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COMMUNIST CUBA.
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Historical & political evolution of socialist Cuba under Castro, origins of Cold War, relations with Soviet Union & U.S., 1962 Missile Crisis, impact on FL, economic conditions in late 1990s.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Historical & political evolution of socialist Cuba under Castro, origins of Cold War, relations with Soviet Union & U.S., 1962 Missile Crisis, impact on FL, economic conditions in late 1990s.
Paper Introduction:
INTRODUCTION
Cuba has long been considered a major security threat to the United States because of its Communist-led government under Fidel Castro. Castro came to power after leading a coup in 1959. Relations between Cuba and the United States have passed through several different levels since that time, but for most of the period, the U.S. has treated Cuba as a region to be shunned and has refused to normalize relations or to allow trade with Cuba. Events such as the shooting down of some anti-Castro group airplanes caused even more tension and efforts to force other countries to conform to U.S. policy as well, with mixed results. The greatest point of tension in this history was not with Cuba itself but with the Soviet Union over the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The Communist government in Cuba has claimed success in
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Such a change is less likely after the1996 incident in which Cuban MiG fighters shot down two U.S. The diet is monotonous, and one may have to stand in line to buy food; some of the housing remains substandard. The CIA: A Forgotten History. [25]Tracey Eaton, Alredo Corchado, and Laurence Iliff, "Struggling toSurvive: U.S. Unless people enjoy greater freedom, they argue, social inequities will only grow.[25]U.S. Russia had been excluded from world affairs afterWorld War I until World War II, and this was resented. Castro proclaimed a new radical revolution in cuba andmoved to nationalize the entire retail trade sector, perhaps feeling theneed to inject a new ideological fervor in the people.[8] An American who had lived in Cuba in the 195 s returned in 1979 andfound the area of Havana to be shabbier but otherwise little changed over athirty year period. The attempted invasion may even haveconvinced Khrushchev that Cuba needed Soviet protection from another U.S.invasion. This country never threw anyone back over the Berlin Wall; we never turned a Soviet Jew or Pentecostal over to the KGB; and under Presidents of both parties, we never turned a Cuban refugee over to Castro. Coast Guard. This meant a reduction in the historicdependence on sugar exports. In both moral and international legal terms, this is a departure for the United States. World War II seemed to bringthe two together, but events in the war also more deeply separated them.Americans were hostile to the Soviet invasion of Finland and the Balticstates in 1939. [7]Tad Szulc, Fidel: A Critical Portrait (New York: William Morrow andCompany, 1986), 6 8. Taken as a whole, that history is far less reassuring than the more familiar version. [17]Ibid., 22. [6]Ibid., 34 -341. documents released by the CIA. The second was related to the events of Munich in1938 when Hitler was let loose by the tired, dispirited, cynicalpoliticians of the old empires, after which the aggressor gained step afterstep with little opposition. City on the Edge. The U.S. Relations between Cuba and theUnited States have passed through several different levels since that time,but for most of the period, the U.S. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own." This right to emigrate has been repeatedly endorsed by American Presidents and American Congresses. Thousands more fled the Sandinista reign inNicaragua, with a massive influx in 1988 and 1989. These were the convictions that supportedthe attitudes and activities of the governing elite from 1941 until thelate 197 s.[2] EARLY HISTORY Socialist Cuba made the transition from capitalism after 1961, and ithad many noteworthy achievements as well as notable disappointments. [23]"Cuba: Introductory Survey," 1 77. American hostilitytoward the Soviet Union began with American animosity toward communism.America also had an image of the Soviets as a government that hadnegotiated a separate peace with Germany in 1917, leaving the West to fightthe war alone. He also found some evidence that the basic needs of the peoplewere being met: One say no beggars in the Havana of 1979, nor any of the poverty and misery which abound in so many other Latin American cities. "Cuba's Reform Stalled in Initial Stages, Official Says." The Dallas Morning News (September 3 , 1998), 1A.Morgenthau, Tom. These missiles were medium-rangeballistic missiles with a range of about 75 miles. The new ministries were for economy andplanning, finance and prices, foreign investment and economic cooperation,and tourism, and they were a reflection of a significant change in theeconomic management of the country.[19] The people reacted to poor economic conditions in 1994 by rioting inthe capital. The result has been astrain on Florida's already overtaxed social services.[15] Many of therefugees brought in 198 on the Mariel boatlift were Cuban criminals,however, and this contributed to a shift in public perception. policy as well, with mixed results. INTRODUCTION Cuba has long been considered a major security threat to the UnitedStates because of its Communist-led government under Fidel Castro. The Agency. Americans had also been unhappy with the many attacks onthe American capitalist system, and such attacks were particularlyunwelcome in the 193 s when capitalism was in trouble. [3]Louis A. John P. Soviet hostility toward the UnitedStates also had deep roots. The United States emerged from the war as thestrongest power in the world, and the Soviet Union intended to challengethat strength. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution. BibliographyAbrams, Elliott. Production achievements were acknowledged in a non- monetary way with badges, medallions, scrolls, and awards, frequently distributed by Castro himself.[6] In 1968, Castro personally assumed the planning and execution ofeconomic policies, transforming himself into "a total dogmatistideologically, societally, and economically, in absolute disregard of theexperiences of other men and other societies, but also in contemptuousrejection of many Marxist and Soviet views."[7] At the same time, though,Cuba was nearing bankruptcy, a condition worsened by hurricane damage and a drought in 1968. Many of those who came here in the first wave after therevolution believed they would be returning home, perhaps within a fewmonths, but as the years have passed the Cuban population has become moresocially and economically integrated into the U.S. At the same time, native white South Floridians saw thesenew refugees as a group to be firmly opposed.[18] RECENT SITUATION The economy of Cuba has continued to deteriorate and to encounterproblems in the 199 s. Norton, 1987.Szulc, Tad. Planswere also made for the introduction of agricultural reforms to allow forthe decentralization and reorganization of state farms into "Units of Basicco-operative Production" that would be managed and financed by the workersthemselves. "Struggling to Survive: U.S. Castro loyalists say they' re progressing despite nearly impossible odds. Soviet ships withmissiles of a longer range were spotted and stopped: The Kennedy Administration, presumably to maintain the sense of emergency both here and in Latin America, generated the myth that we were all in the target zone. [14]John P. [2]Ibid., 34-35. London: Zed Books, 1986."Closing the Doors." The New Republic (May 29, 1995), 7."Cuba: Introductory Survey," Europe World Yearbook, Volume 1 (London: Europa, 1998), 1 74-1 85.DeGeorge, Gail. The first wave came in planeloads of Cubans on "freedom flights"in the 196 s and 197 s. [8]Ibid., 6 8. It simply subjects that right to regulation, rather than to the special exemption from regulation that has existed under the 1965 Cuban Adjustment Act. They don't have social networks; they roam the streets desperate to return to Cuba.[17]In fact, the labels affixed to the marielitos by both the Castro governmentand the Cuban leaders in Florida created discrimination which made it verydifficult for these new refugees to make their way in their newsurroundings. This was accomplished through the useof Cuban agents, spy planes and satellites flying over Cuban territory, andthe monitoring of ships, planes, and other outside means of travel andcommunications. Workers were no longer paid for quality of production or for meeting--or surpassing--production quotas. CIA information served to indicate the potential threatfrom Cuba and particularly the threat of Soviet missiles that might befired from Cuban soil. aid to countries providing Cubawith financial assistance.[24] The state of the Cuban economy today is tenuous, and analysts findthat while it is changing, it may not be changing rapidly enough or broadlyenough to make a difference. Castrocame to power after leading a coup in 1959. The efforts tochange the economy have not been sufficient as yet to bring muchimprovement to Cuba, and analysts around the world are watching to see whathappens and if the Cuban market will be opened in the future to foreigninvestment and foreign business interests. While Castro has promised that no one who is sent backwill be mistreated, and while President Clinton promises that no one inreal danger will be sent back, neither statement is taken as accurate.Elliott Abrams recently wrote of this new approach, The new policy is monstrous. It was intended to prove that genuinesocial change could take place in latin America without the need forrevolution or socialism. "'How Many More People Can We Absorb?'" Business Week (September 26, 1994), 48A, 48E.Eaton, Tracey, Alredo Corchado, and Laurence Iliff. [13]Ibid., 356. [9]Wayne S. Fidel: A Critical Portrait. Most Russiansalso deeply distrusted industrial capitalism. . "At the Brink of Disaster." Newsweek (October 26, 1992), 36-39.Portes, Alejandro and Alex Stepick. [4]Ibid., 337-338. culture in Florida evenwhile maintaining ties with Cuba and while trying to keep alive the hopethat Castro could be overthrown and democracy restored in Cuba. "Castro's Latest Coup." National Review (June 12, 1995), 36-37.Blum, William. as many in the Cubancommunity here objected. The headquarters had a permanent staff in excessof 3 Americans directed a few thousand Cuban agents in different actions,with a budget of more than $5 million a year.[1 ] In 1961, Kennedyunveiled a program known as the Alliance for Progress, conceived as adirect response to Castro's Cuba. This comes after several denials that those refugeeswould ever be allowed into the country. [15]Gail DeGeorge, "'How Many More People Can We Absorb?,'" BusinessWeek (September 26, 1994), 48A, 48E. has treated Cuba as a region to beshunned and has refused to normalize relations or to allow trade with Cuba. Business, Impoverished Cubans Watch as Nation Inches towardCapitalism," The Dallas Morning News (September 27, 1998), 9R. Perez Jr., Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution (New York:Oxford, 1988), 337. "If chaos is to be avoided, Cuba needs to have an internal dialogue now."[26]At the same time, the means undertaken by the United States to challengethe Cuban government have been challenged by such actions as a recentUnited Nations demand: The General Assembly this morning urged States that had and continued to apply laws and measures with extraterritorial effects on the sovereignty and the freedom of trade and navigation of other States, such as the United States Helms-Burton Act against Cuba, to take the necessary steps to repeal or invalidate them as soon as possible.[27] CONCLUSION Cuba's government is a socialist form that has been modified inrecent years in an attempt to improve the faltering Cuban economy. . The stores were now run by the government, andpurchases required a ration book. Still, that no one goes hungry or homeless is no small achievement.[9] U.S. FidelCastro has held power since 1959, and his refusal to abandon certainsocialist and communist principles has been one of the reasons why theUnited States has refused to soften relations with Cuba. At the time,analysts believed that the Soviets had no more than 44 operationalintercontinental ballistic missiles and 155 long-range bombers, while theUnited States had 156 such missiles, 144 sub-launched Polaris missiles, and1,3 strategic bombers: Deploying medium-range missiles in Cuba gave Soviet forces a significant increase in the number of warheads that could reach the United States--though it is unlikely that Khrushchev had nuclear war in mind.[13]What Khrushchev wanted was parity with the United States, or at least theillusion of it, and the Cuba gamble was the easiest way to redress thenuclear balance. In Cuba, the basic needs have been provided to all. [16]Alejandro Portes and Alex Stepick, City on the Edge (Berkeley:University of California, 1993), 21. [1 ]William Blum, The CIA: A Forgotten History (London: Zed Books,1986), 21 . The government was reorganized again in 1994, with thecreation of four new ministries and the dissolution of several statecommittees and institutes. [27]"UN: Assembly Urges States to Repeal/Invalidate Laws with Effect onSovereignty, Free Trade, Navigation." M2 PressWIRE (October 15, 1998).----------------------- 18 All thesemen had experienced the excitement and hopes of World War I. [2 ]Ibid., 1 76. They were followed by the Mariel boatlift of 198 bringing 125, refugees. [19]"Cuba: Introductory Survey," Europe World Yearbook, Volume 1(London: Europa, 1998), 1 76. The second change is historic andmeans that refugees from Cuban Communism, previously welcomed into theUnited States, will now be forcibly handed over to the Castro regime by theU.S. . There was also antipathy to reports of Soviet brutality.The Allies did not invade until two years after Stalin wanted, and theRussians suffered terrible casualties in the meantime.[1] The generation that brought the United States into internationalespionage and covert action and that established the CIA was rising topower by 1941 and included Dean Acheson, secretary of state under Truman;Robert Lovett, lawyer, and banker who served as Truman's secretary ofdefense and later an adviser to Kennedy; James Forrestal, secretary of thenavy under Roosevelt and secretary of defense under Truman; John FosterDulles, lawyer and secretary of state to Eisenhower; Allen Dulles, a lawyerand the longest-serving director of the CIA; and Walter Bedell Smith, chiefof staff to Eisenhower during World War II, ambassador to the Soviet Union,third director of the CIA, and later undersecretary of state. . This was prudent at the time, but the historical record should be opened.[14] The Cuban Missile Crisis remains one of the primary reasons whyCastro is held at arm's length by the U.S. According to Michael Kozak, head of the U.S. Thepopulation of South Florida today contains a large contingent of exiles andrefugees from Castro's Cuba, part of a mass exodus of disaffected andpolitically persecuted Cubans who have left their homeland since the CubanRevolution. The marielitos are mostly Black and mulattoes of a color that I haver saw or believe existed in Cuba. Berkeley: University of California, 1993.Ranelagh, John. The crisis causedthe Cuban government to relax certain restrictions and to consider a returnto some enterprises that had earlier been banned. Roche recently wrote about the missile crisis and about thereassessments of that issue taking place over the last several years andfind much to argue about with those who are attempting to revise history orwho have forgotten the reality of the original event. "The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited." The New Leader (March 6, 1989), 5.Perez, Jr., Louis A. The missile crisis developed when it was clear thatthe Soviets were placing nuclear missiles in Cuba and were preparing tobring in more. In 1993, Castro lifted athirty-year-old ban on Cuban citizens' possessing foreign currency. The Communist government in Cuba has claimedsuccess in reforming agrarian policies and in achieving a fairer and moreequal society, but in fact there is considerable evidence that thegovernment has failed, that the economy is a shambles, and that the peopleare worse off today than they were before the coup in 1959. RESPONSE The existence of a Communist regime only a few hundred miles from thecoast of the United States was a matter of special concern for the CIA fromthe time of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. [18]Ibid., 21-23. The U.S. officials now say cuba is trapped in the beginning of a reform processonce seen as having potential but now with an outcome considered uncertain. The greatest point of tension inthis history was not with Cuba itself but with the Soviet Union over theCuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Some 2 , Cubans a year will get visas (although for the next two years the inhabitants of Guantanamo who are to be allowed in now will be counted against these quotas). The third conviction was that democracy was aviable governing alternative, and the idea that the people could gettogether and make deals based on idealism and pragmatism appealed to themon a number of different levels. [11]Ibid., 214-2215. It would also become part of the ongoing CIAeffort to discredit the Cuban government, an effort that would continuelong past the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis.[11] The CIA monitored activity in Cuba and attempted to assess themilitary capabilities of the Cubans. The question now is whether it will work. New York: William Morrow, 1986."UN: Assembly Urges States to Repeal/Invalidate Laws with Effect on Sovereignty, Free Trade, Navigation." M2 PressWIRE (October 15, 1998).----------------------- [1]John Ranelagh, The Agency (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987), 34. Overtime pay was eliminated. and achieved it, overtures from Castro havebeen rebuffed. The Stalinistpurges of the 193 s were also remembered, as was the short-lived pactbetween Stalin and Hitler in 1939. [12]Tom Morgenthau, "At the Brink of Disaster," Newsweek (October 26,1992), 36. Business, Impoverished Cubans Watch as Nation Inches toward Capitalism." The Dallas Morning News (September 27, 1998), 9R.Iliff, Laurence. The CIA had an operationsheadquarters in Miami seen by many as a state within a city because it wasover, above, and outside the laws of the United States as well as of theinternational community. New York: W.W. The Closest of Enemies. It is a story of blunder, miscalculation and dumb luck.[12] The missile crisis had its immediate origins in the Bay of Pigsfiasco and in the arms race between the superpowers. [5]Ibid., 339. The Cuban people still have little as theywait for change, and American businesses are also watching to see whathappens: Borne of youthful idealism and Cold War politics, the Cuban economy has evolved into a peculiar hybrid, a blend of socialism and capitalism. Roche, "The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited," The NewLeader (March 6, 1989), 5. From theirexperience in the years between the two world wars, they developed threestrong convictions that would be the basis for their policies once theycame to power. government, for even as otherparts of the world have ceased being Communist-led or have sought someaccommodation with the U.S. Everyone is guaranteed enough to eat, adequate clothing, access to education, medical care, and a place to live. . Events such as the shooting down of some anti-Castro group airplanescaused even more tension and efforts to force other countries to conform toU.S. There were signs of tension between the U.S. had been outsmarted bythe British and the French in the postwar settlement and had reacted bywithdrawing to its continental boundaries; they were determined that thiswould not happen again. Cuba watchers in the United States call for deeper economic and political reforms. What the Clinton Administration did was to changethe rules concerning the admittance and rejection of refugees from Cuba.The first of these changes is that Cubans who have been in detention campsin the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base will be admitted to the United States overthe next few years. South Florida has long been a point of destination for refugeesfleeing the economic and political problems of the Caribbean and LatinAmerica. The first was that in 1919 the U.S. Second, Roche points out that we certainly knewthat the Soviets were not producing missiles at the rate they claimed theywere. Perez Jr.,who says that Cuba undertook a system of planning to overcome theconditions of underdevelopment. FLORIDA One of the demonstrations of the failure of the Castro government isthe number of Cuban exiles still seeking asylum in the United States asthey flee the poor economic and political conditions in Cuba. and the SovietUnion before the end of the war. Interests Section in Havana,the situation could lead to more Cubans fleeing their home; and seekingasylum in Florida, and this would be another disaster for the U.S.: Hundreds of thousands of refugees could take to the seas between Cuba and Florida during a future crisis unless Mr. Castro begins to develop a political and economic system that is no longer based solely on his personality, Mr. Kozak said. The Soviets remembered American opposition tothe revolution in 1917. Norton,1987), 195. President Clinton reversed his previous opposition to certain controversial elements of the helms-Burton bill, and on 12 March he signed the legislation, officially entitled the Cuban Liberty and Solidarity Act, thus making it law.[23]This legislation imposes sanctions on countries trading with or investingin Cuba and also threatens to reduce U.S. had also sent troops into the SovietUnion at the end of World War I, and the Soviets believed this was tooverthrow their system. Theevolution of Cuban developmental strategies is noted by Louis A. Considering that the entire Cuban population is 11 million, American policy will remain, as it has been, disproportionately generous.[22] Even though Cuba has been changing some policies, this has not beenenough to make the United States change its mind about refusing to allowU.S. Sugar "symbolized the source of oldoppression, slavery in the colony, and subservience to foreigners in therepublic"[3] while also being a constant source of unpredictability. businesses to deal with Cuba. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.Roche, John P. BACKGROUND The end of World War II led to the beginning of a different kind ofwar, the Cold War, an enduring ideological battle between the democraticWest and the Soviet bloc. light aircraftpiloted by members of a Cuban-American exile group. Thiswas considered a significant departure from the nation's centrally-plannedsocialist economy and was intended to attract large sums of foreigncurrency then in circulation on the black market into the regular economy.Another move away from traditional economic policy came as the governmentauthorized limited individual private enterprise in 117 occupations. .[21]An editorial in The New Republic takes a different view: Clinton's policy is also justifiable, in part because it does not eliminate the freedom of Cubans to migrate to the United States. The Bay of Pigsoccurred some two years previously and convinced Khrushchev that Kennedywould back down if confronted. [21]Elliott Abrams, "Castro's Latest Coup," National Review (June 12,1995), 36. He notes first thatwhile there may have been no objective evidence from the CIA regardingwhether or not the Soviets had warheads in Cuba, it is clear that theadministration believed they did, for Kennedy and his associates certainlydid not believe the Soviets might fire missiles at the United Stateswithout such warheads. Castro atthe time made the following statement: Those that are leaving from Mariel are the scum of the country-- antisocials, homosexuals, drug addicts, and gamblers, who are welcome to leave Cuba if any country will have them.[16]A Cuban-American official in Miami who opposed Castro agreed in somerespects: Mariel destroyed the image of Cubans in the United States and, in passing, destroyed the image of Miami itself for tourism. The visitor found that where there hadbeen no public beaches thirty years ago, now there all beaches were open tothe public. Even more Cubans now tried to reach the United States,producing a crisis so that President Clinton had to take steps to stopthem.[2 ] This produced a crisis in the U.S. did notrecognize the Soviet government diplomatically until 1933. in missiles, bombers, and deliverable nuclear warheads. . sanctions were immediately implemented, including the indefinite suspension of charter flights to Cuba . Sugardependence was reduced through industrialization and agriculturaldiversification, a simple idea that never worked and was finallyabandoned.[4] Sugar production was indeed given preference and priorityafter the mid-196 s because it was a good economic move.[5] A new campaignwas started to improve production through an emphasis on moral incentives: Material incentives were proclaimed incompatible with the goals of the revolution. This is a brief outline of the events that transpired, butmore and more it is being noted that this is not the whole story and thatmuch more was involved than was reported at the time: The real history of the missile crisis has been coming out bit by bit for years, partly from Soviet sources and now from secret U.S. Cuba claimed that theplanes had violated Cuban airspace: Further U.S. The CIA and other agencies knew that Russian claims were spurious.The spy satellite Discoverer had spotted fewer than 2 SS-7 railmobileICBMs on spurs of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and this ended the missilegap which had been created by Khrushchev's boasts. [24]Ibid., 1 77. Third, the missilesplaced in Cuba did not have the range to reach Washington in spite ofrhetoric to the contrary on both sides. [26]Laurence Iliff, "Cuba's Reform Stalled in Initial Stages, OfficialSays," The Dallas Morning News (September 3 , 1998), 1A. Infact, the alliance between the Soviets and Americans during the war was anaberration from the norm since the Russian Revolution. [22]"Closing the Doors," The New Republic (May 29, 1995), 7. The primary motivation was strategic, however, for Khrushchevknew, as did the United States, that the Soviet Union was far behind theU.S. The tensions increased after the war.There is disagreement on the precise beginning of the Cold War, but theCold War is seen as deriving from the historic background of Soviet-American relations and from the specific events of 1945 through 1948. Smith, The Closest of Enemies (New York: W.W. Cuba was less able to get international assistancenow that the Soviet Union was changing and had been pressured by the UnitedStates to remove troops and other personnel from Cuba. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.Smith, Wayne S.
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