African American Cuba International Relations

Cuba's Relations with the United States In the early 1900’s, Cuba was a stomping ground for many of the rich and famous from the United States. Many famous movies stars and wealthy business entrepreneurs spend their vacations there along with a substantial amount of money. Trade and commerce between the United States and Cuba flowed freely and abundantly. Even with the Dictatorship-like regime of Batista, the countries benefited from the economic trade between them. This was all about to come crashing down as revolts against Batista occurred and Fidel Castro came to power within Cuba.

U.S. – Cuba Relations: A Discussion of Constructivism and Realism During the Cold War, relations between Cuba and the United States were icy. Cuba was allied with the USSR, America’s enemy, and was well within their sphere of influence. With events like the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis happening on their soil, Cuba was at the center of the Cold War. Between ideological differences and their alliance with Russia, Cuba became an enemy of America as well. It took the efforts of ten American presidents, six Popes, and countless other actors, but Cuba and America are finally in the process of normalizing relations. There is still work to be done, but the path is clear and the time is right. However, one cannot simply ignore the last fifty years. In that time, millions of lives were affected by the lack of social, economic, and political ties between the U.S. and Cuba. In this paper, I will analyze the last fifty years of U.S. - Cuban relations by looking at the involved actors, their means, and their values and interests through the lenses of two paradigms, realism and constructivism.

Legacies of slavery in Jamaica The legacy of slavery is not to be measured simply by the millions slaughtered by slave hunters in Africa, thrown overboard on the Middle Passage, or beaten to death in Jamaica, but in the destruction of important lines of human development, in the triumph of the parasite over the producer (Maxwell n.d). The legacy of slavery is probably one of the hardest issues in world history upon which to find agreement (Casciani 2007). Furthermore, the legacy of slavery has appeared large over Jamaican culture in the subsequent history of Jamaica. The people of Jamaica have a fierce nationalism and identify strongly with Africa, to an extent that world news in Jamaica often features more stories on African than the Americas (History of Jamaica 2015).

Miami Florida has the biggest Latin population than any other city in the United States. The majority of Latin's being of Cuban descent. Since the Cuban revolution there have been constant waves of immigrating Cubans to Miami. The result has been a Cuban American society that has created culture diversity within. In order to understand the Cuban American culture you must understand its ethnic origin, politics, and the varying times of immigration.

America's Cuban Conundrum: One of the most controversial and widely debatable issues that have been discussed extensively in international legislation for several decades is the Helms-Burton Act. The main controversy surrounding the Helms-Burton Act is the resistance from the Cuban government regarding the features of the legislation. The resistance is a clear demonstration of the legality of property claims despite of the passage of time. Throughout history, rarely has an initiative by the American government to enforce its political opinion on economies of other countries generated much anger like the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity or Helms-Burton Act. Even though President Clinton initially opposed the legislation, it was enacted after the downing of two planes by Cuban Air Force that were flown by members of an anti-Castro organization in America. The enactment of this legislation resulted in the America's Cuban Conundrum whose main issues are addressed in this article.

Cuba: Then and Now In the Treaty of Paris of 1898, Spain relinquished all sovereignty over Cuba. For a time, the policy of the United States toward Cuba was somewhat ambivalent. The Teller Amendment at the beginning of the Spanish-American War had pledged the restoration of Cuba to the Cubans. However, at the same time the United States was determined that it would not be placed after the war with Spain in a worse position in regard to its vital interests in Cuba than it had been when Cuba was a Spanish possession.

Between the month of April and the month of September in 1980 more than 125,000 Cubans fled communism embarking from Port of Mariel to south Florida, United States. More than 1,600 boats were involved in the exodus. When the Peruvian Embassy opened its doors, the government did not anticipate the repercussions that it would bring. In just 48 hours more than 10,800 people, including children and the elderly, entered its borders. So many people came that there wasn't even anywhere for people to sit down. Faced with this situation and overwhelmed by the pressures of international support for refugees’ embassy, the government of Fidel Castro had no alternative aside from allowing a new mass exodus of Cubans to the United States. Small yachts with

Ben Monroe 23 April 2016 History 153 Professor Thompson The History of the U.S. and Cuba The United States is known for being one of the greatest and strongest countries in the world looking at past events and in this day and age. What might strike some people as shocking is that the U.S. would not be as strong without close ties with other countries or allies. Examples would be France, England, and Canada, plus many more. What people don’t talk about is the U.S.’s rivals or countries that the U.S. has had trouble with in the past leading up to now. One of the most renowned countries is only ninety miles away from the southern tip of Florida and that is Cuba. Cuba is known for the fantastic beaches, some of the most well-known baseball players around, and, of course, Cuban cigars and rum. But, the past with Cuba is not as bright as the U.S. wants it to be because of historical events such as the embargo, the Bay of Pigs, and the Cuban missile crisis during World War II that caused the two countries to separate as allies and close tied nations. Over the past year the U.S. and Cuba have been trying to put the past behind them and have diplomatic and cultural relations once again.

Comparing the race problems with those in the United States, that the government uses as a tool to have Afro-Cubans feel that their situation is not as bad as their brothers in America, effectively lessens the feelings of racism in Cuba (131-132). Finally, Sawyer concludes that the advances made in racial relation post-Revolution has been compromised by all the conditions that I have documented previously, and I agree wholeheartedly with his assessments (131).

In this talk there were three new books in history discussed. These books were Antiracism in Cuba, Voodoo and Power, and Democracy’s Muse. The first book presented was Antiracism in Cuba. This book analyzes the race issue in Cuba under Castro’s rule. Cuba believes itself to be a “race less” country; however, the Cuban community only acknowledges itself as white. For Afro-Cubans to be considered Cuban they must lose their “blackness”. The author, Devyn Spence Benson, writes about the battle of the Afro-Cuban community trying to gain freedom and respect.

On Thursday, September 24, Elaine Diaz Rodriguez spoke about her experiences in Cuba. She talked about the new relationship between Cuba and America. She said on December 17, 2014, President Obama announced that there was going to be a restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba. She said the Cubans cried because for the first time in a long time, Cuba came together with another country. She believed the world needed reconciliation. In Cuba, before 2008, Cubans were not allowed to do many things such as go to hotels, have cellphones, or buy computers. Before 2011, Cubans were not allowed to buy or sell their houses or cars. Additionally, before 2013, Cubans needed permission from the government to travel with a passport. Ms. Diaz Rodriguez

Cuba’s early history is characterized by colonization, agricultural capitalism, the introduction of African slave labor, and a class system that divided the island (Mintz, 1971). Beginning in the 1800’s the Catholic Church ideology saturated Cuban society, which was the standard of Spanish-speaking Latin America at that time. Education at this time was an opportunity experienced by elite, white, males and centered on rigid Catholic tenets of philosophy. The base economy was agriculture, and African slaves

A controversial subject,yet not spoken about enough,the warming of relations between Cuba and the U.S exists only due to the two countries having a rough past with each other. This “rough past” consists of aspects such as the protectorate status the U.S had previously put onto Cuba, which severely limited

Cuban and U.S. Relations From the time, Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba tensions ran high between the Cuban government and the United States government. Relations between Cuba and the United States grew during Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. Not as much during the Eisenhower administration as the Kennedy administration did tensions between between the two countries intensify. Kennedy faced many a different situations as President. He faced such situations like the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Tensions have mounted high for a long time between Cuba and the United States.