How is it that, as we sit in 2023, relations between Cuba and the United States are really no better than they were back in the late 1950’s, a product of both the cold war and the power of American capitalism?
An island nation of some 11 million people, a scant ninety miles from Florida’s shores, classified as an “enemy” nation not by decree, but through the actions taken against it.
Fulgencio Batista, the dictator and murderer of some 20,000 Cubans after his 1952 coup versus Fidel Castro, a lawyer and revolutionary who stood against Batista’s tyranny. And who does the United States support? As counter-intuitive as it may appear on the surface, count on the Americans to put money before principles, even as they wave the flags of liberty and freedom. To them, Batista meant stability, which meant that American financial interests, including, and most notably, the mob, could continue to operate their huge money-making operations on the island, considered as it was at the time as an American playground for tourism, gambling, and vice. It was, in a way, the Las Vegas of the southeast.
When Castro’s revolution came out of the hills and toppled the Batista regime, the Americans were outraged. Not because Castro was any worse than Batista in the human rights department, but because he went about nationalizing American interests. The American money interests lost their collective minds, and sought any number of ways to get things back to the way they were. Assassination of Castro was one plan, the invasion of the island another. Both plans failed.
Faced with a hostile superpower on his doorstep, Castro was in no position to be fussy as to where he might gain some help and support, and the Soviet Union, the cold war nemesis of the Americans, was only too willing to step into this American-manufactured void, solidifying Cuba as a communist nation on the doorstep of America.
And so, over sixty years later, relations between the United States and Cuba have been strained due to a complex history of political, economic, and ideological differences. All of this man-made, and all of it stupid in a modern world. But there it is.
The history of hostility between these two nations is no longer relevant in today’s world, not that it was any more relevant sixty years ago. The relationship between the United States and Cuba has been wracked by historical conflicts, including the explosion of the warship Maine in Havana’s harbour, the Spanish-American War, the Batista coup, and the Cuban Revolution in 1959 that led to the rise of Fidel Castro’s communist government. The subsequent nationalization of American businesses in Cuba and Cuba’s alignment with the Soviet Union during the Cold War deepened the rift. The fiasco known as the “Bay of Pigs” invasion, a hapless CIA-led and inspired attempt to overthrow Castro in 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, didn’t exactly help. The hostility that persists today is aided and abetted by a large Cuban-American population in South Florida that holds inordinate electoral power in the state of Florida, a power that manifests itself in the elections of candidates for Congress and the U.S. Senate as well as for the presidency. This Cuban diaspora is vehemently hostile to any government in Cuba, and their significant presence in the American political arena is, in my mind anyway, the greatest impediment to establishing any kind of mature relationship between these two nations that, in other times, could actually be regional allies.
In a predictably knee-jerk cold war type of response to events in Cuba, the United States imposed a comprehensive economic embargo on the island in 1960, which severely limited trade and financial transactions between the two countries. This embargo has been a major obstacle to normalizing relations and improving economic ties between the two nations since. In 2015, the Obama Administration loosened the restrictions to a degree, part of a thawing of relations that led to the openings of legitimate embassies in each other’s capitals. This progress, however, was very short-lived, as Donald Trump became president and reverted back to a hostile stance vis a vis Cuba, no doubt at the behest of the fanatical Cuban diaspora in Florida, a demographic solidly in favour of “The Donald” politically. As well, the word “communist” was revived in strength, and there’s no word in the English language that gets Americans in a full-throated outrage than the C-word.
The U.S. has criticized Cuba’s human rights record and lack of democratic governance, which would be fine if the Americans didn’t historically support totalitarian dictatorships who have an even more wretched record in the area of human rights and civil liberties. Even today, the Americans are okay going to bed with repugnant regimes if it suits their purpose, Saudi Arabia and Egypt being just two examples. But hey, these places aren’t communist dictatorships, but rather right-wing dictatorships, and to the U.S. that makes some sort of moral difference. These human rights issues have been held up as longstanding points of contention and have the effect of hindering any efforts to build trust and cooperation between the two nations. By the way, in case anyone’s keeping track, the excesses of the Saudi regime make Cuba look like Disney World by comparison.
Cuba’s one-party communist political system stands in contrast to the so-called democratic values championed by the United States, not that the U.S. has earned the title of “champion of democracy.” Again, look at the Saudis. Look at Iran during the reign of the Shah. Look at Chile in the aftermath of Salvadore Allende. How many one-party states have the Americans propped-up in the name of national security while turning a blind eye to human rights problems? But no, not for Cuba, because they’re communist, and that’s somehow different because of America’s marriage to capitalism, as if Cuba would be any threat to that. This fundamental ideological difference has contributed to the ongoing tensions.
The United States has also had concerns related to irregular migration from Cuba, which has led to various migration policies and negotiations between the two countries. That said, how many of the 2.4 million Cubans living in the United States arrived strictly legally? Compared to other immigrants from other Latin American countries, Cubans were classed as “political refugees,” which meant that they were incorporated much easier. It seems that running from communism makes you a political refugee, while running from economic hardship and political repression from right-wing regimes makes you an undesirable.
U.S.-Cuba relations are often influenced by domestic politics in both countries. Political leaders may take stances on Cuba to cater to specific constituencies, making it challenging to enact significant policy changes. Have I mentioned the Cuban-American diaspora, particularly in Florida? Did I mention how it seems to skew to the Republicans, the more anti-immigration political party of the two on offer in the United States? How is it that a Latin-American, or Caribbean Latino for that matter, would gravitate towards the Republicans, unless the Republicans are the most notable doom and gloom and everything’s going to hell party?
The broader geopolitical context can also impact U.S.-Cuba relations. For instance, the alignment of Cuba with other countries or groups that are at odds with U.S. interests can further complicate efforts to improve relations. But what the hell can the U.S. expect, given how the Americans have shut the Cubans out of just about every regional and hemispheric grouping that’s come into being in the last sixty years? Honestly, this a problem of the American’s own making.
While there have been some efforts to improve relations over the years, significant progress has been slow. The reestablishment of diplomatic relations in 2015 under the Obama administration was a notable step forward, but various challenges remain unresolved. Such as electing blowhards like Trump to the presidency.
The relationship between the two nations is a classic example of the Americans cutting off their nose to spite their face. But they don’t see it that way because, in their minds, America can do no wrong, although to be fair, America does all kinds of wrong for all kinds of convenient reasons. I’m not anti-American, nor have I ever been. But it would be nice if the world’s most powerful democracy could get the hell out of its own way and move towards actually living the ideals that it professes to show leadership on.
Improved relations with Cuba would have a beneficial effect upon all of the issues that currently separate the two. Over time, and with positive American influence and encouragement, Cuba could be brought back into the fold as a contributing nation and partner. It would also deny Russia any undeserved advantage in the island, an advantage started and maintained when America slammed all the doors in Cuba’s face because they were, well, communist. The United States treats Vietnam better than Cuba, and Vietnam is currently communist and also the nation that defeated the United States in a war costing the lives of 58,000 Americans. But I guess we’ll need them against China one day, so that’s all okay.
The Americans fought wars against Germany and Japan but now count those two nations as key allies. Yes, they’re both democracies, but they didn’t get there overnight, nor did they get there by being shunned, isolated, and embargoed.
Some day some president is going to ignore the Cuban-American/Florida influence and restore relations with Cuba. And if those folks don’t like it, too bad. They can either shut up or swim back to Cuba for all I care, they’ve done enough damage to national security as it is. Aided and abetted, of course, by the Republicans, who love wedge politics. If the boat’s big enough, maybe take some of the GOP clowns with them.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 