US- Cuban Relations

This paper argues that a social constructivist account of the Cuban-US relations offers compelling insights to understand the nature of the conflict. The aim is to seek answers, not about how things are but how the USA and Cuba have represented each other as each other’s enemy in an on-going process of shared knowledge over time.

The history of Cuba is one of conquest and rebellion. Since the arrival of Columbus, it has had two colonial masters: Spain and the United States. Spain, after the collapse of its empire, ceased to be a threat to the peoples of America. Now, the Spanish are among the principal investors in Cuba, and make up a high percentage of tourists to the island. The United States, engaged in empire-building as sole superpower and continuing to pursue a half-century-old policy of regime change in Cuba, is still seen by the Cubans as the greatest threat to their independence and sovereignty. This article reviews the history of relations between the two countries, seeking to contextualize their social origins and political evolution, concluding that an improvement in relations is unlikely absent a profound change in the political economy of either country, or of both, a change that could occur internally or be caused by external factors.

Colonialism, imperialism and anti-imperialism have been decisive in shaping Cuban political identity for 150 years. US determination to control Cuba, consistent with the Monroe Doctrine, had a strong economic rationale even before Spain was defeated in the War of Independence in 1898. Debate raged between Cubans who aspired to true independence and an annexationalist minority, who favoured union with the US. The Platt Amendment imposed on Cuba by the US in 1903 ‘reduced the independence and sovereignty of the Cuban republic to a myth’. Between then and the Revolution of 1959 Cuba was effectively first a protectorate and then neo-colony of the US, which dominated the Cuban economy, politics and foreign policy. Tackling the terrible socioeconomic and political effects of Cuba’s subjugation under the Spanish empire and then US imperialism necessitated a radical transformation of the Cuban economy, political institutions and power structures. The transition to socialism inevitably meant confronting US imperialism – and vice versa. Since 1959, US imperialism, with its powerful allies in the right-wing exile community based in Miami, have relentlessly tried to destroy the Revolution and Cuban socialism. The issue of imperialism remains key today, in the post-Fidel, President Trump era.

Cuba's transition to agroecology is perhaps as widely known as it is misunderstood. In response to the economic crisis of the early 1990s, the Cuban agricultural sector largely departed from the industrial model of food production that it had previously pursued. The subsequent transition towards an agroecological model has been a dynamic and uneven process, elevating Cuba on the world stage as a global leader in sustainable agriculture while at the same time producing unique challenges for Cuban farmers, policy makers, researchers and academics. This article synthesizes and updates contemporary literature on the Cuban agricultural system, paying attention to both successes and shortcomings of agroecology in Cuba to date. In particular, it situates these literatures alongside contributions from academics and practitioners alike, bringing a number of data sets, experiences, and perspectives into conversation in the context of changing realities within Cuba and the nation's evolving geopolitical relationship with the United States. By analyzing both the historical and contemporary processes through which agroecology has taken root in Cuba, we demonstrate that, despite its uneven and incomplete implementation, such a sustainable agroecological transition holds great, untapped potential. Agroecology in Cuba currently faces pressure from normalizing Cuba-US relations, with potentially profound implications for agriculture in both countries. But increasing opportunities are also emerging for investment, collaboration, knowledge exchange, and solidarity. In this paper, we provide an overview of the evolution of the Cuban agroecology movement; analyze the state of food security and challenges to food sovereignty on the island today; outline US-Cuba policy changes occurring since December 2014 that may affect the agrifood sector; and conclude with recommendations for supporting agroecology-for food security, food sovereignty, and sustainability-under this new and evolving relationship. Please refer to Supplementary Materials, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.337.s1, for a full text Spanish version of this article. La transición agroecológica cubana es quizás tan ampliamente conocida como malentendida. Como respuesta a la crisis económica a principio de los 90, el sector agropecuario cubano se apartó en gran medida del modelo industrial de producción alimentaria que anteriormente había perseguido. La transición posterior hacia un modelo agroecológico ha sido un proceso dinámico y heterogéneo, que 1) ha convertido a Cuba en líder en el desarrollo de una agricultura sostenible a escala global y que, al mismo tiempo, 2) ha producido

In the wake of Cuba's far-reaching, halting economic reforms, geopolitical rapprochement and trade openings with the United States (US) offer opportunities and risks for Cuban small-scale farmers and agrarian cooperatives: pressures, paradoxes and potential abound. Meanwhile, on the margins, agro-ecologically oriented tours bring admiring US students, farmers and agrarian advocates. Cubans concur that the country must solve key problems in its agricultural sector to overcome the contradictions of its agri-food model, and that this entails more exchange with the US – but in what capacity and on what terms? The current crossroads begs the classic agrarian question, even as it updates it. Having experienced and survived the promises and disasters of both capitalist and communist agricultural economies, Cuban farmers expand the original 'peasant' protagonist. As they navigate new non-state markets and recent re-entrenchment of state control of prices, Cuban farmers and cooperatives struggle to avoid monopolizing tendencies of unfettered capitalist as well as communist agricultural economies – both of which have historically been ecologically damaging. US agribusiness courts Cuba, but not as mere unidirectional capture: Cubans are inviting and leveraging trade to end the embargo, which is increasingly being modified altogether. Key Cuban agrarian principles of resilience and cooperativismo have persisted through capitalist and communist crises: could they influence prospects for agro-industrial hegemony from the North?

Cuba’s history subsequent to Spanish colonization can be divided into 50 years of republican capitalist government (1902-1952) and 50 years of socialist revolutionary government (1959-2009), with an intervening 7 years of dictatorship (1952-1958). The revolutionary period was the result of and grew from the first, capitalist, period, including the Batista dictatorship, within the larger context of the Cold War. Immediately after coming to power, the revolution met a determined reaction from the United States, setting the stage for 50 years of struggle for its survival, with and without the support of the former Soviet bloc. Far from representing a static tableau of abstract capitalism versus socialism, relations between the two countries followed a tortuous map of events and changes around the world in which both were protagonists, each with victories and defeats. The essential merit of the revolution is to have survived for the past half century.

(Extract from a dissertation)
This study sought to address the question of who the Cuban refugees are and why they deserve a generous treatment in US immigration law. Drawing on Judith Butler’s notion of performativity, the central argument of this dissertation is predicated on the performative character of Cuban refugeeness, that is an identity devoid of ontological foundations and produced and constituted through US immigration policies, debates, and the presence of undocumented Cubans at the borders. Borders are the sites for acts of asylum seeking performances, where the idea of Cuba as a ‘tropical gulag’  is continuously reproduced. The ritual begins with: ‘I am Cuban and I would like to request political asylum’, and continues with the questions, ‘Have you ever been persecuted in Cuba? Would you fear for your life if you were to return?’.

For almost three decades, democracy promotion has been
the cornerstone of US policy towards Cuba and it has shaped
bilateral relations around the democratic conditionality codified in
the embargo against the island. Obama entered the White House as
the ‘open minded candidate’ who could realize the promise
embedded within Jimmy Carter's 2002 speech in Havana, but, for
different reasons, the new President opted for a more ‘Clintonian’
approach characterized by only a partial relaxation of sanctions and
people-to-people diplomacy as a tool for obtaining more political
concessions from Raúl Castro.

I continue here discussing Jose Marti's views on race, and his racist discourse. Among other texts I read and discuss are "Nuestra America," Marti's letter to the New York Herld (May 2, 1895) and, of course, I end with "Mi raza." Here and there, however are references and comments on other Marti's writings.

Desde la firma del acuerdo migratorio Cuba-Estados Unidos en diciembre de 1984 y principalmente desde su restablecimiento en noviembre de 1987, ocurrieron cambios que permiten definir una nueva etapa no homogénea en el flujo de cubanos hacia el exterior, cuya mayor expresión se verifica a partir de 1990. Este artículo se dirige a exponer los cambios en las formas, volúmenes y direcciones de la emigración en esta etapa y su relación con la aplicación de las políticas norteamericana y cubana en esta área. Se destacan sus manifestaciones y tendencias en el contexto de la situación interna en Cuba, la política de confrontación bilateral Estados Unidos – Cuba y el reordenamiento político-económico mundial de los últimos años. Pretendemos, por otra parte, ayudar a encaminar la comprensión del complejo proceso migratorio cubano como relación de fenómenos y hechos sociológicos de carácter económico, político y familiar al mismo tiempo.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the historical nature of the relationship of the United States and Cuba. Since 1959, the United States has employed various means to undermine the influence of the Cuban Revolution in the wider Latin American and Caribbean world. The way that this has been accomplished has evolved over time. The scope of this thesis is mainly the late 1970s and early 1980s, a period when the use of direct covert operations were no longer explicitly approved of by the U.S. government. Instead, the main tactics used by the years covered within this study were what political scientists would term soft power. This soft power subversion included the use of mass media propaganda, diplomatic pressuring, and economic sabotage. The purpose of this thesis is to put these methods of persuasion into their proper historical and political context, and to analyze the effectiveness of these efforts in both isolating Cuba in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as their effect on the trajectory of Cuban-U.S. relations.

In the wake of Cuba's far-reaching, halting economic reforms, geopolitical rapprochement and trade openings with the United States (US) offer opportunities and risks for Cuban small-scale farmers and agrarian cooperatives: pressures, paradoxes and potential abound. Meanwhile, on the margins, agro-ecologically oriented tours bring admiring US students, farmers and agrarian advocates. Cubans concur that the country must solve key problems in its agricultural sector to overcome the contradictions of its agri-food model, and that this entails more exchange with the US – but in what capacity and on what terms? The current crossroads begs the classic agrarian question, even as it updates it. Having experienced and survived the promises and disasters of both capitalist and communist agricultural economies, Cuban farmers expand the original ‘peasant’ protagonist. As they navigate new non-state markets and recent re-entrenchment of state control of prices, Cuban farmers and cooperatives struggle to avoid monopolizing tendencies of unfettered capitalist as well as communist agricultural economies – both of which have historically been ecologically damaging. US agribusiness courts Cuba, but not as mere unidirectional capture: Cubans are inviting and leveraging trade to end the embargo, which is increasingly being modified altogether. Key Cuban agrarian principles of resilience and cooperativismo have persisted through capitalist and communist crises: could they influence prospects for agro-industrial hegemony from the North?

La relación entre Cuba y Estados Unidos tiene una larga historia y es sumamente compleja. Para comprenderla es necesario incluir en el análisis una diversidad de variables y dimensiones en estado de permanente interacción y cambio, articuladas en torno a una serie de ejes, enraizados en la historia de ambos países. En el artículo se presenta un modelo analítico que combina perspectivas de la historia, las ciencias políticas, la geopolítica y la economía política, apoyado en el estudio de más de 200 años de procesos y acontecimientos, con el enfoque de conformación de políticas. Desde esa perspectiva, se propone un estudio de las fluctuaciones de la política de Estados Unidos hacia Cuba observados entre 2001 y 2020, en particular las sanciones impuestas por el gobierno de Washington. ABSTRACT: The relationship between Cuba and United States has a long history and is extremely complex. To understand its core features, it is necessary to include in the analysis a diversity of variables and dimensions in state of constant interaction and change, articulated around a number of central axes, deeply embedded in the course of both countries´ histories. In the article we present an analytical model that combines perspectives and tools from history, political science, geopolitics and political economy, rooted in the study of over 200 years of processes and events, through the lenses of policy-making. From this perspective, we examine the fluctuations in US´ Cuba policy between 2001 and 2020, in particular the sanctions imposed by Washington.

At the present stage, the US-Cuban relations represent a complex mixture of ideological antagonism and a long-awaited necessity for change in connection with the transformed conditions of the international atmosphere. The complexity of the relationship between the two states lies in the fact that the parties are still habitually considering each other through the prism of the Cold War and perceive any changes in rhetoric in their address with inherent suspicion.

This article explores the role of cultural heritage and museums in the materialization and spread of the new ideological and symbolic order in post-1990 late socialist Cuba. It suggests that the Cuban government has developed a new way of articulating ideology, identity and history that reflects a transition from real to symbolic wars against real and perceived external enemies. In the process of transforming ideology into heritage, the Cuban regime draws on the meta-cultural discourse of heritage in an attempt to generate a sense of historic depth and local identification with the new ideological campaigns of the regime, including the Battle of Ideas or the liberation of the Cuban Five. Drawing on ethnographic and original archive material, the article illustrates this process through the study of changes in monument and museum practices in Havana

Cuba’s transition to agroecology is perhaps as widely known as it is misunderstood. In response to the economic crisis of the early 1990s, the Cuban agricultural sector largely departed from the industrial model of food production that it had previously pursued. The subsequent transition towards an agroecological model has been a dynamic and uneven process, elevating Cuba on the world stage as a global leader in sustainable agriculture while at the same time producing unique challenges for Cuban farmers, policy makers, researchers and academics. This article synthesizes and updates contemporary literature on the Cuban agricultural system, paying attention to both successes and shortcomings of agroecology in Cuba to date. In particular, it situates these literatures alongside contributions from academics and practitioners alike, bringing a number of data sets, experiences, and perspectives into conversation in the context of changing realities within Cuba and the nation’s evolving ge...

Several crises, migratory waves and bilateral agreements marked Cuban migration dynamics until the most recent crises between 2015 to early 2017. Starting with the actions to re-establish diplomatic ties between the Cuban and US governments in December 2014 -during the ongoing enforcement of the Cuban Adjustment Act, and the “Dry Feet/Wet Feet” policy, along with a few other programs and agreements that facilitated Cuban regular migration-, a strong increase in flows of Cuban to the United States from third countries, transiting through Latin American countries to enter by land through Mexico, among other routes. Critical moments of this new migratory trend were experienced in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. The work explores the conditions in which this new increase in the Cuban migratory flow has occurred, analyzing how much it differs from previous crises and waves. The multiple determinants that have fueled once more the international displacement of Cubans are pointed out, as well as the complexity and length of the routes followed in their journey to reach the United States.

Diversas crisis, oleadas y acuerdos bilaterales entre Estados Unidos y Cuba han dejado su impronta en la dinámica migratoria cubana, hasta llegar a su más reciente crisis entre 2015 e inicios de 2017. Con el inicio de acciones para el restablecimiento de relaciones diplomáticas entre los gobiernos de Cuba y Estados Unidos en diciembre de 2014 –y estando aún vigentes la Ley de Ajuste Cubano y la política  “pies secos / pies mojados”, así como otros acuerdos y programas que facilitaban la emigración regular de cubanos hacia Estados Unidos–, se produjo un fuerte incremento en el flujo de cubanos hacia Estados Unidos desde terceros países, entre otras vías, transitando por países latinoamericanos para ingresar vía terrestre a través de México. Momentos críticos de esta nueva corriente migratoria se vivieron en Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panamá, Colombia y Ecuador. El trabajo explora las condiciones en que ha ocurrido este nuevo incremento del flujo migratorio cubano, analizando qué tanto se diferencia de las crisis y oleadas precedentes. Se señala las múltiples determinantes que han re impulsando el desplazamiento internacional de los cubanos, así como la complejidad y el largo trayecto de las rutas seguidas en su travesía para llegar a Estados Unidos.

Son múltiples y complejos los factores que hicieron posible el reciente acercamiento entre Cuba y Estados Unidos. Este artículo es una explicación clara y penetrante de un hecho histórico.

Manifold and complex factors made possible the recent rapprochement between Cuba and the United States. This article is a clear and penetrating account of a historical event

Era el mediodía del día 17 de diciembre de 2014 en Washington y La Habana. El presidente de Estados unidos, Barack obama, y el presidente de los consejos de Estado y de Ministros de la República de cuba, Raúl castro, se disponían a una inédita alocución simultánea. El anuncio esa misma mañana de la inesperada circunstancia había levantado gran-des expectativas, pero el contenido de los mensajes las sobrepasó con creces. Apenas unos minutos más tarde, la noticia del intercambio de prisioneros acordado entre los dos gobiernos, que devolvía a Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero y Gerardo Hernández a los cubanos y le permitía regresar a Estados unidos a Alan Gross, suscitaba reacciones de entusiasmo. Sin embargo, la mayor sorpresa llegó en la segunda parte del discurso de Raúl castro-para aquellos que presenciamos el suceso en cuba-, cuando anunció que se había decido avanzar hacia el restablecimiento de los vínculos diplomáticas entre los dos países-rotos desde enero de 1961-e iniciar un proceso de negociaciones encaminado a normalizar las relaciones bilaterales. El discurso para-lelo de Barack obama incluyó una primera serie de medidas a tomar por parte del ejecutivo estadounidense, dirigidas a eliminar o reducir algunas de las restricciones establecidas por el complejo sistema de leyes, órdenes ejecutivas y disposiciones que estructuran el conjunto de la política de la potencia norteña hacia la Mayor de las Antillas. Las noticias de ese día, que pasó a ser conocido como el 17d, desper-taron grandes expectativas y también generaron no pocas contradiccio-nes e incertidumbres, a la vez que llamaron la atención de personas de los más diversos orígenes, estatus social y profesiones. En tal contexto resultó natural el incremento sostenido del debate académico, en el que participaron especialistas cubanos, estadounidenses y de otras nacionalidades, con una amplia multiplicidad de posiciones teóricas Introducción

In recent years changes in the economic and political spheres have been happening in Cuba. However, these transformations have also affected to some extent the intellectual field, producing, in the specific case of philosophy, necessary questions about how it has been taught and what the content of that concept would be in the face of a country that claims to be socialist and democratic. It is, without any doubt, a society that has been seen through a polarizing prism that causes certain plasticity in the image the island projects to the world. The Cuban social thought has been seen both as an inspiration for revolutionary emancipation or as a setback to the dictatorial regimes that characterized Latin America in the previous century.
Having said that, and taking as a justification the celebration of the day of culture on October 20, this presentation will address in the first moment, the nexus of Cuban political and social thought with Latin America and the World. In the second moment, it will give a general view of the different debates that have been part of the Cuban intellectual history, proposing a critical examination of its pretended philosophical character, and it will culminate with an analysis of the challenges that Cuban social theory must face in its nearest future.

The US President Barack Obama’s administration declared, in December 2014, to bring an end to decades long sanction policy with regard to Cuba. Obama himself criticized the sanction policy to be a failed policy. Perhaps Obama has realized the possibility of huge commercial gains that may be achieved by improving relations with Cuba. However, many Republicans and even Democrats think otherwise, and prefer to continue the bitterness with Cuba.

As the end of Obama’s tenure approaches, fear has arisen that with the change of administration in 2016, the attempt to normalize Cuba-US relations that is tuned by Obama administration may be reversed. With such a disastrous reverse policy back to bitterness, the US would lose the opportunity of huge commercial gains that could only be achieved by improving relations with Cuba, and not by continuing the standoff.

The combination of — (i) transformation of ideals and value of Cuban society into global capitalism, (ii) reestablishment of the old US businesses in Cuba, (iii) availability (for the US manufacturer) of a well-trained and well-educated Cuban workforce that is cheaper at the same time, (iv) possibility for the US of finding a new energy supply destination right next-door, (v) possibility for the US of earning profits from Cuban energy industry (in distant future though) — will cultivate (for the US) huge commercial gains from Cuba that has not been seen since the late 1950s. Although the impacts of normalization of relations between the US and Cuba seem very optimistic, the continuation of this normalization policy will only be possible if the administration that would succeed Obama administration decides to continue with this policy, and thereafter, successfully overcomes many hurdles posed by the ones who, within the US political elites, oppose the normalization policy. Therefore, the administration succeeding the Obama administration would surely be instrumental in making the final call.

Cuba’s transition to agroecology is perhaps as widely known as it is misunderstood. In response to the economic crisis of the early 1990s, the Cuban agricultural sector largely departed from the industrial model of food production that it had previously pursued. The subsequent transition towards an agroecological model has been a dynamic and uneven process, elevating Cuba on the world stage as a global leader in sustainable agriculture while at the same time producing unique challenges for Cuban farmers, policy makers, researchers and academics. This article synthesizes and updates contemporary literature on the Cuban agricultural system, paying attention to both successes and shortcomings of agroecology in Cuba to date. In particular, it situates these literatures alongside contributions from academics and practitioners alike, bringing a number of data sets, experiences, and perspectives into conversation in the context of changing realities within Cuba and the nation’s evolving ge...

After Barack Obama became the first US President to visit Cuba in almost 90 years, Sky News speaks to Dr Vladimir Smith Mesa, the curator of The British-Cuban Heritage Trust and Professor Helen Yaffe, Economic History fellow at LSE about what this means for the country and its global position moving forward.