Cuba's Ongoing Conflicts

President Barack Obama stated “In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date” (qtd. in LeoGrande 939) in regard to the USA embargo against Cuba. The embargo started on 1960, as an idea of the Eisenhower’s administration to cause the collapse of the emerging Cuban Socialist Regime by provoking economic pressure. In 1962, President J. F. Kennedy, formally implemented the total embargo of trade between the United States and Cuba, prohibiting any commercial and financial relations between American businesses and the Island, and declaring that severe monetary penalties will be implanted to those that violate the embargo. Over the years, the embargo has limited USA and Cuba trade possibilities,

Another reason forimplementing the embargo on Cuba concerns the corrupt communist government andUS hopes of promoting a transition to a democratic system. On February 3, 1962,President Kennedy was confident that “Castro was moving toward theestablishment of a to! talitarian regime in alliance with the Soviet Union”(DeVarona 7). This raised a huge national defense issue since Cuba is only 90miles from US soil. The US government claims that the transition from communismto democracy will help Cuba flourish, as other democratic countries in thewestern hemisphere have. (“Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of1996”).

Castro was not even aware of his impact on the people. In an interview with American journalist Liza Howard on April 30th 1963, Castro had given Liza “the impression that he was not completely aware of the extent to which terror had gripped Cuba” (United States. Central Intelligence Agency). The next strategy was to attack Cuba and Castro commercially, economically, and financially. Eisenhower administered the first trade embargo on Cuba on October 19th 1960. After working with the policy committees of US to Cuba, the White House had composed a document stating the regulations. This embargo covered all U.S. exports of good, but not medicines and certain foods. The States thought that creating this law against exporting would be taken as a form of more peaceful protest, to gain back the trading, Castro will need to step down from power. (United States. Presidential Directive). Castro also tried to restrict trading too, to get back at the U.S. to show that this was not a one way street. He created the Platt Amendment to stop Cuban sugar from being imported to the United States. In 1993 the US cracks down on Cuba intensifying the embargo in hopes of the economy failing. This soon forced Cuba into an agreement of allowing a certain amount of citizens to immigrate to either country per year. When Cuba shot down two U.S.

In 1959, Cuban leader Fidel Castro seized power over Havana and overthrew the U.S. during the Cold War. Castro then began an alliance with the Soviet Union and proceeded to increase trade with them. After these events, Washington banned exports from the U.S. to Cuba. Restricted were later extended over the whole economy by placing an embargo, which limited Americans travel and the ability to do business with Cuba. These events lead towards restriction between both countries for over 50 years.

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.

Cuba and the United States fought Spain in what is known as the Cuban War of Independence from 1895 to 1898. Cuba attacked Spain with the aid of the United States. The purpose of the war was to bring new economic life to Cuba and give Cuba independence because Spain was not treating Cubans fairly. In the end, Spain lost, and gave up control of Cuba. Spain also lost control of The Philippines and Puerto Rico. To the United States.

According to Freedomhouse.org, from the 195 countries that had been assessed, forty six percent were rated free, twenty eight percent partly free, and twenty 6 percent not Free. 51 countries have an authoritarian government where the rights of the citizens has been diminished and left in the grasp of the government. All humans have natural rights that should not be squandered by the greediness and cruelty of those in charge. One of the most important questions asked is why some countries are democratic and others authoritarian. During the Cold War, the competition was between capitalism and communism. Since those days, Russia has decided to turn its economic system into a more capitalist structure. Their economy has begun to grow exponentially, which as a result expanded the middle class. The richer the citizens get, the more aware of their surroundings they became. Cuba is a world-renowned oppressive regime under the rule of the Castro family. They dismissed democratic ideology and the free market system, which had been proven successful in other countries. On the opposite side, countries such as Australia provide their citizens with the natural rights they are entitled to. They are a surging capitalist country that has been reaping off the benefits of the open market and private ownership. The main distinction between the two countries of Cuba and Australia is how capitalist the countries are. The degree of their capitalism has a ripple effect on the citizens, which over

In December 2014, President Obama started restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba. Cuba and the United States have been hostile since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, when Fidel Castro overthrew the US-supportedbacked dictator, Fulgencio Batista, and established a Communist regime. The US rejected Castro’s bid for equal economic partnership because they wanted to maintain economic dominance. As such, Castro began seizing US assets, causing back-and-forth actions that culminated in Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy placing an embargo in 1960-61. The embargo was intensified in the 1990s, and attempts to relax sanctions cannot succeed without Congress repealing the laws responsible for the embargo. Despite arguments that it would help fight human rights violations, the US embargo on Cuba should be lifted because of its historic ineffectiveness, the potential economic advantages of a repeal, and the democratic values shown by the popularity of a repeal.

     It was after Castro took power that the United States changed its way in which it dealt with Cuba dramatically. The United States decided it would

Cuba’s relationship with the U.S. is not at its desire state. There are three famous incidents that support this statement which are as follows; Fidel Castro’s presidency of Cuba, Guerilla Warfare in Cuba, and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

From 1961 until 2014 The United States of America and Cuba had a closed-door policy and did not conduct any business with each other. On December 17th, 2014, The President of the United States Barack Obama announced that the isolation between the United States and Cuba was over, and that the two countries were looking towards resolving the issues between the two countries (David Jackson, 2014).

in. This event also set the trend for the rest of the cold war as USA

Cuba’s involvement with the United States brought social and economic dissatisfaction within the island. Looking at the economic reasons one can see the clear dissatisfaction in the people because when the economy is bad everyone suffers. Cuba’s main failure regarding the economy was the fact that it depended on one single crop for economic prosperity. Dependency on sugar, meant dependency on the United States. The relationship between both countries increased trade for both of them. Many of corporations from the United States relied on Cuba’s sugar plantations which in return increased the sugar exports in Cuba. However, profits from the sugar industry weren’t being reinvested in the island, and the people realized that the United States had the greatest amount of

American businesses control Cuban sugar, the electric grid, and railroads. The Revolution in 1959 meant that Castro was the leader of Cuba. Castro initially denies that he is a communist, and he looked to the US for financial aid. Cuba's government ordered the country's refineries – then controlled by the US corporations Shell, Esso and Standard Oil – to process Soviet oil, but under U.S. pressure, they refused. Castro responded by expropriating and nationalizing the refineries. The US denies aid to Cuba so Castro goes to the Soviet Union. The USSR coveted a relationship with Cuba because it's close to the US, and a relationship would them access to the area, meaning that maybe they could later set up military bases or missile sites in the