The 1961 trade embargo implemented by the United States against Cuba has dominated the relationship between the two countries for the last 46 years. But the small island 90 miles from the U.S. mainland was a source of controversy long before 1961.
Hugh Thomas, in his book, “Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom,” states that as early as 1854, U.S. diplomats made a proposal to acquire Cuba from Spain for $130 million. Another offer to purchase the island for $300 million was rejected by Spain just before the 1898 explosion that sank the USS Maine in Havana harbor and sparked the Spanish-American War; though, in Cuba, this war was called “The U.S. intervention in Cuba’s War of Independence.”
The end of the Spanish-American War came when Spain relinquished control of Cuba to the U.S. in 1898. Cuba was granted independence in 1902. The intervening decades have seen relations between the two countries fluctuate from cool to heated to the point of bringing the world as close to nuclear war as it has ever been. It quickly became clear in 1958 that Cuba under Castro was headed toward a one-party system. Once the Cuban government began to nationalize all U.S. businesses in Cuba, the United States withdrew all support and eventually severed all diplomatic connections to the country.
In 1961, Castro proclaimed Cuba a communist state and began seeking diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. According to a BBC timeline, the Cuban missile crisis began when, “fearing a U.S. invasion, Castro agree[d] to allow the USSR to deploy nuclear missiles on the island … triggering a crisis which took the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear war.” The crisis was averted only when the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba in exchange for the U.S. removing missiles from Turkey. The result was a U.S. embargo.
In 1993, when the embargo was tightened, Cuba responded by allowing some private enterprise and legalizing the U.S. dollar. However, the ongoing embargo has not achieved its ultimate goal of “political and economic reforms” and “free and fair elections for the National Assembly,” according to the Initiative for a New Cuba, set forth by President George W. Bush in 2002.
In 1998, the U.S. eased restrictions on Cuban Americans sending money to relatives in Cuba. Then, in 2000, the sale of food and medicines to Cuba was approved. After Hurricane Michelle in 2001, Cuba requested help from the U.S. in the form of food exports. However, in spite of this progress, Cuba has tightened restrictions by the Cuban government on its people and on relations with the U.S. And these restrictions inevitably have caused tightening on the U.S. travel and economic embargo.
The world seems poised for tremendous changes to occur upon the death of the dictator Fidel Castro, and Raul Castro has indicated, as late as July 2007, according to the BBC, that he might be interested in strengthening the relationship between his country and the U.S. But he is refusing to participate in talks until after the 2008 presidential election.
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