The Cold War was not necessarily a distinctive moment in U.S. – Cuban relations as “the U.S. pursued ideological objectives in its policy towards [Cuba] before, during and after the Cold War.” The design of the U.S. defence and expansion of its economic interests in Latin America was not substantially dissimilar during the Cold War than at any other time. This essay will explore the history of Cuba’s relationship with the U.S. from the Spanish – American War until the Cuban revolution; an event which thrust Cuba into the heart of the Cold War. Cuba’s relationship with the U.S. and the Soviet Union will be investigated in terms of their political, economic and ideological discord, as will the conditions in Cuba following the revolution, which fractured their relationship with the U.S. and motivated their alliance towards the Soviet Union. Consideration will be given to the subsequent U.S. intervention against the Cuban socialist regime, both overt and covert, and the effect this had on aggravating the disinclination of Cuba to co-operate with the U.S. endeavours in South America. Further, this analysis will include Cuba’s foreign policy and internationalism throughout the Cold War in terms of their interests in supporting global anti-colonialism and independence from imperial hegemony. The history of Cuba’s struggle for independence from imperial subjugation has endured for more than half a millennia, beginning when the first Spanish settlers landed on the island early in the 16th century. Almost immediately the Spanish colonisers began transporting African slaves to Cuba and imposed empirical laws on the native inhabitants as they established the island as a strategic frontier as well as agricultural and economic resource. The next few centuries of Spanish colonisation were punctuated by a multitude of slave rebellions and external incursions which were brutally suppressed, however, in the late 19th Century this struggle gained traction, culminating in three successive wars of independence. The combined sum of these insurrections resulted in the Spanish-American war, which saw American expeditionary forces move against the Spanish garrison in Cuba. Whilst the United States naval superiority proved decisive at sea, the Spanish garrison, having been almost completely destroyed by the Cuban insurrection and further emaciated by yellow fever, presented little resistance to the American ground forces. The completion of this action saw Cuba as independent from Spain; however they now found themselves occupied by a United States who felt that some degree of restitution was in order in return for their ‘vital’ intervention. This came in the form of the Platt Amendment, compulsorily incorporated into the new Cuban Constitution “under duress in order to speed the withdrawal of U.S. troops;” which effectively allowed the United States to intervene in Cuban affairs where it saw fit, under the premise of “protecting life, property and liberty.” It also restricted Cuba from entering into international treaties without U.S. consent as well as upholding U.S. entitlements to land and naval bases. The effect of the Platt Amendment, and subsequent reciprocity agreement, as argued by diplomatic historian Peter Smith, equated to the U.S. seeking to “obtain the benefits of imperialism without assuming its costs. Cuban historian Oscar Zanetti argued that during this process, under the pretence of Neo-Liberalist expansion, the U.S. “worked inexorably to bring the fundamental components of Cuba’s productive apparatus under foreign control.” Over the next half a century, under successive corrupt governments, and “in futile resistance to the onslaught of U.S. military, commercial and cultural might,” Cuba’s increasing resentment towards imperial capitalist intervention and political corruption established the conditions which culminated in the 1959 revolution. The Cold War primarily refers to the “state of mutual hostility, distrust and rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union.” With origins tracing back the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Cold War took place between the conclusion of the hostilities of the Second World War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In terms of this understanding, Cuba’s involvement in this ‘conflict’ did not commence until the after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Prior to the revolution, buoyed by various trade and policy agreements, the U.S. had enjoyed an era of economic prosperity from investments in Cuba. At the time of the insurrection, U.S. companies controlled 40% of Cuba’s sugar production, two of three oil refineries and 90% of public utilities, and Cuban President Fugelencio Batista had support from the U.S. under President Dwight Eisenhower, regarded as “a good thing from the standpoint of the U.S.” In line with its foreign policy regarding most of South America, the U.S. was prepared to provide support to any government, in most cases disregarding their own ideology of liberty and freedom in favour of propagating stability to preserve fertile ground in order for the U.S. to “impose its own commercial and capitalist norms.” Following the overthrow of Batista’s militarist regime in January 1959, the leader of the revolution Fidel Castro assumed the position of Cuban Prime Minister. Initially, the U.S. extended diplomatic recognition to the new government and sent an ambassador to conduct an appraisal of the new administration. His report was optimistic regarding Batista’s collapse as “evidence of progress toward democracy and justice.” This enthusiasm for the new regime diminished quickly as Castro began unveiling his plans for social, economic, and agrarian reform. The U.S. initiated a process of reducing financial aid to Cuba, including a reduction of its import quota of sugar from the island. This deterioration of the “historically pervasive U.S. economic presence” saw the regime seek new partnerships outside of its tradition sphere of influence. The regimes resistance against western imperialism immediately drew attention from the Soviet Union, and following a visit from Soviet Premier Anastas Mikoyan in February 1960, Castro signed a Bilateral Trade and Clearing Agreement, which signified a decisive turning point in Cuba – U.S. relations. In August 1960, Castro nationalised U.S. oil refineries in retaliation to their refusal to process crude oil supplied by the Soviet Union. The U.S. responded by abolishing its entire sugar import quota, prompting Cuba to nationalise all U.S. owned property. The result of this saw political and economic relations between Cuba and the U.S dissolve, with the U.S. enforcing embargoes on all trade with Cuba, excluding food and medicines, and all but severing Cuba’s trade ties with the Western Hemisphere. Paradoxically, the new regimes resolve to extinguish its dependence on the U.S. and move towards a future of self-determination was, almost entirely, facilitated by its dependence on its newest ally, the Soviet Union. This relationship and the inherent security threat, perceived or real, to the U.S. would bring the world to the brink of nuclear war. While new evidence flowing out of Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union may contest the position of successive U.S. administrations regarding the expansionist threat of communism during the Cold War, the support provided by the Soviet Union to several revolutionary states at the time represented an undeniable threat to U.S. hegemony in the Western Hemisphere and compromised its ideological, political and economic enterprises. One fact that is beyond dispute is that the country of Cuba, from the days immediately following the revolution, was under constant and genuine threat from the U.S. The implementation of social and agrarian reforms in Cuba had alarmed the U.S. administration; most significant was its anxiety that Cuba’s success might resonate throughout Latin America. Unwilling to allow the development of an independent, socialist state so close to its borders, and under the ‘jurisdiction’ of policies such as the Platt Amendment and Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. began a program of intervention, which took many forms. Overtly, the U.S. administration enforced blanket trade embargoes on all Cuban imports and exports, excluded Cuba from the Latin American Free Trade Agreement, and exploited its far reaching hegemony to enforce the imposition of a regional economic blockade. The Eisenhower administration began a set of “programs to discredit, undermine, subvert and destroy the Cuban Revolution.” This overt action was complimented by CIA sanctioned terrorism and economic sabotage carried out by “their legions of recruited counter-revolutionary Cuban exiles,” and reaching peak with the failed mercenary invasion at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961. After the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Cuban citizenry were united “in a conscious socialist revolution,” under which all “capitalist property relations were overturned and private property in the means of production, finance and large-scale wholesale distribution were abolished.” The U.S., unhindered by the failure of the invasion, and in spite of the “political class consciousness and mass participation of the Cuban working class,” continued with its covert intervention in Cuba. The Kennedy administration implemented the now famous ‘Operation Mongoose’ which led to a dramatic increase in covert operations, ranging from assassination attempts on Castro and his leadership group and continuation of CIA sanctioned terrorism, to massive investment in the establishment of domestic opposition to the regime and a comprehensive technological and aerial surveillance operation. This constant escalation was matched by the Castro regime, and supported by the Soviet Union and its allies. Arguably the most significant manifestation of aggression between Cuba and the U.S. was the threat of a U.S. – Soviet nuclear exchange during the Cuban missile crisis. Successive U.S. administrations continued with programs to destabilise and disenfranchise the Castro Government. In spite of this, and to a degree because of this, Cuba developed an extensive foreign policy and actively sent troops and aid in support of revolutionary, anti-colonial factions in other countries, including Nicaragua, Chile, Bolivia in South America, as well as being involved in as many as 17 African counties, most notably, in Angola, Algeria, Ethiopia and Mozambique. Cuban support, in many cases, did not consist of money or military assistance; rather, their contribution took the form of skilled technicians, such as doctors. Cuba continued to forge new international relationships beyond the Western Hemisphere and outside of the sphere of U.S. domination by becoming a member of groups such as the Nonaligned Movement and Group of 77. These groups of loosely associated countries, mostly from the developing world sought to provide mutual support to each other, with the primary goal of disconnecting their dependency of major political, economic and ideological superpowers. The Cuban socialist revolution far exceeded the U.S. projections of its tenacity and life expectancy. Economically and logistically this could not have been achieved without the Soviet Union’s intervention and support, however, the true weight of the revolution did not rest upon the balance sheets of the international banks. The burden of ideological freedom was borne on the shoulders of the formerly enslaved, independent working class of Cuba. And they had their successes. Cuba is renowned for its relative social welfare success. The social reforms of the Castro government did increase living conditions, health and education standards to levels that rank among the highest in South America. That said, the collapse of the Soviet Union, coupled with the entrenched effects of the U.S. embargo have severely restricted Cuba’s access to modern medications and medical instruments. In the years since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. has maintained its policies of isolation and destabilisation of Cuba and the price that the Cuban people have paid cannot be measured in peso’s or dollars. However, for a country whose entire modern history has been defined by imperial hegemony and slavery, either real or economic, their collective unity in preserving the ideals of the Cuban Revolution has stood the test of time. A quote from the ancient Greek historian and ‘father of political realism’, sums up the relationship of the U.S. and Cuba throughout the Cold War: “Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can; the weak suffer what they must.”
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 04:10:11 +0000
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