preview

The United States And Cuba

Good Essays

After more than a half-century of hostilities, the United States and Cuba have taken significant steps in recent years to dramatically alter their relationship in the years ahead. Those efforts are controversial to a number of Americans who oppose engaging the Cuban government.
Prior to the Spanish American War of 1898, Cuba was a Spanish colony with extensive commercial relations with U.S. businesses, particularly with regard to the production of sugar. Following the U.S. victory in the Spanish American War in 1898, Cuba, which is located just 90 miles off the coast of Florida, became a U.S. territory and then gained its independence in 1902.
For more than 50 years following its independence, Cuba was governed by a succession of elected and authoritarian leaders, culminating with rule of Fulgencio Batista, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1952. Batista ruled as a brutal dictator and was overthrown by resistance groups led by Fidel Castro on January 1, 1959. Castro began his more than 45 years as Cuba’s leader by promising democratic rule, but he quickly began to stifle dissent often by imprisoning or executing opponents. Relations between Castro and the U.S. deteriorated quickly in 1959 and 1960 as he courted the Soviet Union, the U.S.’s adversary in the Cold War, and began confiscating Cuban property owned by U.S. corporations and citizens.
Due to increasing hostilities between the U.S. and Cuba, President Eisenhower severed diplomatic relations with Cuba on

Get Access