Canadian Government Involvement

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.

Reviewing the information available for this topic includes looking into the policies affected by relations with Cuba. The works chosen for this study came from the UCF One Search database. The works selected using the search terms Cuba, revolution, and policy change. The search contained filters in order to produce results for peer reviewed articles only.

In the wake of recent events myself and the Canadian Government would like to release a statement on the current state of our country’s race relations. Last month with the recent riots in Baltimore that took place on the 28th of april following Freddie Gray 's funeral. Freddie Gray was a member of a sadly impoverished community of African-Americans in Baltimore who like many others in such a situation had trouble with the police. These riots were preceded by peaceful protests that shed light on the current state of America’s police system but sadly they were overshadowed by riots and violence.

One of the major factors that influences Canada’s approach to Cuba is the relationship between the Harper government and that of the various US administrations. Since taking office in 2006 the two Conservative administrations of Stephen Harper have coexisted with two US Administrations, the last years of the Republican George W. Bush and the whole cycle of the Democrat Barack Obama. Some Canadian scholars observe a greater ideological and political affinity between the Harper government with Bush’s policies than with those of Obama.

After reading chapter 1 which touches base on the lack of federal oversight in Canada, and I strongly agree that because the lack of federal oversight there are no national standards of education, child care, health care or child protection.

John Diefenbaker’s actions during the Cold War in the early 1960’s laid the ground work for Canada’s close relationship with Cuba that continues today. Diefenbaker refused to cut off ties with Cuba, angering the United States President, John F. Kennedy. Diefenbaker did not support the United States further than their NATO commitment, and did not send any troops to the Bay of Pigs Invasion. John Diefenbaker refused to give support to the United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis, causing a rift between Canada and the United States. Without John Diefenbaker’s work during the Cold War, Pierre Trudeau never would have been able to visit Cuba and form a close bond with Fidel Castro. It is due to John Diefenbaker’s efforts that Cuba gets along with Canada.

Encourages the continuation of diplomatic talks between the United States and Cuban government and reiterates the need for the United States to eradicate the Cuban Embargo in its entirety;

Sherritt International Corp. is a Canadian company which not only provides the expertise to mine and refine Cuba’s nickel at Moa, but is involved in oil extraction, electrical power and natural gas supplies resulting in some Directors of the company are prohibited from entering the US. Being a commercial friend of Cuba is not without problems. These supportive activities associated with one country would normally ensure a degree of friendship and recognition by the recipient one. However, it is possible to watch Cuban State controlled television for days, weeks even months, without mention of Canada. Perhaps the only recognition of the country which actually does most to support Cuba’s economy is when a Canadian company director is jailed for corruption without public trial as was the case with Mr. Tokmakjian who at age 74 was sentenced to 14 years and Mr. Yacoubin who was sentenced to 9 years in jail and a fine of $7 million. Both men had their business assets confiscated.

TITLE: The Importance of Cuba –American Relationship and the Impact on the American Economy in the 21st Century

We learned they had cut off trading and diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, except the Soviet Union. This is false. In the western hemisphere, Cuba and Mexico had maintained diplomatic relations with Cuba. The book constantly mentions Mexico’s relations with Cuba, but does not give a reason on why Mexico had kept their relations ongoing and strong. They state that every Latin American nation had cut ties with Cuba, all except Mexico; they portray Mexico as a nation in cohorts with Communist Cuba. With the several mentions of Mexico, they hardly touch base on Canada’s relations. They had maintained continuous relations since the eighteenth century. Many prime ministers had close relationships with Fidel Castro; he even served as a pallbearer for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s

Obama also assured Castro that the United States had no intention of dictating his country’s future. “I affirm that Cuba’s destiny will not be decided by the United States or any other nation,” said Obama, “Cuba is sovereign and rightly has great pride, and the future of Cuba will be decided by Cubans, not by anybody else.”

Concerning Cuba, Tucker talks about how historically the Spanish role in Cuba and follows Cuba and its sugar industry through until the U.S. replaces Spain as Cuba’s primary foreign importer of sugar. Tucker continues through to the Cold War and the impact of Fidel Castro’s rise to power and the ensuing trade embargo implemented by the U.S. as a result.

The United States’ sanctions imposed against Cuba are due to both the rise of Fidel Castro and the country’s affiliation with the Soviet Union, which has resulted in hostile actions against both the U.S. and Cuban citizens (U.S. – Cuba Relations Direction of Policy, 2005). Recently, restrictions have loosened since the inception of the U.S. trade embargo in 1995 resulting in relaxed travel restrictions and the exporting of agricultural goods into Cuba (U.S. – Cuba Relations Direction of Policy, 2005; Gootnick, 2007). Nevertheless, the sanctions against Cuba not only continue to prohibit the business relations between U.S. companies, they also employ a heavy inspection process on all exports as wells as increased penalization of violators, particularly

With embargo and travel restrictions becoming more and more lax, the Cuban markets in oil, tourism and others are poised to boom. However, many other competitors in the oversaturated market have their eyes on Cuba, and Cuba is still leery of outside oil companies gaining footholds in its market and setting up drilling operations in its backyard. Cuba’s prospects also don’t seem likely to hold oil wells gainful enough to warrant the cost of establishing a rig.

While U.S. trade restrictions can be argued as appropriate given Cuba’s history of human rights violations, many other countries that the U.S. are not without fault in that arena. According to Lamrani (2012), “if the United States applied these same criteria across the board (with regards to human rights), they would not maintain relations with quite a number of other countries” (para. 28). Ironically, when viewing at this embargo in reverse from a human rights perspective, the U.S. can be viewed in the same negative light with this relationship, as the trade embargo is having a negative effect on the overall well-being of the Cuban people, particularly with regards to health and nutritional deficiencies, which have contributed to a rise in the incidence of disease in the country (Hardcastle, n.d.). These economic sanctions continue to