Cuba and the United States have had a mutual interest in one another since well before either of their independence movements. Schemes for purchase of the nearby island have been put forward at various times by the larger nation. As the Spanish influence waned, the United States gradually gained a position of total economic and political dominance over the island, with the vast majority of foreign investment holdings, the bulk of imports and exports in it's hands, and a major stake in Cuban political affairs to uphold.
Following the revolution of 1959 relations deteriotated substantially and have subsequently been marked by tension and confrontations. The United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with Cuba and has maintained an embargo which makes it illegal for U.S. corporations to do business with Cuba. US diplomatic representation in Cuba is handled by the United States Interests Section in Havana and a similar "Cuban Interests Section" remains in Washington, both are officially part of the respective embassies of Switzerland.
Relations between the North American mainland and the Spanish colony of Cuba began in the early 18th century through irregular commercial contracts, mostly illicit, between peripheral European colonies in the New World, trading to elude colonial taxes. As both legal and illegal trade increased, Cuba became a comparatively prosperous trading partner in the region, and a center of tobacco and sugar production. During this period Cuban merchants increasingly travelled to North American ports, establishing trade contracts that endured for many years.
The rebellion of the thirteen colonies in 1776 provided further trade opportunities between Cuba and North America. Spain opened Cuban ports to North American commerce officially in November 1776 and the island became increasingly dependant on that trade.
After the opening of the island to world trade in 1818, the Cuba - United States trade nexus began to replace Spanish commercial connections. By 1877, the United States accounted for 82 percent of Cuba's total exports. It was during this time that English Traveller Anthony Trollope observed that "The trade of the country is falling into the hands of foreigners, Havana will soon be as American as New Orleans". North Americans were also increasingly taking up residence on the island, and some districts on the northern shore were said to have more the character of America than Spanish settlements. Above all this presence facilitated the integration of the Cuban economy into the North American system and weakened Cuban cultural and institutional ties with Spain, with far reaching consequences.
As Cuban resistance to Spanish rule grew, Cuban rebels fighting for independence attempted to get support from U.S. President Grant. Grant declined and the resistance was curtailed; though American interests in the region continued. US Secretary of State James G. Blaine wrote in 1881 of Cuba, "that rich island, the key to the Gulf of Mexico, and the field for our most extended trade in the Western Hemisphere, is, though in the hands of Spain, a part of the American commercial system… If ever ceasing to be Spanish, Cuba must necessarily become American and not fall under any other European domination." After some rebel successes in Cuba's second war of independence in 1897, U.S. President McKinley offered to buy Cuba for $300 million. Rejection of the offer led to the Spanish-American war. Immediately after Spain surrendered, the US-owned "Island of Cuba Real Estate Company" opened for business to sell Cuban land to Americans. U.S. military rule of the island lasted until 1902 when Cuba was finally granted full independence.
Relations 1900 - 1959
An agreed condition between Cuba and the United States to secure the withdrawal of United States troops from the island was Cuba's adoption of the Platt Amendment. The amendment was a rider appended to the Army Appropriations Act, a United States federal law passed in March 1901 which was presented to the U.S. Senate by ConnecticutRepublican Senator Orville H. Platt (1827-1905). The Platt amendment stipulated that the United States could exercise the right to intervene in Cuban political and economic affairs, militarily if necessary and replaced the less specific Teller Amendment (1898-1901). It was to define the terms of Cuban-U.S. relations for the following 33 years. Another consequence of the amendment gave the United States continued use of the southern portion of Guantanamo bay, where a United States Naval Station had been established in 1898.
Despite recognizing Cuba's transition into an independent republic, United States Governor Charles Magoon assumed temporary military rule for three more years between 1906-1909. By 1925 U.S. private investments in Cuba had mushroomed from $50 million in 1895 to $1.5 billion, and Washington was generally supportive of successive Cuban Governments. However, internal confrontations between the government of Gerardo Machado (1925-33) and political opposition led to a military overthrow by Cuban rebels in 1933. U.S. Ambassador Sumner Welles requested U.S. military intervention. President Roosevelt, despite his promotion of the Good Neighbor Policy toward Latin America, ordered 29 warships to Cuba and Key West, alerting U.S. Marines, and bombers for use if necessary. Machado's replacement, Ramón Grau San Martín assumed the Presidency and immediately nullified the Platt amendment. In protest, the United States denied recognition to Grau's government, Ambassador Welles describing the new regime as "communistic" and "irresponsible".
The rise of General Fulgencio Batista in 1935 to de facto leader and President for two periods (1940-44 and 1952-59) is generally viewed as the beginning of an era of close co-operation between the governments of Cuba and the United States. Batista's second spell as President was initiated by a military coup planned in Florida, and U.S. President Harry Truman quickly recognized Batista's return to rule. The Batista era witnessed the almost complete domination of Cuba's economy by the United States as the number of American corporations continued to swell, though corruption was rife and Havana also became a popular sanctuary for American organized crime figures (see Havana Conference).
Post revolution relations
U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower officially recognized Fidel Castro as the new Cuban leader after the 1959 Cuban revolution, but relations between the two governments deteriorated rapidly. Within days Earl E. Smith, U.S. Ambassador to Cuba, resigned his post to be replaced by Philip Bonsal. The US government became increasingly concerned by Cuba's Agrarian reforms and the nationalization of US owned industries. After a meeting between Castro and Vice-President Richard Nixon, where Castro outlined his plans for Cuba, the US began to impose gradual trade restrictions on the island. As the reforms continued, these restrictions increased. The U.S. stopped buying Cuban sugar and refused to supply its former trading partner with much needed oil having a devastating effect on the island's economy. Consequently, Cuba began to establish key trade links with the Soviet Union, leading the US to break off all remaining official diplomatic relations. In March 1960 President Eisenhower quietly authorized the CIA to organize, train, and equip Cuban refugees as a guerrilla force to overthrow Castro. Later that year, U.S. diplomats Edwin L. Sweet and Wiliam G. Friedman were arrested and expelled from the island having been charged with "encouraging terrorist acts, granting asylum, financing subversive publications and smuggling weapons”.
In 1961 Cuba resisted an armed invasion by CIA trained Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs, the failure of the venture led to the formulation of new plans by the United States aimed at destabilizing the Castro govenment. These activities were collectively known as the “The Cuban Project” (also known as Operation Mongoose). This was to be a co-ordinated program of political, psychological, and military sabotage, involving intelligence operations as well as assassination attempts on key political leaders. The Cuban project also proposed attacks on mainland US targets, hijackings and assaults on Cuban refugee boats to generate U.S. public support for military action against the Cuban government (see Operation Northwoods). A U.S. Senate Select Intelligence Committee report later confirmed over eight attempted plots to kill Castro between 1960 and 1965, as well as additional plans against other Cuban leaders. After weathering the failed Bay of Pigs invasion by CIA-backed Cuban exiles in 1961, Cuba observed as U.S. armed forces staged a mock invasion of a Caribbean island in 1962 named Operation Ortsac. The purpose of the invasion was to overthrow a leader whose name, Ortsac, was Castro spelled backwards. Although Ortsac was a fictitious name, Castro soon became convinced that the U.S. was serious about invading Cuba leading to a huge military build up on the island. Tensions between the two nations reached their peak in 1962, after U.S. reconnaissance aircraft photographed the Soviet construction of intermediate-range missile sites. The discovery led to the Cuban missile crisis. Trade relations also deteriorated in equal measure. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy broadened the partial trade restrictions imposed after the revolution by Eisenhower to a ban on all trade with Cuba, except for non-subsidized sale of foods and medicines. A year later travel and financial transactions by U.S. citizens with Cuba was prohibited. (see United States embargo against Cuba)
Relations began to thaw during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s tenure continuing through the next decade and a half. Fidel Castro sent a message to Johnson encouraging dialogue, he wrote “I seriously hope that Cuba and the United States can eventually respect and negotiate our differences. I believe that there are no areas of contention between us that cannot be discussed and settled within a climate of mutual understanding. But first, of course, it is necessary to discuss our differences. I now believe that this hostility between Cuba and the United States is both unnatural and unnecessary - and it can be eliminated" [link]”. By 1974, U.S. elected officials had begun to visit the island. Two years later the U.S. and Cuba simultaneously opened interests sections in each other’s capitals.
In 1981 President Ronald Reagan’s new administration re-instituted the most hostile policy against Cuba since the invasion at Bay of Pigs. Despite conciliatory signals from Cuba, the administration announced a tightening of the embargo. The U.S. also re-established the travel ban, prohibiting U.S. citizens from spending money in Cuba. The ban was later supplemented to include Cuban government officials or their representatives visiting the U.S. In 1985 Radio Martí, backed by Reagan’s administration began to broadcast news and information from the U.S. to Cuba.
Recent Relations
US diplomatic representation in Cuba is handled by the United States Interests Section in Havana, whilst Cuba has an Interests Section in Washington D.C. Both are officially part of the respective Embassies of Switzerland in Cuba and the US. Both sides handle visa processing, consular issues and facilitate limited contact between the two governments.
Despite the end of the Cold War and the normalization of American relations with such countries as the People's Republic of China and Vietnam, the U.S. still has a strong policy against trade with Cuba and trade is limited to cash purchases of food and medicine. This includes travel restrictions and laws against American companies operating there. These measures were further strengthened by the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 which attempted to punish any foreign companies operating in Cuba, especially those using expropriated US assets.
2000-
In the new millennium, hopes were raised in both countries for a new period of greater understanding. In November 2001 US companies began selling food to the country for the first time since Washington imposed the trade embargo after the revolution. In May 2002, former US President Jimmy Carter became the highest profile US politician invited to Cuba since President Fidel Castro came to power.
Relations deteriorated again however when John R. Bolton, in his role as undersecretary of the U.S. State Department, accused Cuba on May 6, 2002 of maintaining a bioweapons program [link]. Many in the US, including ex-president Carter, expressed doubts about the claim. Later, Bolton was criticised for [link] pressuring subordinates who questioned the quality of the intelligence John Bolton had used as the basis for the assertion.
[link][link] Bolton identified President Castro's government as part of America's 'axis of evil', highlighting the fact that the Cuban leader visited several US foes, including Libya, Iran and Syria. [link] Cuba was also identified as a State Sponsor of Terror by the United States Department of State[link]. The Cuban government denies the claim, and Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba’s National Assembly, has stated in response that "The United States is an accomplice and protector of terrorism"[link].
In 2003 the United States Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba was formed to "explore ways the U.S. can help hasten and ease a democratic transition in Cuba". Since 2005 the commission has been chaired by Condoleeza Rice and seeks to integrate the administration's Cuba policies with all the agencies of the federal government. Associated Press. [Condi Rice Chairs Anti-Castro Panel]. NewsMax.com Wires, December 20, 2005. In response Fidel Castro called the Commission a "group of shit-eaters who do not deserve the world's respect,". Castro also referred to Rice as a "mad" woman and US Chief of Mission in Havana Michael E. Parmly as a "little gangster" and a "bully". Castro has insisted that, in spite of the formation of the Commission, he will press his country ever onward "to socialism [and] to communism" and that it is "ridiculous for the U.S. to threaten Cuba now".Rigoberto Diaz. [Castro Calls Rice 'Mad']. News24, December 24, 2005.
The Bush administration appointed Caleb McCarry "transition coordinator" for Cuba, providing a budget of $59 million, with the task of overthrowing the Cuban government after Castro's death. Official Cuban news service Granma alleges that these transition plans were created at the behest of the MiamiMafia, and that McCarry is responsible for engineering the overthrow of the Aristide government in Haiti.[planning for - the succession] BBC[GRANMA]
On the establishment of McCarry as post-Castro transition coordinator, Organization of American States Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said, "There's no transition and it's not your country.'' [link]
In 2006 The United States approved a plan to spend $80m to overthrow the Cuban Government and ensure that Cuba's Socialist system does not continue after the death of President Fidel Castro. The plan also includes a classified annex which Cuban officials claim could be a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro or a United States military invasion of Cuba. [link]
The US continues to operate a naval Base at Guantánamo Bay. It is leased to the US and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the area can terminate the lease. The US pays Cuba annually for its lease, but Cuba does not cash the checks.
