Government

When Temperatures Begin to Rise: United States Foreign Policy & Cuba

Policy Paper

By: Brendan Lewis

GOVT 2305-29402 Spring 2020

Dr. Denise McArthur

Word Count (1636)

Officially named the Republic of Cuba, Cuba is the largest Caribbean island both in terms of population and land mass – and the 17th largest island in the world. With a vast and rich history, Cuba has nine World Heritage sites - more than most countries in the world. For a half century, Cuba has been a command economy, meaning supply and demand are regulated by the government instead of free market forces. This fiscal policy has placed the country and its citizens at an enormous disadvantage; leaving most to earn less than $25 USD per month. Though these numbers are staggering, the more significant issue is how will Cuba recognize growth, allowing its people opportunities to succeed in the private sector, if their largest neighbor (United States) doesn’t play a part in that success. The first step in this process would be opening trade and tourism to Americans which will inevitably stimulate their economy.

With such a storied and at times distressed past, it’s no reason President Barack Obama insisted relations between the two nations be opened. “… few Cubans were oblivious to the history being made. In the space of 15 short months, from the first announcement of normalization in December 2014 to the presidential visit, the official hostility that had defined U.S.-Cuba relations for more than half a century was over. Diplomatic relations were reestablished, nascent business ties were forged, and regularly scheduled American planes full of American visitors were about to descend.” (DeYoung)

In the midst of revolution on April 1959, Castro takes a meeting with then Vice President Nixon during an unofficial visit to Washington. “Nixon afterwards wrote that the US had no choice but to try to "orient" the leftist leader in the "right direction".” (BBC) With Cuba approaching nationalization of all US business and as tensions mounted, the United States felt they had no choice but to attempt an alignment with the radical Prime Minister. This would in the end seem too daunting a task and in less than one year the United States would impose an embargo on Cuba; ceasing all trade and travel between the two nations. It wasn’t for several decades that these restrictions would loosen. “Proclamation 3447 signed by President Kennedy on Feb. 3, 1962, established the embargo against Cuba to reduce "the threat posed by its alignment with the communist powers." The embargo was strengthened by the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act , and the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act of 1996 (also known as Helms-Burton) which specified conditions for terminating the embargo. According to US law, Cuba must legalize all political activity, release all political prisoners, commit to free and fair elections in the transition to representative democracy, grant freedom to the press, respect internationally recognized human rights, and allow labor unions.” (ProCon)

Given the fact that Cuba had not met any of these conditions, the embargo largely stayed enact until 2017 when President Barack Obama publicized the immediate cessation of the ‘wet feet, dry feet’ policy. This happened only eight days prior to the end of his term as President of the United States. Beginning in 2014, expectancy of the end of this policy had increased the number of Cuban’s immigrating to the United States. In a last stich effort, Obama would attempt to unite the two nations, ending an almost 60-year fracture in diplomacy. With the election behind him, it was announced on November 8th, 2017 that President Trump had enacted new rules, effectively re-enforcing the commerce and tourism restrictions which were relaxed by the Obama Administration. This would take effect only one day later, on November 9th. Many political pundits criticized Trump for his opinions on Cuba, stating this was an attempt to capture the Florida vote. Ironically, less than a year prior, Trump campaign consultants traveled to Cuba in search of investment prospects, “a violation of the restrictions of the U.S. trade embargo.” (Anderson)

With the threat of communism diminished on the worlds stage, it would make sense that efforts on the part of the Obama administration were welcomed. Many view foreign policy with regard to Cuba as being outdated as tensions lessened during the half-decade ban. It was believed prudent to not only open up the lines of communication but reassess the terms of our original embargo. “Feb. 7, 2012 marked the 50th anniversary of the embargo, and the goal of forcing Cuba to adopt a representative democracy still has not been achieved. Fidel Castro resigned his presidency in 2008 and abdicated his role as the leader of Cuba's communist party in 2011 due to illness. His brother Raúl then stepped in to take his place. If 50 years of sanctions have not toppled the Castro regime, there is no reason to think the embargo will ever work.” (ProCon)

The most significant reason and origin of the embargo was a result of Cold War thinking. Since then, the threat of communism isn’t in the ether, and many politicians believe it’s high time we revisit these policies. “Cuba's relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War raised concerns about US national security, but that era is long over. The USSR dissolved in 1991, and American foreign policy has adapted to the change in most aspects apart from the embargo. The US Defense Intelligence Agency released a report in 1998 stating "Cuba does not pose a significant military threat to the U.S. or to other countries in the region." The embargo can no longer be justified by the fear of Communism spreading throughout the Western Hemisphere.” (ProCon)

With the majority of Americans (61%) leaning toward reestablishing a relationship with Cuba, questions continue to mount whether these decisions are well intentioned or if they were politically driven for personal gain; setting US/ Cuba relations back decades. (LeoGrande) Alternatively, there are those who claim engaging and cooperating with the Cuban government could result in continual acts of aggression, raising apprehension with regard to what would happen if the sanctions were completely lifted. The issue has also been raised of human rights. Many organizations around the world have written of the history of human right abuses. Additionally, some say since about 90% of the economy is state owned, investment in the economy would only benefit the Cuban government. This might have been the case, but as Cuba moves toward a free market system, opportunities will avail that will benefit the citizens of Cuba. But as one begins to analyze these foreign policy matters, a major contradiction presents itself. It almost become to appear hypocritical for the US government to promote democracy when they prohibit Americans from traveling to Cuba.

Works Cited

Anderson, Jon Lee. “Donald Trump Reverses Barack Obama's Cuba Policy.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 17 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/donald-trump-reverses-barack-obamas-cuba-policy. Accessed 10 Mar. 2020.

DeYoung, Karen. “How Obama's Trip to Havana Finally Ended the Cold War.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 18 Nov. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/obama-legacy/us-cuba-diplomatic-relations.html. Accessed 10 Mar 2020.

LeoGrande, William M. “Trump Has Set U.S.-Cuba Relations Back Decades.” Foreign Policy, 22 June 2017, foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/22/trump-has-set-u-s-cuba-relations-back-decades/. Accessed 10 Mar. 2020.

“Pros & Cons - ProCon.org.” Cuba Embargo, ProCon.org, 31 Aug. 2016, cuba-embargo.procon.org/. Accessed 10 Mar. 2020.

“Timeline: US-Cuba Relations.” BBC News, BBC, 11 Oct. 2012, www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-12159943. Accessed 10 Mar. 2020.

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