The Democracy of the Market

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.

Cuban history, like many other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean which have experienced colonial subjugation and imperial interference, is highlighted by tumultuous rebellions. Ever since the revolt of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes in 1868, who took up arms with his slaves to liberate Cuba from Spain’s colonial grasp, the existence of insurrectionists and adamant government opposition in Cuba has flourished. Social revolution and a strong will and practice of nationalism has indelibly characterized Cuban history. Nevertheless, the outcomes of particular movements and struggles for social justice have consistently frustrated revolutionary and radical leaders. Government regimes throughout

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.

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.

A description of the eighteen hundreds in one word would be amend. The trial and era years were in full swing and many people had thoughts about what was right and what was wrong. People had learned from past events such as the American revolution and America was growing into a powerful self-ruling nation. The market revolution brought upon the reform impulse which was impactful to events such as the abolishment of slavery and women’s rights.

Brittmarie Janson Perez, author of Political Facets of Salsa, writes, “Late at night, in a discotheque in a Latin American country whose political system is dominated by the military and is not particularly known for its respect for human rights, a crowd is dancing salsa, a generic term covering Caribbean dance music” (149). This has been and continues to be a very commonly accurate depiction of many Latin American countries. Since Cuba was founded in October 1492, its government and politics has been characterized by brutality, corruption and instability. Nonetheless, involvement from foreign nations and its deeply engrained Spanish roots has without a doubt had a significant impact on the transformation of what Cuba is today. In this paper, I will explore the pros and cons of the 1959 Cuban Revolution through the examination of the historical context of politics and how it impacted the social atmosphere.

In the 1950’s, tourists visited the island of Cuba for its warm beaches, culture and Spanish colonial architecture. But underneath the surface, was a revolution ready to burst through the Cuban people they just needed the right person to lead them. Cuba at this time was run by a Political Dictator named Fulgencio Batista.

Castro’s immediate rise to power in Cuba was bothersome and concerning to the United States from the beginning. Although we were suspicious of his intentions, we were initially hopeful that the overthrow of Batista would bring positive changes to Cuba and her people. Nonetheless, Castro has shown us through his extreme socialist policies that he aligns more with communist policies than democratic ones. Indeed, his Revolutionary Forces have brought him full, unbridled control of the Cuban Government, including operations, law enforcement, utilities, labor unions, news outlets, and financial institutions. In fact, he is carrying out death trials and mass executions to this day.

On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and his band of rebels overtook the Cuban government. Their Revolution was based on massive agrarian reform and equality throughout. It was not based on Communism or communistic ideals. The US government was against the rise of Castro and his people. They had been able to control the Cuban government by controlling the successive presidents, since the Spanish-American War early in the 20th Century. The rise of Castro was undertaken with a distinct anti-American flavor to it. Castro was able to expand his popularity by fusing the anti-American fever with massive reforms intended to give social and economic equality to all Cubans. The economic presence, of the US, within Cuba was great at the time of Castro’s

Today, Cuba is still not a democracy, which builds significant opposition to the Castros among people of right-wing, left-wing, and centrist ideologies. The Castro regime prizes Cuba’s electoral process as a marker of sovereignty from foreign imperialism-the Castros have barred inter-governmental organizations such as the Organization of American States, and domestic observers from changing electoral rules. Traditionally, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) have “strictly controlled” Cuban elections; Communist party officials who serve on these committees design ballots that do not say what positions candidates have on issues from trade and emigration to mandatory military service. In short, the elections that Cubans have

Even though Fidel Castro’s well-known mutinous and seditious ascend to power impacted the 1960s, the seeds of the Cuban Revolution and his rise to authority were planted during the 1950s. Dreadful conditions in Cuba became widespread and existent during the '50s when, “Fulgencio Batista, an oppressive dictator, a leader who uses force and terror to maintain control, ruled Cuba” (“Castro, Fidel” 82-91). According to professor Marjorie Cohn, Batista came to power illegally in 1952 through a sudden and violent takeover of the Cuban government known as a “coup d'état.” Under his rule, unemployment skyrocketed, government corruption became prevalent, and Cuban citizens felt oppressed. However, even though most Cuban citizens despised him, Batista

Castro’s involvement with the foreign and domestic politics during the early Cold War period greatly influenced the outcome of the Cuban Revolution. Without the actions taken by foreign powers like the United States and Russia, some events on the domestic front may have had very different results. It is important to understand how every nation’s foreign policies can influence more than just one other nation, and this was especially true for Cuba. It was this mix and chain of events which produced the communist Cuba that we are familiar with today.

Under the rule of Batista between 1940 and 1944 Cuba seemed to be making steady progress towards being a democratic and sovereign nation, which was a huge turn over from it’s previous status as either a colony of Spain or being completely unatonomous under the Platt Amendment. The constitution put into place by Batista in 1940 also curried him more favor in the eyes of the Cuban people. It extended rights beyond cookie cutter Western ideals of democracy and “committed Cuba to land reform and social jutice, including public education and an eight-hour working day” (Fellows and Wells, 2013). When Batista left office he was extremely popular and had managed to curry favor in the eyes of the Cuban public.

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.

Just three years after taking office in 1970, Chile’s military removed the leftist President Salvador Allende from power. In Cuba, nearly forty years after his ascension to power in 1959, Fidel Castro continues to control a communist regime. In Chile in the early 1970s and in Cuba in the early 1990s, the United States exasperated severe economic crises. In addition, the United States attempted to foster political opposition to create ‘coup climates’ to overthrow both leaders. The similarities in these histories end there. Chile’s open, democratic political system allowed the U.S. to polarize the nation, paving the way for Pinochet’s