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 ...
A key and enduring topic of debate regarding Cuba’s global role in Cold War international politics centers on Cuba’s relationship with the Soviet Union: to what extent were Cuban actions independently determined, and to what extent were they dictated by her Soviet patrons? Simply posed, was Cuba little more than a satellite mercenary of the Soviet Union, or was Cuba an independent actor pursuing autonomous foreign policy goals in the Cold War world?
The Cuban Revolution
The Cuban revolution was one that transformed Cuba into an independent socialist society. This revolution sent a message around the globe. The message: “ Socialism can be achieved and capitalism, with its culture stripping mechanism’s can be supplemented”. However, the revolution did leave its mark on Cuba. This can be seen in the events that took place during the early stages of the revolution.
Originally a dictator ran Cuba: President Fulgencio Batista, who was an ally to the United States. Cuba during this time enjoyed a healthy urban middle class, and its citizens enjoyed some degree of freedom without a police state. Many other countries seemed a lot more likely to revolt, because economically and developmentally, Cuba seemed stable. However, the United States’ role and control of Cuba’s economy started to take its toll on the “peasants”. In 1953, the United States owned many of the major entities, such as 50% of the railroad. Just as much development as there was in the urban areas there was a lack thereof in the rural areas. Not just economically, Cubans started to resent the image of Sin City that Americans gave the country. Cuba was a popular tourist spot where Americans came to behave badly. Castro’s success came from these opposite sides of distaste for the United States, the peasants economically and the middle class socially & nationally. Castro was not originally a socialist; he was a nationalist first. However when he attacks Moncada Barracks, he is arrested and exiled to Mexico City. During this time his failures are turned into “successes” through propaganda. Castro meets with Che Guevara in Mexico City and when he returns, he purges the military of 483 Batista loyalists and enacts land reforms and nationalizes US
The Events That Led to the Independence of Cuba
During the course of the semester, we have looked at numerous videos and have read numerous pieces of writing that has presented Cuba before Fidel Castro completed the great Revolution in 1959. These works have represented many views on the Cuban struggle for complete independence. These works have contributed to reinforce my opinion on the subject at hand. The works have shown that Cuba’s history is filled with discontent from within towards an outside presence. In the beginning, the outside force was Spain, Cuba’s colonial leader.
Since the childhood background of Fidel Castro was framed with entitlement and economic privilege, it is not surprising that he was a character of determination and conviction for his beliefs. His background permitted him to think big and
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 nation of Cuba has been at odds with the United States since Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959. The United States embargo and sanction on Cuba stems from the fact that the United States will not tolerate Communist governments and "the most important objective of the Cuban government is to remain in power at all costs," says Felix Martin, a professor at Florida’s Cuban Research Institute. The conflict and reason for why the embargo has stayed intact over the years can be summarized in three major points of dissent: Human rights violations, Guantanamo Bay, and the Cuban exile community.
Cuba itself has a very rocky past. Starting in 1899 Cuba and the U.S. first had governmental relations. A treaty was made stating the Cuba was an independent nation under U.S. protection and occupation. From the very beginning the United States was deeply rooted in Cuba’s governmental workings. This specific U.S. occupation ended in 1902, but only after the U.S. had made large economic investment within Cuba. This was not the end of U.S. involvement; this was ju...
Cuba’s colorful history can be documented to before the days of the American Revolution in 1776, but today, American policy directly affects many Cubans’ lifestyles because of a nearly 45-year-old trade embargo that has been placed on the island nation. It is crucial to analyze the development of Cuba and its neighboring island nations in order to discern the reasons for Cuba’s current political situation with the United States. The following paper will discuss the events that shaped Cuba and larger Caribbean nations like Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica; next, a detailed description of Cuba’s turbulent history will help in explaining the Cuban transformation into a socialist economy; then, a detailed account of the U.S. embargo on Cuba will document the ups and downs of the policy all the way to the present day; finally, the current news surrounding American-Cuban relations will depict the most recent happenings in the ongoing disputes between the two nations.