U.S.-Cuba Problems

The many complaints that the United States has against Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba can nearly all be traced back to root causes either created or influenced by United States policy. Over the course of Cuba's history the U.S. has systematically subverted both Cuba's attempts at sovereignty and its advancements towards economic independence. By acting against the formation of an independent Cuba and supporting despotic regimes, the U.S. fostered a strong anti-American sentiment in the minds of the Cuban people. All of these factors worked together to contribute to the current and longstanding problems between the U.S. and Cuba.

The U.S. began their direct involvement in Cuba at the end of Cuba's war for independence. Though there was little effort necessary to push the Spanish out of Cuba and its other possessions, the U.S. quickly used the opportunity to establish a significant military presence in Cuba after the end of the Spanish-American war. That position was quickly used to U.S. advantage when the addition of the Platt Amendment to Cuba's new constitution was made a condition to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Cuba (Healy). The Platt Amendment limited the rights of Cuba to conduct its own foreign policy and granted the U.S. the right to intervene in Cuba "for the preservation of Cuban independence and the maintenance of a stable government, adequately protecting life, property, and individual liberty"(Fitzgibbon). In the time that followed, U.S. companies i

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soon began to favor stable regimes over democratic ones. It became apparent that the stability of dictatorships was beneficial to U.S. economic interests, so the U.S. quickly agreed to support Fulgencio Batista's government after its successful coup in 1952. The United States' support of Batista's violent and oppressive regime likely left a lasting impression with the Cuban people. The next year, Fidel Castro led a group of rebels in an attack on an army barracks, thus beginning the July 26 revolution. After the failure of that attack, Castro invaded Cuba with Che Guevara and seventy-nine others in 1956. Though only twelve men of that group survived the initial battle after their landing, they had sufficient popular support to eventually turn the tide of the war until Batista fled Cuba at the urging of the United States. Fearful of communism, the U.S. began to try to use the same old economic measures to weaken the new Cuban regime. When Castro purchased crude oil from the USSR, he tried to refine it at one of the U.S. or U.K. owned refineries in Cuba, who refused to refine the oil. In retaliation, Castro nationalized the refineries. Eisenhower responded by reducing the U.S. order of sugar from Cuba by 700,000 tons. T

Category: Government - U