Growing up I
didn’t know a whole lot about Cuba and it’s past other than the major conflicts
it had with the U.S. such as the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile
Crisis. I always thought of it as a bad country since we had cut off ties with
them for so many years and remained hostile towards each other. However, I was
unaware of the full story behind Cuba’s relationship with the United States
that dates back to the 1800’s, beginning when the U.S. helped Cubans fight
against Spain to win their “independence.” This term being used loosely since technically
Cuba was free, yet the United States took over Guantanamo Bay, dictated foreign
policy, and gave themselves the right to intervene in Cuban affairs. This
started the Imperial era which included multiple times when the U.S. military
took over for a few years. This was when some tension towards the U.S. was
created, even if for a brief period.
The real issues began when Fulgencio
Batista came to power and the U.S. backed the oppressive leader out of fear of
communism spreading. He was a brutal dictator towards the Cubans, and they wanted
him gone. Once Fidel Castro took over, the U.S. imposed the embargo causing
Cuba to turn to the Soviet Union for help which led to Bay of Pigs and the missile
crisis in the 60’s. For a few reasons, that embargo had remained until 2015
when Obama and Castro came to some sort of peace.
As
I had said before, I had never known the full back story of why the United
States had an embargo on Cuba for so many years. It was very interesting to me
to read about and watch videos that gave me both perspectives on the subject
and the aftermath of the embargo effects. My question now though is, with
President Trump in office, will relations with Cuba deteriorate at all since he
had made comments of reversing Obama’s executive orders until freedom is
restored in Cuba?
I can completely relate to the views you had of Cuba before reading this information for class as I to always thought the United States negative views towards Cuba came from the Cuban Missile Crisis, but it is so much more than that. Also, I like how when explaining the situation of Cuban independence you use quotations around it, as they truly weren't independent at all since the U.S. intervened in nearly all Cuban issues. However, I disagree about how the U.S. set up and embargo on Cuba just because Fidel came into power, because I believe it also stemmed from the fact that Fidel nationalized and created high taxes on U.S. products, influencing Cuban's not to buy them. Lastly, to answer your question, based on the videos I have watched it seems that the relations between Cuba and the U.S. have deteriorated due to the Trump administration as President Trump cracked down on U.S. travel and business with Cuba in 2017.
ReplyDeleteAllie,
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting to me that many of us seem to either have little knowledge on Cuba or have a skewed view toward it from what we learned in school growing up. It is disappointing to me that our education systems have only told us the United States version of its connection to Cuba. I understand that they were fearful of Cuba because of their alliance with the Soviet Union that led to the missile crisis, but the United States has not seemed to pay attention to what they have done wrong themselves. As you stated, once Cuba received their "independence" the United States continued to take control rather than respect what Cuba wanted. This confuses me because one of the main ideologies of the US is about freedom. Since we were struggling with becoming independent from the British at the start of our nation, you would think that the US would have sympathy for another country that is doing the same. To answer your question, I'm not sure that relations with Cuba will die out completely because of tourism and how much it brings into the Cuban economy, but I do agree that having Trump as president does limit our foreign relations.
I have to agree with you on my knowledge of why Cuba and the United States don't like each other. I never knew the full reasoning on why we hear about Cuba but visiting there is nearly impossible. Molly brings up a good point that our own education system does not teach us about the true relationship between Cuba and the United States. The United States feared the Soviet Union so in my opinion maybe the embargo was put in place so Cuba would work with the Untied States more. Although Castro increased the Tax's on US stuff there could be a reason to that we are just unaware of it. As a response to question I am really unsure if Trump will really reverse Obama's orders or is he just saying that to work people up. I do not believe the US tourism brings in a lot of money for Cuba because it is so difficult to get a visa and a valid reason on why you are traveling there. If Trump did reverse the orders do you think the next president would reverse Trumps orders?
ReplyDeleteIts funny you mention this, I felt the same way about Cuba. I always thought of Cuba as a country that I would never be able to visit. I was always told it is very dangerous and people should not be tourist there because it is unsafe. However, after watching the Camerman and Cuba film, I came to a realization that Cuba is in fact known to be very expensive and unique given that it inherited a mix of Spanish and African cultures. When learning about the Cuban culture and the Cuban relationship with the United States I started to understand that Cuba's communist base is what created a even greater distance between the U.S. Before the conflict between the U.S. and Cuba started, the two were strongly connected through trades, given that about 85% of Cuba's exports were bought by the U.S. Once the trading of goods were over with, I saw in the film that Cubans had a shortage of supplies in all aspects. Cuba was displayed as an economy that is dominated by state-run enterprises but is the most important that the government of Cuba owns and operates most industries and most of the labor force is employed by the state.
ReplyDeleteI think many of us learned a skewed version of Cuba's history since they stand against what it means to be American. In the context of our history, we've always viewed communism as bad, and thus our education on Cuba was to show us an example of a broken country. This continued view of communism being a direct threat continues to widen the distance between our countries. I believe having Trump in office will absolutely cause relations to strain. The President has made is opinion clear that ties to Cuba will be cut or restricted until they're free from communism. Since Cuba is still trying to remain as socialist as possible, this tension with the United States is going to cause another cycle of mistrust and isolation between the countries. Additionally, Cuba may resort to making deals with other oppressive states America also has restrictions on, thus creating a bigger problem and deteriorating the relationship between the two countries further as America puts on more restrictions.
ReplyDelete