The Revolution and the years that followed
The revolutionary government moved towards a state-controlled system. Education was given the highest priority. Today Cuba boasts the highest literacy rate in Latin America—around 95%. Before the revolution, the U.S. virtually controlled Cuba’s economy. Castro quickly nationalized all American businesses. Medical care became free and accessible to all the people.
After 1960 Cuba became less dependent on the U.S. and established strong ties with the Soviet Union. This led to a deterioration of relations with the U.S. and the eventual embargo on trade with Cuba that is still in effect today.
The Bay of Pigs at Playa Girón was a poor ill-fated attempt by Cuban exiles to oust Castro. The defeated exiles came to dominate the U.S. policy and view of Cuba for over 50 years, defining the Cuban people as victims and Castro’s government as totalitarian. The U.S, government virtually pushed Cuba into the arms of the Soviets.
With the deterioration of relations with the U.S. Castro aligned the country with the Soviet Union. Shortly after the world was pushed to the brink of nuclear war with the Cuban missile crisis, triggered by the discovery of Russian missiles just west of Havana.
Washington plotted against Castro in the ensuing years but not too much avail.
The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe proved devastating for Cuba’s economy. The country lost most of its subsidies and main trading partners. This coupled with other economic problems led to severe shortages, disruption of the food supply and other hardships. In January 1990, Castro declared that Cuba entered a "Special Period in time of peace." Initially, the government took desperate measures like scheduling blackouts that were the rule rather than the exception and rationing fuel to conserve oil. All sectors of the economy suffered as a result. During this time bicycles replaced cars, and food rations barely kept Havana's pigeons alive.
By 1994 things began to improve which led to the legalizing dollars and promoting tourism by establishing joint ventures with Canada and such European countries as Spain.
Despite the above measures, the U.S. embargo still remained in force, economic hardships continued and, in 1994 many Cubans, los balseros as the rafters were called, tried to flee the country by raft. Out of desperation there was a reappearance of such capitalistic vices as prostitution. The government had no other choice but to introduce such economic reforms as foreign ownership of businesses and private enterprise.
In 1995 the controversial Helms Burton Act was introduced with the goal of tightening the screws on the embargo. The law stipulated that the embargo was to remain in place until a "transitional government' was established that met U.S. approval. The bill also had a Draconian measure to fine any U.S. citizen up to $50,000 for travelling to Cuba without permission.
However, disparity also began to manifest itself between the "haves and have nots" or those earning dollars and those who didn't. Defections also increased during this period as dissatisfaction grew. Many of Cuba's elite, such as pro athletes seeking lucrative contracts, musicians in search of more freedom and artistic expression, doctors and even a couple of Cuban air force pilots, left the island. Although defection was made more difficult, many Cubans continue to try to flee. One group that fled was a group of Cuban baseball stars. They were granted asylum in Costa Rica and eventually ended up playing major league baseball in the U.S.
The Pope's visit to Cuba in early 1998 would prove to be the first sign of a normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. Some believed that the death of the long-time leader of Miami's Cuban exile community two month's before the Pope's visit and a new generation of younger less confrontational Cuba Americans would eventually helped to soften the U.S.'s hard-line stance against Cuba. The CIA released a report stating Cuba no longer posed any threat to the United States.
At one time it was rumored that President Clinton would seek to have Congress lift the embargo against Cuba since he was a lame duck president and really had nothing to lose. Sadly, his administration was plagued by so many scandals that he couldn't have lifted the embargo even if he had tried.
In early January of 1999 President Clinton did relax the sanctions against Cuba. Many experts interpreted this move as the first step to totally lifting the embargo. For the first time in almost 40 years since the embargo was established, Washington allowed the sale of food and agriculture supplies to non-government entities and expanded cash transfers, thus increasing the number of Americans permitted to send money to their Cuban relatives. The number of direct charter flights from the U.S. was also increased and direct mail service was re-established between the U.S. and Cuba.
In addition, there were cultural and sports exchanges between the two countries. In fact, an exhibition games was held between the Baltimore Orioles and a Cuban all-star team. Some people compared this "baseball diplomacy" to Nixon's "ping-pong diplomacy" which eventually helped normalize relations between the U.S. and China.
Unfortunately, in 2001 George W. Bush adopted hard-line tactics against Cuba. This only caused Castro to react the same way towards the U.S. by cracking down on dissidents. Bush in turn institute new measures like tying to curtail the flow of dollars to Cuba by threatening foreign banks that did business with Cuba. All of this led Cuba to align itself with Venezuela's Hugo Chavéz and caused Castro to ban the U.S. dollar.
On July 31, 2006 Castro became seriously ill and handed over power to his brother, Raúl Castro. Fidel officially retired because of failing health. Nevertheless, his presence still lingers in the background as a symbol of the Cuban Revolution and ideas.
Under Raúl the Cuban government has made some minor changes by slightly loosening its grip on political prisoners and giving its citizens a little more freedom. The case of punk rock artist Gorki Aguila—arrested for "social dangerousness but later slapped with a $30 fine for playing music too loud—was a good sign of a softening hard line against dissidents.
Cubans could now run businesses and own cell phone and personal computers. A state-run self-service department store, with products from the first world was opened for Cubans. Thus, giving the people who could afford it a little more access to new products. All state enterprises began to offer an incentive system whereby employees can earn more if they produce more. Other products made available were car alarms, bicycles, medium size screen TVs and video production equipment.
Raúl also opened tourism to Cubans on the island. Cubans could now stay at hotels that were formerly reserved for foreign tourists. Workers could obtain title to their state owned-properties after a certain number of years of service. The property could now be transferred to their heirs. However, no there was still no real estate market for selling and purchasing of these properties.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration with its failed policy towards Cuba continued playing hard ball with the country and would not normalize relationships with the island until a transition government had been established and more significant changes had been made. Cuba clearly needed to participate actively in the politics of the region but had to accept the rules of the game of the other Latin American countries. Free elections, economic reforms and more respect for human rights would be a prerequisite. If these conditions had been met the U.S. would have probably lifted its economic embargo.
Be assured that eventually this will happen and there will be a plethora of opportunities in Cuba that the author describes throughout this book. The country should also become an incredible place for expatriates to hang their hats and have an exciting life.
One encouraging sign occurred in November 2008 relations between Cuba and the European Union improved. The bloc imposed sanctions in 2003 as punishment for Cuba's imprisonment of more than 70 dissidents. After the sanctions, Cuba refused to accept any European development aid.
Officials from the European Union and Cuba re-established relations, which ended five years of diplomatic tension. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque and European development commissioner Louis Michael signed a cooperation agreement.
The talks followed the EU decision in June of 2008 to lift sanctions against Cuba. Since Raul Castro took over the presidency from his brother Fidel Castro earlier that year, the EU worked to encourage democratic reforms on the island.
Obama's victory in 2008 was the first step towards normalizing relations between these two neighbors with such a troubled and complicated past.
At that reporter Francis Robles optimistically stated that year , "Obama will move quickly' to lift Cuban American travel restrictions. On the campaign trail, Obama vowed not just to lift family travel restrictions that force Cuban-Americans to wait three years to visit immediate relatives on the island, but also said he would lift the cap on how much money Cuban-Americans can send to the island. He also indicated he would be willing to meet with Cuban leader Raúl Castro, drawing fire from critics who accused Obama of being naive and weak on foreign policy issues. Obama said he would take away restrictions and establish low-level contacts with Cuba. It would be a change from policies that have given the worst results for 50 years."
It was predicted that Obama would lift all travel restrictions, handing a victory to the Cuban regime, and boosting its government-run travel industry.
Obama’s Latin America foreign policy advisor, Frank Sanchez, said as president the candidate would move quickly within the possible and practical bounds of his authority to lift the family travel and remittances restrictions. Anything more than that, Sanchez told The Miami Herald, would have to wait.
Just like Barack Obama has said, ‘it took us 50 years to get where we are, we’re not going to undo that in five days,” Sanchez said. ``We want to see some concrete steps from the Cuban government. If we saw all the political prisoners freed, if we saw something like that, a strong sign, we could begin considering other things.’‘
“Vicki Huddleston, a former chief of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana, predicted Obama’s moves would lead to brisk business in Miami, creating jobs in the travel industry as more flights take off for the island and businesses pop up to handle the flow of care packages. More importantly, she said, the stream of Cuban Americans and their cash in their relatives’ pockets will boost the independence of people on the iand who are now heavily dependent on the Cuban government for their livelihood."
’‘They will be able to buy TVs, computers, medicine and food. They’ll be able to read The Miami Herald online, she said. Allowing families to travel between Miami and Cuba begins to give Cubans a voice, because the Cuban government holds all the strings.”
The University of Miami’s Andy Gomez, of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, said “a migration crisis could be triggered when more Cuban Americans begin to see for themselves the reality their relatives are living in, and start trying to help their families get out."
“The big questions about Cuba were, when would the embargo end and how would that change the country? Commercial ties will certainly lead to commercial development. East Germany, China and Vietnam were all transformed when they transitioned from communist to capitalist economies. But those countries were variations on a theme. Prosperous China and Vietnam are still controlled societies with human rights issues, where as East Germany has been absorbed into democratic West German. For Cubans, uncertainties loomed. Would the coming changes unshackle the island from its dire poverty? Or would those changes enrich an affluent upper class, ripping apart the we’re-in-it-together social pact forged in Cuba’s revolution over the past half century?”
