States. With the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba now stands at a crossroads. The battle cry has changed from “ Socialism or death to Resist, struggle and win” (Castro’s Cuba II). Hopefully, Castro and/or Cuba will not be forced into a market-based economy and all the materialistic commodities that go along with capitalism. In my opinion, Castro should hold out for as long as possible griping to the former battle cry “Socialism or death”. Only time will tell what the fate of Castro’s Cuba will be. Trade might once again flourish the economy, tourism might open up new economic opportunities and foreign investments from Italy, France and Spain could possibly dig Cuba out the current economic hole it’s in. Until then however, the battle against capitalism must not lose any of its vigor.
Before the Cuban Revolution, the U.S. military ruled Cuba when the island became a republic. Throughout the 1800’s, Cubans were revolting against Spanish rule, and in 1898, America helped defeat the Spanish. Since the United States and Cuba were so close, the U.S often intervened with Cuba’s domestic affairs. In 1959, Fidel Castro influenced a revolution, overthrowing Batista. Fidel Castro then switched Cuba’s government to communism and became close with the Soviet Union, which restricted ties with the U.S. Soon after, the United States terminated diplomatic interactions, minimizing their economic relations with Cuba. After the Cuban Revolution, Raúl Castro Ruz became the new leader of Cuba- and still is today. Relations between the U.S. and Cuba are still sparse. Travelers from the United States are still not allowed to vacation to Cuba du...
The Cuban Embargo, also known as “el bloqueo” to Cuban citizens, was declared by the United States in 1960 to eliminate imports of Cuban goods. When the embargo was first set, it was only to eliminate food and medicine, but then on Feb. 7th, 1962 the embargo was extended to all exports. President Kennedy announced the embargo citing, “the subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet communism with which the government of Cuba is publicly aligned” (Galeano). “We have a hemispheric commitment to freedom and democracy and respect for human rights”, said Jose Cardenas, a former National Security Council staffer on Cuba. With only 90 miles of sea between the U.S. and Cuba the embargo chokes off Cuba’s number one trade partner and tourism of the island.
However the US played a much larger role in Cuba’s past and present than the building of casinos and the introduction of the first taints of corruption. In the past, even before Batista, Americans were resented by Cubans because the Americans made a lot of Cuba’s decisions. Under Batista, 80% of Cuban imports came from the US, and the US controlled at least 50% of sugar, utilities, phones and railroads. If Cuba was a business in the stock markets, then the US would have been close to owning 50% of its shares. When combined with a long history of US-backe...
“The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: A National Security Archive Documents Reader” edited by Laurence Chang and Peter Kornbluh and “Cuba on the Brink: Castro, the Missile Crisis and the Soviet Collapse” by James G. Blight will be evaluated by referring to their origin, purpose, value and limitation.