Why US is hostile to cuba?
Why US is hostile to cuba?
By xujinghua
Xu Jinghua
Paper Supervisor : Dr. Sekou Conde
Minzhu University of China
2006-2007 Academic Year
As we know, US and Cuba are neighbours only 90 miles of South of Florida.But the two countries did not keep a good relationship for so many years. US isolated Cuba in diplomatic and politics and imposed economic embargo on Cuba since 1961 when Castro's communist-oriented regime confiscated private property ,established close ties to the Soviet Union and the followed US invasion failed .
On August 3 2006, President George W. Bush issued a statement of support for 'the Cuban people's aspirations for democracy and freedom.' Cuban leader Fidel Castro had briefly given control of his police state to his brother Raul while undergoing surgery. This temporary handover sparked hopes that the communist despot might not last much past his 80th birthday on August 13. Bush pledged 'We will support you in your effort to build a transitional government in Cuba committed to democracy, and we will take note of those, in the current Cuban regime, who obstruct your desire for a free Cuba.' [1]
This shows that US pay attention to cuba,even fear or hate cuba,so when they knew castro was sick ,they were so happy.But as a small Carribean island nation,Cuba has no strong military power,has no strong influence,also can’t pose a threat to strong US.But why US hate and fear Cuba so much?In my opnion ,there are three main reasons that make the US hostile to Cuba:US never give up controlling cuba whenever past or present while Cuba never yield to US,the society system of Cuba challenge the value of US ,the powerof Cuba communtiy in US is very strong.The following I want to explain the three reasons.
1.US never give up controlling cuba whenever past or present while Cuba never yield to US
In 1800s-1933
As we know,cuba is one of the neighbours of US.In 1800s,with the development of economic and society, US became one of the greatest countries in the world and began to conqer other countries.The Latin America was the first one.US controlles other countries of Latin America except cuba,because cuba was under the rule of Spain at that moment. So US help the Cuban homeland from Spain with one special purpose,then Cuba was ceded to the USA in 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War.Under US administration, roads, communications, and health services were improved. A new judicial system was set up on the US model. However, early enthusiasm after independence from Spain soon faded. A republic was proclaimed in 1901, but the USA retained its naval base and asserted a right to intervene in internal affairs until 1934.
In 1933-1991
In 1933 an army sergeant, Fulgencio Batista,who was supported seized and held power until he retired in 1944. In 1952 he regained power in a bloodless coup and began another period of rule that many Cubans found oppressive. In 1953-1958, Dr Fidel Castro Ruz, a young lawyer and son of a sugar planter, tried to overthrow him .He fled to the hills with Dr Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and ten others to form a guerrilla force.
In 1959 Castro's force of 5,000 guerrillas deposed Batista, to great popular acclaim. Cuba was under the castro’s regime since then.Because Castro opposed the interfere of US, he was not welcome for US.In 1960 ,the USA broke off diplomatic relations after all US businesses in Cuba were nationalized without compensation. In 1961 it went further, sponsoring a full-scale (but abortive) invasion, the Bay of Pigs episode. So Cuba turned to the Soviet Union for both ideological and economic support . In December of that year Castro proclaimed a communist state whose economy would develop along Marxist-Leninist lines. The USSR accounted for 80% of Cuba’s international trade, becoming its principal supplier of oil, food, machinery, spare parts, chemicals, and other vital materials. It subsidized the Cuban economy through its supply of low-cost oil and its purchase of Cuban sugar at inflated prices.[2]
In 1962 Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States (OAS), which brought a full political and economic blockade. A US trade embargo was also imposed. Cuba responded by tightening relations with the USSR which, in the same year, supplied missiles with atomic warheads for installation in Cuba. The ever-worsening relationship between Cuba and the United States culminated in the "Cuban Missile Crisis", regarded by many as the closest the world has yet come to nuclear war,[3] and the conflict was averted when the USSR agreed to dismantle the missiles at the US president's insistence. Cuba, and Castro, more and more, became players on a world stage dominated by the bipolar superpower rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union.[4] From the United States’ perspective of the time, Cuba’s contribution to the Cold War was as a "surrogate" for Soviet expansionism.[5]
From 1960 on, Cuba’s efforts to spread revolution in Latin America, its dispatch of troops to Africa, its activities in the Non-Aligned Movement --- indeed, virtually all Cuban initiatives in the international arena --- were analyzed by the United States in terms of the advantages that might accrue to the Soviet Union.
So the United States saw Castro as the instrument by which Soviet-style communism could, and would, be exported, especially to neighboring countries in Latin America, in this world-wide contest between ideologies. Locked into this framework, then, the United States "engaged" Castro in several ways --- including instituting, in 1963, a trade embargo which has continued unabated to this day.
After cold-war
US became the only superpower in the world after cold-war.It relying on its mighty economic, technological and military strength, has been putting on airs and swaggering about and considering itself unexcelled in the world. Its ambition of seeking domination of the world has rapidly swelled. But Cuba did not give up communism and would not like to yield to US ,so US tighten the embargo to Cuba post cold war.In 1996, US furthered alienating Cuba and simultaneously running the very real risk of worsening our relationships with our allies and trading partners1 by passage of the "Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996", the so-called "Helms-Burton" legislation[6]; On May 6th of 2004, the B USh Administration announced its intention to adopt the recommendations of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba,which included a significant tightening of the U.S. embargo against Cuba[7].so the relationship between the two countries are not better but worse.
Cuba was and is for the United States a question of internal politics. For geographical position, for the interlacement of economic interests, already the case at the time of Spanish colonization, for the influences on a way of life. This “special intimacy” was and remains reciprocal. US have long believed that they have a divine right to own Cuba and thought it has the right to control of the country. But the fact was that Cuba was not an obedient kid.It was independent from US,choosed communism,stood by Soviet Untion allowed Soviet Union’s missile into Cuba which posed a threat to US during cold war,even after cold war , Cuba did not obey US and never yielded to US .All these hurt the pride of US deeply and irritated US.So US insisted to take some measures to punish the not obedient small nation.
2.The justice of society of Cuba challenges the value of US
Just as we have known,Cuba choosed communism since 1961, which had challenge the power of the US .US can’t accept defferent ideology--communism especially in Cuba,its neighbour.
But the fact was that Cuba was communism or socialist. So US was hostile to Cuba in cold-war,because choosing communism in that time suggested that it supported Soviet Union,then became an enemy of US. From 1960 on, Cuba’s efforts to spread revolution in Latin America, its dispatch of troops to Africa, virtually all Cuban initiatives in the international arena,were analyzed by the United States in terms of the advantages that might accrue to the Soviet Union.[8] So the United States saw Castro as the instrument by which Soviet-style communism could, and would, be exported, especially to neighboring countries in Latin America, in this world-wide contest between ideologies. Locked into this framework, then, the United States "engaged" Castro in several ways --- including instituting, in 1963, a trade embargo which has continued unabated to this day, despite the fact that the Soviet Union has collapsed, the Cuba-Russia relationship has altered significantly, and communism is in retreat around the world.
We must admit that Communism pretended US impose its value on Cuba,but we also find a fact that US have began trade talk to China, Viet Nam,even North Korea. The USA has open relations with Viet Nam, the country Americans fought in and died for, during more than a decade of intense war, to keep free of the eventually victorious Communists. Today, Nike has a nice plant there to make shoes they sell back to the Americans they laid off when they moved overseas. The US sells Boeing planes to China and even ships food [...]
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