America's relationship with Cuba

I have chosen to look at Cuba's relationship with America, which is known to be a turbulent one. Looking back to the recent history of the Cold War, it is clear to see that they have certainly had their differences. For one, the Bay of Pigs invasion, organised by the United States, saw Cuban exiles attempt to overthrow the government of Communist leader and Revolution leader Fidel Castro. This friction caused President Eisenhower to cut off any diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961, with the Bay of Pigs attack happening in April of the same year. The exiles met a fight however, as Castro's army had the upper hand from the beginning of the invasion, and they stopped it two days later, when 90 exiles had been killed, the remaining being taken prisoner. This complete failure by the United States was extremely embarassing for new President Kennedy, which probably fueled more friction toward Cuba. It did, however, raise Castro's awareness of the United States, convinved they would try and take land again, so he was incredibly against U.S. presence in Cuba. The picture on the left however, is quite ironic, as following these events, the two countries were not "Good Friends" in the slightest.

Following that was the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, and Cuba and Soviet Union, having formed an alliance against the United States, had set up bases in Cuba to launch nuclear missiles and bombs into America. This event very nearly turned the Cold War, a war of propaganda and essentially words, into a fully-fledged nuclear war. This in itself shows the hatred Cuba showed toward United State, in a deadly way. Perhaps warned by the Bay of Pigs attack and Castro's army strength, the United States did all they could to prevent this attack, eventually maintaining peace and not firing. From the Cuban's perspective,, it was Soviet-U.S. interests that stopped the conflict, perhaps somewhat biased toward their ally. The real conflict was of course between CUba and the United States, which remained unsolved.

In the early years of the Revolution in Cuba, many Cubans send their children to the United States, a form of evacuation you could say; afraid of losing said children to Communism. The relationship between the two countries can be that of distrust, looking particularly at the Bay of Pigs attack. Kennedy, once elected, outright denied any plan of a Cuban invasion, yet soon after the invasion took place. After this and the missile crises, the United States held a very hostile and isolated relationship with Cuba, in particular Castro's government.

In the years that followed 1959, Castro quite simply erased all U.S. influence from CUba, showing clearly his dislike for the country. He took over American owned farms, with the landowners arguing a case of theft, and Castro being seen as typically irrational "Yankee-hating".

Sources used:
'Myths of Anti-Americanism: The Case of Latin America' Alan McPherson
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/bay_of_pigs.html
http://www.historyofcuba.com/cuba.htm

http://cubaonmymind.blogspot.com/ - I found this to be a really interesting blog to read about different views on Cuban history.