Cuban American Imperialism

The Cuban Revolution was touchy topic for the United States and Cuba. America’s alienation of Cuba didn’t help when communism from the USSR was brewing over the revolution. When the revolution gained Castro as its leader, the worry and hatred from the United States was unbearable, especially when the Soviet Union landed in Cuba to interest Castro in its aid. The US’s fear of communism, Fidel Castro, and aid from the Soviet Union was significant because it changed the US’s political role in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution.

Cuba “held an economical potential that attracted American business interests and a strategic significance for any Central American canal” (Goldfield, Abbott and Anderson, p 638). Cuban rebellion “erupted again in 1895 in a classic guerrilla war… [and] American economic interests were seriously affected” (book pg638). The Spaniards started confining the locals to concentration camps “where tens of thousands died of starvation and disease” (book pg 638). This gained a lot of publicity throughout America as journalist’s were reporting the harsh treatment, which helped persuade our nation to intervene. Furthermore, this led to growing tension between Spain and

After it became officially globally acknowledged that Cuba was in fact a communist state and was being led through a dictatorship run by Castro, it did not take long before powerful enemies and essential allies were formed. The act of seizing all foreign land with none or very little compensation was received with great hostility amongst those who lost in their property through this process, and probably the reaction that had the biggest impact on Cuba’s economy was that of the US. Castro’s communistic policies did not of course help calm this resentment and also took part in leading to the establishment of trade embargos with Cuba from the US. This meant that Cuba would now lose a very valuable buyer of their precious sugar, [5] but they did however gain another one, a powerful nation that shared quite similar Marxist ideals and were quick to form an alliance with the Cubans, the USSR.

In 1959, Cubareceived 74 percent of its imports from the US, and the US received 65 percentof Cuba’s exports. On February 3, 1962, the United States imposed a fulltrade embargo on Cuba, completely ending any type of trade between the twocountries. This embargo remains in effect today, more than four decades later,and has grown ! to be a huge center of debate and controversy (DeVarona 8).Opponents to the embargo argue that the embargo does nothing more than hurt theCuban people, while proponents argue that the embargo places pressure on Castroto repair Cuba’s mismanaged and corrupt government. Both the supportersand the opponents of this embargo have strong arguments and evidence to supportthese

Cuba was one of the territories that United States imperialized. The US was a heavy consumer of the sugar produced in Cuba but didn’t meet the sugar industry demands. The international market collapsed, and the US used this opportunity to purchase the sugar mills in Cuba “Cuban sugar mills into bankruptcy … sensing an opportunity, investors from the United States

During the Cold War, a new leader of Cuba rose to the top. Fidel Castro threw Barista out of power and began to lead the Cuban people with flying colors. Little did these citizens know, was he was leading them into bad relations with his many Soviet ties. But before Cuba was touched upon by Castro, the U.S. had gained the territory from Spain in 1898, in the end of the Spanish-American War. Gaining Cuba as a territory to the U.S., it was then in charge of the country's affairs and leased its naval base at Guantanamo Bay. Cuba was also one of the largest sugar producers in the century. The U.S. saw the sugar business was essential for trade profit. Between Cuba's agriculture, while growing tobacco Cuba could partner with southern U.S. to harvest and export many

The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing

One of the United States most important foreign trading partners was Cuba. The Cuban and the US economy had been intertwined for nearly a decade before the turn of the 20th century with American invests of $50 million in the Cuban economy. Americans owned the most valuable land in Cuba, which were the sugar plantations. More than 90% of Cuba’s sugar was exported to the United States7. Most of the imports to Cuba and the surrounding islands came from the US. If the Cuban market closed the US would lose not only its $50 million in investments, but also millions in lost revenue from not being able to trade with Cuba.

It was an age of empire, and by the 1900s Europe’s powers had taken control of more than 10 million square miles and 150 million people. In the closing years of the nineteenth century, foreign policy assumed a new importance for Americans. Political and business leaders have been preoccupied by internal matters and began to look outward in order to advocate a more activist approach to world affairs. Not wanting to be left behind, the United States emerged as a great power exercising imperialism; two of the countries which experienced this exercise was, Hawaii and Cuba.

The instability of Cuba’s government meant that it economy would be destroyed. To the US meant that its

Following the overthrow of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista’s totalitarian regime by insurgent groups during the six-year Cuban Revolution, lasting from 1953 to 1959, a radical collectivist government was put into place. In the following years, most notably during the Cold War, the Communists isolated the Cuban economy from Western, Capitalist, ideals, and its citizens were left poor and malnourished, surviving on only the bare essentials as a series of famines and food shortages left many struggling to survive. Cuba’s attempts to alleviate the tensions brought by the United States’s trade embargoes, initially a simple restriction against arms trade, but later extended to encompass the vast majority of goods produced inside the borders of the

The Platt Amendment states that the United States has the ability to interfere at various points in Cuba’s history. This gave America the ability to better serve its own interests in the region, including sugar

In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in Cuba on his way to India. Subsequently, the island was invaded by Spaniards. This was only one factor that led to Cuba’s colonization. Other reasons include the overcrowding of colonies in Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and the island’s proximity to the new world (the united states).

After centuries of Spanish occupation in Cuba, Cuban resistance to Spanish rule grew resulting in the Spanish-American war which ended in Spain renouncing all rights to Cuba. After a few years of US military rule in Cuba, Cuba was finally granted formal independence in 1902. During this time period before the establishment of Fidel Castro’s rule, discontent began to develop with Cuban citizens being resentful of the system of governance in Cuba in which the US government held a great deal of power. This combined with the fact that Cuba had

In 1940 to 1944, communist Fulgencio Batista withheld power as the president of Cuba and then from 1952 to 1959, United States backed dictator until fleeing Cuba because of Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement. Socialist Fidel Castro governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008. Fidel Castro’s intent was to provide Cuba with an honest democratic government by diminishing the corrupt way in which the country was run, the large role the United States played in the running of Cuba as well as the poor treatment & the living conditions of the lower class.