my speech tonight
“This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet Military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensives missiles sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere.”
These words, spoken by President Kennedy and carried live around the world on October 22, 1962 were one of the defining moments in US, Cuba and Soviet relations. As an American, huddled around your black and white television, what were you supposed to make of this news? Were the Soviets pushing the US to the brink of nuclear holocaust? Had Castro gone around the bend? Or perhaps it was neither.
For 45 years, the United States has vehemently imposed a trade embargo against the island of Cuba. Everything from weapons to food, doctors to travel have been limited or halted completely. Over the span of a few years, the US went from being Cuba’s primary trade partner, the very life-blood of Cuba’s economy to dismissing the island as a rogue nation.
Many believe that US-Cuba relations sharply declined during the Cuban Missile Crisis when in fact, it started 3 years prior. For decades prior to the Castro Revolution, the US enjoyed the benefits of exploiting the land and people of Cuba. In 1959, the year Castro took power, most Cubans lived in poverty and a majority of their country, from industry to farm land was owned by foreign individuals. Cuba had the reputation as the “Las Vegas of Latin America” and the “Red light district of the Caribbean”.
Castro’s revolution sought to bring Cuba back to the people. Some of his immediate acts as President were to nationalize important corporations, such as electricity, banks and oil refineries. He also sought to redistribute the land of the country. Renting of housing was outlawed and such many people found themselves property owners. The amount of land a single individual could own was regulated. Welfare programs were created, such as construction low income housing, the creation of free health care for all citizens and enacting a successful plan to end illiteracy within a year.
In 1959, after only officially recognizing Castro’s government as a peaceful neighbor for 6 months, the United States began imposing trade restrictions. The US was angered not so much as a communist power entering the western hemisphere, but that American interests were being set aside for the good of the Cuban people.
Because so much of Cuba’s economy depended on their sugar exports, they initially sought only a trade deal with the other superpower of the world, the Soviet Union. However, as the years went on and the US became more and more annoyed at Cuba’s willingness to trade with the USSR, several attempts were made to oust Castro. This included 7 assassination attempts from 1960 to 1975 and one failed invasion. These attempts only bolstered the ambition of Castro and created an opportunity for Nikita Khrushchev. This opportunity was placing nuclear missiles 90 miles off the coast of the US.
In fact, history suggests and Richard Gott writes in Cuba: A New History, Castro was an unwilling participant in starting the crisis, only attempting to receive an assurance by the USSR to help defend Cuba in the event of an invasion. Castro reluctantly agreed to place nuclear tipped ICBMs into his country. Eventually, when the Soviet’s remove the missiles as a condition to end the crisis, Castro felt like a fool, not having any say in the matter. He started out simply wanting an umbrella of safety from imperial America and found himself and his country being used to assist a Soviet agenda.
More recently, Cuba has seen a sharp decline in revenue due to the collapse of their Soviet trading partner. Now, with an agricultural economy that is being outpaced by tourism, Cuba could only benefit from a lifting of the travel ban from the United States. Another area of Cuban life that would benefit immensely from an open relationship with the US is health care. Most new drugs are developed in the US and it may take several years for the patent to expire, allowing European countries, for example, to create generic alternatives.
As Cuba attempts to shift to a more industrialized country, the US should consider revising current policy towards Cuba and whether isolationism continues to serve both our interests. As recently as 2002, former President Carter visited Cuba and upon his return, immediately called for an end to the embargo.
“After 43 years of animosity, we hope that someday soon, you can reach across the great divide that separates our two countries and say, "We are ready to join the community of democracies," and I hope that Americans will soon open our arms to you and say, "We welcome you as our friends."
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
jonparent1's journal