Cuba and the US: Countries Forever Intertwined

    Cuba and the United States that have a history with each other that goes back surprisingly far and is more complicated than how it first seems. Our histories together became complicated as soon as Cuba became liberated from the Spanish empire. In 1898, we joined the battle for Cuba’s freedom and by December that year the United States was declared victorious in the war. Though this marked the beginning of Cuba’s fate being dependent on the whims of the United States. 

    The United States became increasing involved in Cuba’s politics and economy, treating it almost like a colony of ours. This was because we recognized that it was a country that presented a lot of economic opportunity. Cuba was the crown jewel of the Spanish empire and even though the United States opposed colonialism it still didn’t want to let go of this potential. Many were conflicted over what to do with Cuba and this internal turmoil would create an ever-changing climate for Cuba. Almost immediately into Cuba’s independence, the United States implemented the Platt Amendment with stated that they could become involved in Cuban affairs and could even lease Cuban land. This crippled the country to become dependent on the United States. Later the United States would be responsible for the rise in authoritarianism in the country as they chose to back a seize of power from the existing body of power after a democratic loss to maintain their control of the country. This would sour relations between the two countries as many citizens hated this regime. 

    Eventually, the citizens of Cuba would revolt against this regime and successfully overthrow it thanks to the likes of Fidel Castro and Chev Guerra. Under new leadership, the country would soon ally with the Soviet Union. Due to tensions with the Cold War, conflicted escalated to the point Nuclear War almost began because of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Following these events, the United States put an embargo on Cuba that would cripple the country economically. Further crippling the country, was the fall of the Soviet Union. Cuba had relied on the Soviet Union to evade having to rely on our country and our treatment of it as a colony. Through our arms race with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, we helped accelerate the collapse of their biggest ally which indivertibly caused harm to the country again. This has once again put the country’s fate at our whim and each president has taken a different approach to handling our relations with Cuba which certainly doesn’t help the stability of the country.

    Before this week’s readings, I had never thought about our impact on the country beyond the Cuban Missile Crisis. I wasn’t as knowledgeable about our ties in the post-colonial history of the country. The current state of the country I always just assumed was because they chose the “wrong” side of the Cold War. That they chose a superpower that would ultimately collapse and was ostracized because of opposite political views. It never really occurred to me that some of the actions were deliberately done to control the country or that so much of our countries’ histories were intertwined. It always seemed that Cuba was as detached as could be and that where it is now was because of actions solely from their governments not through additional interference. 

Do you think Cuba will ever be free from the United States influence?

What actions do you think would be necessary for the United States to have a positive impact on Cuba?

Works Cited

History of Cuba. (n.d.). Retrieved from Nations Online: https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/History/Cuba-history.htm