US relations with Cuba - Essay Example

7 November, 2007 US Relations with Cuba Cuba and the United s of America have had a complex history of relationships. According to Daniel Schweimler, the BBC correspondent in Havana, "Nothing is ever simple in relations between the United States and Cuba" (Schweimler, par.1). Both have had interest in one another since well before either of their independence movements. Relations between the North American mainland and the Caribbean Spanish colony began in the early 18th century through illicit commercial contracts between the European colonies of the New World, trading to elude colonial taxes. As the Spanish influence waned in the Caribbean, the United States gradually gained a position of economic and political dominance over the island, with the vast majority of foreign investment holdings, the bulk of imports and exports in its hands. It also boosted the legal and illegal trade and soon Cuba became a comparatively prosperous trading partner in the region. In the last quarter of 20th century, the Cuban resistance against the Spanish colonial rule grew stronger. Initially the rebels fighting for independence were supported by US President Grant led government, yet as the fighting erupted across mainland, US President Grant declined his support and hence the resistance was curtailed. US Secretary of State James G. Blaine wrote in 1881 of Cuba, "that rich island, the key to the Gulf of Mexico, and the field for our most extended trade in the Western Hemisphere, is, though in the hands of Spain, a part of the American commercial system If ever ceasing to be Spanish, Cuba must necessarily become American and not fall under any other European Domination" (Sierra, 4). The United States major intervention in the Cuban conflict started on February 15th, 1898 when the American battleship USS Maine sank in Havana Harbor due to an explosion of some unknown reason. In Cuba the war became known as "the U.S. intervention in Cuba's War of Independence" (Franklin, 5-34). On the 10th of December 1898 Spain relinquished control of Cuba to the United States with the Treaty of Paris.The treaty put an end to the Spanish Colonial Empire in the Americas marking the beginning of United States expansion and long term political dominance over the region. Immediately after the signing of the treaty, the US-owned "Island of Cuba Real Estate Company" opened for business to sell Cuban land to Americans (Sierra, para. 1), yet the struggle against the U.S. military rule continued under the brave leadership of Cuba's national hero Jose Marti, until on May 20, 1902 Cuba was finally granted formal independence. Nevertheless, United States authorities had already made a decision to continue its right to intervene in Cuban affairs (either to preserve its independence or stability) and on March 2, 1901, a year before formal impedance, the Congress of the United States of America had passed an act called Platt Amendment (Bevans, 1116-17). Despite recognizing Cuba's transition into an independent republic, United States continued to exercise its right. The Plat Amendment was repealed in 1934 and both countries entered a new agreement called the "Treaty of Relations". Among other things, the Treaty of Relations continued the 1903 agreements that leased the Guantanamo Bay naval base to the United States. The rise of General Fulgencio Batista in the 1930s to de facto leader and President of Cuba for two terms (1940-44 and 1952-59) led to an era of close co-operation between the governments of Cuba and the United States. According to U.S. Ambassador to Cuba Arthur Gardner, "Batista had always leaned toward the United States. I don't think we ever had a better friend. It was regrettable, like all South Americans, that he was known-although I had no absolute knowledge of it-to be getting a cut, I think is the word for it, in almost all the, things that were done. But, on the other hand, he was doing an amazing job (Communist Threat To The United States Through The Caribbean, pt.9). During the Batista's the Cuban economy was totally swollen by a number of American corporations and a wide spread corruption of government officials led to an armed conflict between the Fidel Castro led rebels and the Batista government. Surprisingly, instead of providing support to Batista, US set an embargo on arm sales to Batista's forces. As the US changed it support, the course of the revolution irreversibly changed towards the rebels and they overthrew the Batista's government. U.S. officially recognized the new Fidel Castro led Cuban government. Soon after wiping out the Batista regime, Fidel Castro outlined his revolutionary reform plans and Cuban government started to nationalize the US owned industries and properties (Timeline: US-Cuba relations, par. 12). The US government became increasingly concerned about the whole situations and on September 4, 1959, Ambassador Bonsal met with Cuban Premier Fidel Castro to express "serious concern at the treatment being given to American private interests in Cuba both agriculture and utilities." (Bay of Pigs 40 Years After: Chronology, par. 5). Nevertheless, Fidel Castro continued his reforms. As a counter measures, US imposed the trade restrictions on Cuba and on October 19, 1960 US administration prohibited all exports to Cuba. Tensions between the two nations reached their peak in 1962, after U.S. reconnaissance aircraft photographed the Soviet construction of intermediate-range missile sites. The discovery led to the Cuban missile crisis. Fidel Castro reforms and United States countermeasures substantially deteriorated the bilateral relations. In the last four decades of 20th century, CIA plotted many plans either to kill or overthrow the Fidel Castro regime yet it failed to do so while the US embargo against Cuba was to continue in varying forms and is still in operation today. At the beginning of new millennium, although the hopes were raised in both countries for a new period of greater understanding, yet it has past seven years that freezing situation of bilateral relations is still prevailing. At the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000, the heads of both states spoke briefly at a group photo session and shook hands. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan commented afterwards, "For a U.S. president and a Cuban president to shake hands for the first time in over 40 years-I think it is a major symbolic achievement". While Castro said it was a gesture of "dignity and courtesy," the White House denied the encounter was of any significance (Campuzano, par.3). November 2001, US companies began selling food to the country for the first time since Washington imposed the trade embargo after the revolution, yet bilateral relations deteriorated again following the election of George W. Bush as US accused Cuba of maintaining a bioweapons program. 26. The Cuban government denies the claim, and in turn has accused the U.S. of engaging in state sponsored terrorism against Cuba ( Rodriguez, par. 5).On September 12, 2006, the United States announced that it had created five inter agency working groups to monitor Cuba and carry out U.S. policies. The groups were set up after the July 31 announcement that the ailing Cuban leader had temporarily ceded power to a collective leadership headed by his brother Ral. In 2003 the United States Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba was formed to "explore ways the U.S. can help hasten and ease a democratic transition in Cuba". In April 2006, the Bush administration providing a budget of $59 million, with the task of overthrowing the Cuban government after Castro's death. The Cuban officials alleged the Bush administration that these transition plans were created at the behest of Cuban exile groups in Miami, and that McCrery was responsible for engineering the overthrow of the Aristide government in Haiti (Caistor, par. 20-29). During a military parade on December 2, 2006, Ral Castro showed his will to resolve the long-standing bilateral issues by negotiation. He said that the talks were only possible if the U.S. government respected Cuba's independence and did not interfere in its internal affairs. The United States, however, rejected the offer of talks, stating that it saw no point in a dialogue with what it called the Caribbean island's "dictator-in-waiting." In July, 2007, the aacting leader Raul Castro again indicates he may be open to a warming of relations with the US. He offers to engage in talks, but only after the 2008 United States presidential election (Timeline: US-Cuba relations, par. 39). Works Cited Bevans, C. I. "The Platt Amendment, in Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America 1776-1949".Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 197 1, pp. 1116-17. "Bay of Pigs 40 Years After: Chronology". The National Security Archive. (n. d.). 7 November, 2007 Caistor, Nick. "Planning for a Cuba without Castro". par. 20-29. 11 April 2006. 7 November, 2007 "Timeline: US-Cuba relations". BBC News. 23 August 2007. 7 November, 2007 Read More