Different Perspectives of Cuban Revolution
Introduction:
The measures taken by Castro and explicitly stated by him at his trial in 1954, from the very beginning of his anti-Batista movement illustrate his initial desires to reform Cuba and ultimately increase its standard of living. Different understandings can be perceived by reading various books and documents that focus on the political changes shaping Cuba’s modern-day society. Each illustrates different aspects of the insurrection while simultaneously giving the reader an accurate depiction of the historical occurrences. Authors Perez-Stable and Patterson focus on the turbulent circumstances that lead Cuba through the various leaders, each with his own agenda trying to
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Because of Cuba’s reliance on the export of sugar, Cubans were severely limited in terms of diversifying its economy and raising its standard of living. According to Perez-Stable,
"Without diversification, jobs would not be createdand living standards raised…Moving Cuba from classic dependence on sugar to a new form of dependent capitalism, however, required a realignment of domestic actors, a new role for the state, and a restructuring of Cuba-U.S. relations."
These issues appear as reoccurring themes that build the platforms for many of the reforms sought by Castro himself. This is because these issues address the focal points of concern for most Cuban citizens.
The second chapter in Perez-Stable’s book deals more with the political transitions that shaped Cuba’s societal structure during the turbulent early 1900’s. Corruption and problems with the governmental structure coincided with the economic crises. Many Cubans fostered anti-American sentiments and regarded the Platt Amendment with much contempt. These feelings arose in part because, "Application of the Platt Amendment was a blatant reminder of the limits of Cuban independence." During these occurrences, the U.S. vacillated between mediating the Cuban crises and relinquishing ties to the Cuban government. This stemmed in part from the avid anti-American sentiments
The Cuban "destiny," according to Castro, is the creation of an independent nation with the conditions of territorial sovereignty, an independent political structure, a national economy, and a differentiated culture 4. These four conditions mentioned by Castro in his manifesto simply reiterate the frustrations of the Cuban people who although were liberated from colonial oppression continued to remain the subjects of foreign sovereignty. Foreign influence and sovereignty this time around in the 20th century was not wielded by the Spanish crown, but rather by the "friendly neighbor" from North America, the United States. Therefore, intimately related to the notion of Cuba’s destiny is the desire to stray away from dependency on any foreign nation for economic purposes. Harleigh Leach, in her essay concerning this particular matter, also defines the essence of the revolution in more economic detail as she states:
One of the United States most important foreign trading partners was Cuba. The Cuban and the US economy had been intertwined for nearly a decade before the turn of the 20th century with American invests of $50 million in the Cuban economy. Americans owned the most valuable land in Cuba, which were the sugar plantations. More than 90% of Cuba’s sugar was exported to the United States7. Most of the imports to Cuba and the surrounding islands came from the US. If the Cuban market closed the US would lose not only its $50 million in investments, but also millions in lost revenue from not being able to trade with Cuba.
Cuba was one of the territories that United States imperialized. The US was a heavy consumer of the sugar produced in Cuba but didn’t meet the sugar industry demands. The international market collapsed, and the US used this opportunity to purchase the sugar mills in Cuba “Cuban sugar mills into bankruptcy … sensing an opportunity, investors from the United States
Castro’s involvement with the foreign and domestic politics during the early Cold War period greatly influenced the outcome of the Cuban Revolution. Without the actions taken by foreign powers like the United States and Russia, some events on the domestic front may have had very different results. It is important to understand how every nation’s foreign policies can influence more than just one other nation, and this was especially true for Cuba. It was this mix and chain of events which produced the communist Cuba that we are familiar with today.
Cuba’s colorful history can be documented to before the days of the American Revolution in 1776, but today, American policy directly affects many Cubans’ lifestyles because of a nearly 45-year-old trade embargo that has been placed on the island nation. It is crucial to analyze the development of Cuba and its neighboring island nations in order to discern the reasons for Cuba’s current political situation with the United States. The following paper will discuss the events that shaped Cuba and larger Caribbean nations like Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica; next, a detailed description of Cuba’s turbulent history will help in explaining the Cuban transformation into a
Cuba and the United States of America have completely opposite economies. Cuba’s economy is based on the few natural resources that the country owns while the economic system in The United States is capitalist and can be recognized for its noticeable development in agriculture, energy, and other resources that keep the country expanding and provides jobs as well as a good quality of life for its residents. On the other hand, Cuba’s economy, is predominantly poor, to the point where a very huge percent of its population suffers from
Fidel Castro and the M-26-7 successfully seized power of Cuba’s government in 1959, after years of fighting. The M-26-7’s nationalist movement was able to knock the corrupt leader, Fulgencio Batista, out of power, and in 1961 Castro deemed the revolution to be officially of a Marxist nature. Throughout his 40-year stay as president, Castro has not allowed his revolution to stall, but rather he has allowed it to progress and adapt as he has seen fit. In relation with Castro’s revolution in Cuba has been another revolution, that of the Cuban women. Castro himself described the changes in women’s public and private lives as "a revolution within a revolution". In a true system of equality, as in the one Castro holds as his ideal, equality
On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and his band of rebels overtook the Cuban government. Their Revolution was based on massive agrarian reform and equality throughout. It was not based on Communism or communistic ideals. The US government was against the rise of Castro and his people. They had been able to control the Cuban government by controlling the successive presidents, since the Spanish-American War early in the 20th Century. The rise of Castro was undertaken with a distinct anti-American flavor to it. Castro was able to expand his popularity by fusing the anti-American fever with massive reforms intended to give social and economic equality to all Cubans. The economic presence, of the US, within Cuba was great at the time of Castro’s
Many of these factors had either been introduced or improved by Castro and just the idea of having a country that is third world having these factors so long ago is an indication of how beneficial Fidel Castro was to Cuba. The extent to which the US — a superpower — felt threatened by a third world country like Cuba is also an indication of how beneficial Fidel Castro was to Cuba. This source further explains how under Castro there were food shortages, increased rationing and growing scarcities. The introduction of sanctions under Castro’s rule is said to have been damaging because the source these sanctions upset and disadvantaged the middle-class and therefore were a social disadvantage. This source also explores how the suspension of US exports under Castro was damaging as these badly affected people like retail merchants, manufacturers and industrialists and many of them found it difficult to remain in Cuba. Therefore, this particular policy under Fidel Castro proved to be both socially and economically
From their end, Cuba has surprised many around the world for striving against such barriers. “ The main driver of the Cuban economy is agriculture. The country is a major producer of several crops but sugar and tobacco are the big money products. Despite not being able to export their products to the United States Cuba has become a major exporter of agricultural products. There has been an attempt on the part of the Cuban government to diversify their economy and it looks like natural resources will be one way that they can do this. The country has become a major nickel producer and this has quickly become one of their largest exports. There is also the potential for Cuba to become a major oil producer. There are large reserves of oil in the Caribbean that are in Cuba's territorial water. It is very likely that in the near future they will take advantage of these reserves in order to help diversify the economy.”
The United States’ and Cuba’s relationship has always been very volatile and open to change. Since the early twentieth century, the two countries have been close but separated at the same time. For a country that is as close as it is to the U.S., Cuba couldn’t be has isolated. Now this relationship wasn’t always bad, but do to the policy decisions of both countries they have a rocky relationship. In recent times, the United States has begun rethinking its harsh policy against the small island nation. In this essay, I will explain the history of the embargo, the issues with it, and what the future looks like for both countries. The Cuban Embargo has been ineffective at spreading democracy, solving human rights issues, and has harmed the economy,
The history of Cuba has gone through many dramatic changes affecting not only the economy but the citizens as well. On January 1st, 1969 Dictator Fulgenico Batiste (Fidel Castro) fled the Island of Cuba, with his revolutionaries seizing control with the U.S backing the situation. This caused chaos and excitement in Havana, rumbling the idea of "anti-americanism." This relates back to the conflict theory, as this had a great impact on the citizens of Cuba, causing more hate on america and its people causing conflict and negativity. Within all of this chaos with Fidel Castro and Cuba’s people, America still supported the Island of Cuba. As time passed this situation caused great suspicion as the US was not sure of Castro’s intentions and his leftist ideology, thinking this would lead to an attack from Castro on US investments and properties in Cuba. American officials were nearly unanimous opposing Castro’s revolutionary movement.
Orwell wants the reader to look up to Snowball because he is more persuasive than threatening, unlike Napoleon. The followers agree with Snowball more but, go on Napoleon’s side out of pure fear. The followers know that if they agree with Snowball and make their opinion known their rations could be in danger and or their lives in extreme cases.
Secondly, Cubaneeds to repair its corrupt, failing state-run economy. The reality of thisstruggling economy is that Cuba’s resources are plenty, and its
In 1959, Fidel Castro led a group of rebel forces to end and overthrow Fulgencio Batista’s regime in an effort to free the Cuban people from his tyrannous rule. For very many different political reasons this has been portrayed as an act of great injustice and hypocrisy in the modern world. A lot of this has of course been advocated primarily by the US due to the high level of political tension between the two nations that developed in the mid 1950s. Believing this conventional wisdom that Castro was simply an evil communist who oppressed his people and stripped them of their human rights is very dangerous because it