The equivocacy of US-Cuba relations, an effect of historical revolution

The diplomatic ties between US , Cuba and several other Latin American countries have been a concern for a strong political and economical understanding under the light of Global relations. The recent developments in the US- Cuba diplomatic tie up and the historic decision by Barack Obama to lift the 54 year old U.S embargo on Cuba came into the limelight dropping veils of inexorable economic dependency and mutual political understandings , drawn under the base of economical status vesting interest in changing the status quo.

Pointing out the fundamentals of absolute sovereignty and its dynamism in view of Latin American countries especially in the early 1940’s to late 1950’s , US had its own authoritative and ‘polity structuring’ role in shaping a formulated political scenario that has been evolved till early 90’s. Innumerable revolutions and revolts against dictators and political representatives in the state often failed the social balance and resulted in disintegration of communities and people paralleled by ideological variations. Many of the political parties also dropped en masse without a scope for future rise for a decisive change.

When it comes to historical context, relation between U.S and Cuba has been studied thoroughly by analysts and political thinkers to understand the change of thoughts of radicalism and the rudimentary stage of evolving communism. Idea of communism developed long before it was documented or narrated aptly. It raised a thought of equality and fought against the discrimination against the large dominated ‘global backward class’ – labor.

The same idea ignited the spark of revolution in Cuba continuingly between 50’s and 60’s. The turn of Castro's revolution in Cuba after 1959 toward Soviet communism alienated the United States. An attempted invasion failed, and at the peak of the Cold War in 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis threatened major war as the Soviet Union installed nuclear weapons in Cuba to defend it from an American invasion. There was no invasion, but the United States imposed an economic boycott on Cuba that remains in effect, as well as a break of diplomatic relations that lasted till this year. The US also saw the rise of left-wing governments in central America as a threat, and in some cases, overthrew democratically elected governments perceived at the time as becoming left-wing or unfriendly to U.S. interests.

During the age of modern history US had an indirect authoritative influence in the Latin American countries either by establishing a strong economical backup to the dictators and leaders of the country or by backing them politically. The repressive government of dictator general Jorge Ubico of Guatemala was also backed by the then United States Government. The policy of US against the flourishing communism in Latin American countries like Argentina , Venezuela , Chile etc. were quite the same in nature just like the related status prevailed in Guatemala.

In 1953 Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful revolt against the Batista regime.In 1956 , Castro went to eastern Cuba from Mexico and takes to the Sierra Maestra mountains aided by Che Guevara , the staunch identity of revolutionary communism who waged the famous guerilla war. Aftermath of all the subsequent revolt was the United State’s decision to withdraw military aid to Batista in 1958. The very next year Castro leads a strong guerilla army into Havana forcing Batista to flee and then becomes the prime minister of the country blurring the consequences from the civilians. The Cuban revolution began in 1953 and continued till a revolutionary socialist state was established which indeed also lead to the embargo and reshaped the relationship between United States.

It was during the era of John.F.Kennedy the failed attempt to invade Cuba undertaken by the CIA sponsored paramilitary group known as ‘Bay of Pigs’ impacted the US- Cuba relationship and worsened its bilateral economic policies . After the attempt the Cuban government declared itself as Marxist and Socialist aligned with the Soviet Union which had a obvious consistent opposition towards the US during the World Wars and the Cold War.

The embargo was reformed , re-framed and re-designed all these years reflecting the fluctuations of governing political parties of United States. The loss and debts of Cuba specifically because of the US embargo is tough to tackle without a global support which is crucial when it comes to any politically opposed relation with US as per the conclusions of economists and political analysts.

‘Thirty-three years after US President Ronald Reagan slapped Cuba onto a state department list of nations that support international terrorism, the Obama administration has finally corrected that historical injustice’ , writes Peter Kornbluh , director of the Cuban documentation Project at NSA for Aljazeera .

The historical decision by Obama to lift the embargo has gained a lot of global support coupled with political momentum and the recent attempts to thread the relation between both the countries with peace and harmony for a prudent economical growth through diplomatic talks with Cuban President Raul Castro also cut the barriers of prejudice in the eyes of Cuban civilians developing a hope for improvement in the socio- economic conditions of the state.

By Nadeem Ahmed