The US relationship with Cuba really started in the late 1900s with the Spanish American War.
When the US decided to help the Cuban people in their struggle for independence against the Spanish.
Spain fought to keep Cuba because they saw it as the “crown Jewel” of their empire because of the sugar
plantations that were abundant in Cuba. Those plantations made it so that Spain could keep up to the
worldwide demand for sugar. After the US and Cuba won the war, the US had to decide whether to take
Cuba as property or make Cuba an independent country. This was a part of an internal US struggle on
whether the US wanted to be linked to the European powers or not. The US ended up taking a part of the
US and inserting themselves in Cuban affairs when it suits the US interests.
The US decided instead of granting the Cuban peoples' freedom they would keep control of the country when they had no right to do so. The US could have supported Cuba instead of trying to control the country. Then in 1906 and 1917 the US invaded Cuba because to protect "US interests" in the country. These invasions still have a lasting impact on Us Cuban relations to this day.
In 1930 the US backed dictator was overthrown by a group of militant students and sergeant Fulgencio Batista. According to the US code they should have intervened, but president Rosavelt decided not to. With Fulgencio Batista forcing the provisional president Ramón Grau San Martín to resign shortly after the revolution. Batista survived as president from 1940 to 1944. After that Cuba had two elected presidents from 1944 to 1052. Even though Cuba had democracy during this time, corruption within the government increased. In 1952 Bastista took over the government being the next US backed dictator. During this time foreign businesses and Bastita took advantage of the Cuban people and of the country's response to become rich.
On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro Ruz seized power, he was very anti-U.S. “The United States imposed an embargo on Cuba on October 19,1960, and broke diplomatic relations on January 3, 1961” (Kästle,2022). The US did this because Cuba went into business with the Soviet Union and took over all US assets in Cuba. The embargo is still in place today, partly because Cuba still does not have the best human right practices impart to them with them repressing independent thought. I also believe part of the reason the embargo is still in place is because a lot of Americans still looks done on Cuba, simply because it is Cuba. Before this module I had a very different view on Cuba than I do now. Because I made assumptions about the country based off what I heard on the news and from my parents, which was usually negative and not the entire story.
Two of the greatest things that I believe came out of the revolution is the Cuban healthcare and the educational system. Everyone gets free healthcare and education, including higher education. Some of the greatest failures are that the government represses anyone who speaks out against them, the government controls a lot of the media, the people do not have easy access to the internet, and Cuba had a dictator. All those things make freedom of thought very hard and near to impossible.
Even though Fidel Castro was invaluable to the revolution, it would probably have still happened
without him because the reasons that the revolution happened would have still existed. Even though the
revolution had a lot of failures Cuba is better off today than it was before. Because before they had an US
backed dictator that had no initiation of reforming the government, but now the Cuban government has
been slowly introducing reforms that have been making the people's lives better. It is progress, but Cuba
still has room to grow just like the US.
Questions:
· What could have prevented the US getting involved in Cuba affairs?
· Would Cuba be a democracy today if the US never got involved in the country's affairs?
Kästle, K. (n.d.). History of Cuba. History of Cuba - Nations Online Project. Retrieved December 25, 2022, from https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/History/Cuba-history.htm
This was an interesting post.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple things that I believe would have prevented US involvement in Cuban affairs. One of the factors for their involvement is how close the country is to the United States. It is so close to Florida meaning that it makes strategic sense that we have some involvement in politics and making sure they aren't a potential threat. The other factor is if the country didn't offer such economic resources the US wouldn't be as interested in trying to exploit it for financial gain.
I feel like it is hard to say whether it would be a democracy or not. Had they never gotten involved from the beginning I don''t think that they would become a democracy. It seems like originally it was a democracy because we originally had a positive impact so they seemed try and model themselves after us, but after extensive meddling they looked elsewhere for ideas. I feel like regardless of our involvement they likely wouldn't be a democracy.
Hello Matthew,
ReplyDeleteOne major thing that impacted the United States' involvement with Cuba was the value of their sugar trade. Cuba had almost defeated Spain before the explosion of the USS Maine. If the timing had worked out so that the Maine hadn't been destroyed or the Cuban battle for independence had been victorious a bit sooner, then I don't think that the United States could have gotten the political support to become involved in Cuban affairs. However, I don't think Cuba would have been a democracy if this was the case, since they don't have a democracy today having gained their independence from the United states.
After reading this post from the perspective of a United States born and bred citizen, one is left with an overwhelming sense of guilt for the situation that we have assisted in betrothing among the Cuban peoples. Learning more about the history of diplomatic relations to Cuba forces the reader to ponder the future of the nation and ask themselves what it would take for a potential economic recovery.
ReplyDelete