News Analysis: Cuba in Context

AN ABBREVIATED HISTORY

For geographical reference, the island of Cuba is 42,803 square miles, closest in size to the U.S. state of Virginia, and the distance between the southern tip of Florida and Cuba is 90 miles. Cuba was a Spanish territory until December 10, 1898, and three years later the Platt Amendment was incorporated into their constitution. This amendment gave the U.S. intervention rights into Cuba’s internal affairs, disallowed them financial relationships or treaties with other countries, and allowed the U.S. to have a piece of the southern portion of the island for the naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

In 1934, the Platt Amendment was repealed with the exception that the U.S. retained the leased naval base. General Fulgencia Batista gained the reins of power as president and eventually as dictator. In 1953, Fidel Castro led a failed rebellion against Batista and was imprisoned. Two years later, Castro was released. In 1958, Castro, Che Guevara (a Marxist guerilla leader and physician from Argentina) along with Mexican revolutionaries, forced Batista to flee the country.

On the world stage at this time, the Cold War was in full force between the democratic Western bloc, where the United States was a large participant, and the Communist Eastern bloc with the USSR leading the way. Everyone lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation. An escalation of tensions occurred when in 1960, Cuba nationalized all U.S. assets on the island after American company executives refused to process Russian oil. The U.S. responded with sanctions and a limited embargo. In 1961, the U.S. cut diplomatic ties with Cuba preceding the Bay of Pigs – a U.S. government-sanctioned action with CIA-trained Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro’s Communist rule. It failed. Badly. Castro declared his political philosophy to be Marxist-Leninist, and a U.S. embargo of Cuba was put into place.

In a televised speech on October 22, 1962, President John Kennedy announced of the presence of nuclear Soviet missiles on Cuba, that a naval blockade would be put around the island and force would be used if necessary. The Cuban Missile Crisis continued for days while many were convinced that this was the end of the world. A last-minute agreement between Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, and President Kennedy resolved this crisis, but the Cold War would continue nearly 30 more years.

For Cuba, the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s meant the end of Soviet subsidies, throwing the country into a severe economic depression. Cuba then became an integral part of illicit cocaine trade into the U.S. Recently, President Obama visited Cuba where Fidel Castro’s younger brother, Raúl, is the current president. Fidel, now 89, criticized Obama after the visit by claiming the Bay of Pigs and history between the Cold War belligerents would not be forgotten. Obama made clear that the tensions should be left behind, and that the U.S. could bolster Cuba’s economy and political reform.


THE ANALYSIS

Perhaps the tensions can be left behind, we can’t forget the lessons of the past fifty years. In some measure, we want to emulate President Franklin Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy of non-interference when the Platt Amendment was repealed. We can’t, however, set them adrift again. Mark Erwin, former US Ambassador to Seychelles, noted that “their economy will blow up if you release too much economic freedom at one time”. Our efforts should be focused on assisting Cuba with public policy development to protect their assets and to establish a viable economy for their benefit of all their citizens.

A case in point is tourism. Of the many American industries that are eagerly looking for opportunities in Cuba, this is the one that immediately comes to mind. Some amount of tourism would be wonderful, but the consequences of uncontrolled growth could mean Cubans lose their homes, livelihoods and access to resources in favor of new hotels and tourist services. In many of these scenarios, the financial benefits have gone to a few well-off corporations while poverty levels of locals rise. Conversely, tourism can alleviate poverty when policy requires that it insure that tourism will benefit residents by offering viable, permanent, contracted employment while protecting cultural and natural resources. This is not an altruistic dream, but instead, the only answer to avoiding a repeat of history where an injured and affronted Cuba gives a warm welcome to our greatest enemy. It was the nuclear-armed USSR then, and without careful assistance, it could be ISIS or our next great enemy in the coming years.


Works Referenced

Acosta, Jim and Richard Quest. “Future of US-Cuba Relations with Guest Mark Erwin”. CNN International. EBSCO Database. Accessed 3 April 2016.

Ahmed, Azam. “Fidel Castro Criticizes Barack Obama’s Efforts to Change Cuba.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Mar. 2016. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.

“The Bay of Pigs Invasion Begins.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.

Central Intelligence Agency Staff. The 2007 World Fact Book. Potomac Books. Dulles, VA. 2006. Print.

“Cuba Timeline.” Public Broadcasting System. PBS, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.

History.com Staff. “Cuban Missile Crisis.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, 01 Jan. 2010. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.

Kearns, Myra. “Cuban Missile Crisis Citizen Response.” Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2016.