Fidel Castro’s rise to the top of the Cuban government has soured his country’s ties with the United States of America. Five times, the CIA has attempted to assassinate Castro.

In 1960, just a year after Castro assumed power, the US commenced the still-extant trade embargo against Cuba. It has also ostracized the communist country as a haven of terrorists.

Disparity in political views is the cause of the longstanding enmity between the nations. As the world’s most powerful democracy, USA finds Cuba’s fascist socialism very abrasive.

Ever the leftist state, Cuba allied with the USSR in 1961. Earlier that year, America instigated the invasion of Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs in an effort to unseat Castro’s government.

Looming in October 1962 was outright nuclear war. On the defensive against the possibility of a US invasion, Castro let the Soviet Union set up nuclear missile silos in his country just in case. The missiles were only removed when the US agreed to withdraw its nuclear presence in Turkey.

In a bid to degrade the economy of Cuba, the US government enacted in 1993 several drastic market reforms—legalizing the US currency, for instance. They virtually cemented the economic embargo on Cuba for good. Three years later, the Cuban military shot down two American aircrafts manned by Cuban exiles from Florida.

Unwanted emigration from Cuba also ticks off the US. In April 1980, Cuban refugees took over the embassy of Peru at the capital city. Later, an exodus of 125,000 Cubans set off illegally for the US coasts from the port of Mariel, in the vent known only as “Mariel Boatlift.”

Twenty thousand Cubans a year can now avail of entry visas to the US, provided Cuba hinders its illegal immigrants. In 2007 though, Cuba accused the US of releasing too few visas to Cubans seeking to immigrate to the US. Four years later, Cuban-Americans were allowed, to an extent, to remit money to native relatives.

Next year, a Cuban boy, Elian Gonzales, was washed ashore in Florida when he and his family tried to immigrate to the US aboard a boat. After much fanfare among Cuban Americans, Elian returned to his father in Cuba in June 2000.

Human rights are one of the most significant fronts in America’s battle against Cuba. The UN Human Rights Commission criticized the nation’s questionable human rights track record back in 2005. Conservatives in Cuba’s government are known to be violent harassers of opposition members. Seventy-five were incarcerated in March 2003 alone for allying with the US.

Cubans also deplore the Americans’ use of Guantanamo Bay as a detention barracks for suspected terrorists, including al-Qaeda suspects from Afghanistan while US policymakers are also incensed at Cuba, for its terrorist associations. The country dissents from waging war on terrorism and provides asylum to American fugitives and personas from the Spanish Basque ETA. Its support for the Colombian insurgency—the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia and the National Liberation Army—is very much apparent. This stance has prodded a Washington lawmaker to list Cuba as part of the Axis of Evil, alongside Iraq.

Venezuela and Bolivia’s leftist presidents, Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales, are cordial with Castro. US state officials allege that Cuba is an important hub of the drug trade in South America.

Fidel Castro resigned in February 2008. Raul Castro, his brother, is now sovereign leader of Cuba. US officials are optimistic Raul would be open to dialogue.

Until Cuba makes a palpable shift to democracy, the US will still remain antagonistic toward Cuba’s government as much as it will be altruistic to its civilians. Whenever Cuba expresses intent of a political upheaval, the US would be there, with arms wide open. At this point, the US is encouraging liberal thinkers in Cuba to advocate a shift to democracy.

In July 2006, the US announced an incentive of $80million to opposition initiatives in Cuba. President Bush launched the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba (CAFC) in 2003 to facilitate Cuba’s shift to democracy.

Fidel Castro is always retaliating though. He banned all US currencies in the country since 2004. He deliberately erected a monument that eclipsed an American mission building in the capital.

With the passing of time, goodwill from the US towards Cuba is progressively felt. Some of these include adding more US-Cuba flights. In 2000, congress allowed American food, medicine and similar goods to enter Cuba. In the wake of Hurricane Michelle in 2001, Cuba had no choice but to request for food exports.

Ex-US US President Jimmy Carter toured the country in 2002. He is the latest visitor to Cuba since tension broke out on 1959. Congressmen visited the country in December 2006—another first since 1959.

Resources

Bacardi resolves Cuba trademark dispute. Learn more about Bacardi’s Cuba history at Bacardi Limited.