On this day in 1961, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion began. This U.S. invasion of Cuba was not only majorly embarrassing for U.S. foreign policy, but also directly led to the closest the world has been to nuclear annihilation –– the Cuban Missile Crisis.
You can learn more about the Bay of Pigs invasion from a diplomatic perspective at the link.
As President Barack Obama flies back from Havana today, we take a look back at the United States’ first attempt to normalize relations with Cuba back in 1977.
After some initial success, the talks with Cuba faltered over Cuban troops in Africa and continued involvement in Central America.
You can read more about the failed attempt to re-establish ties with Cuba during the Carter administration at the link.
HAVANA — In Cuba, just having a press conference is news.
President Barack Obama jokes that he likes press conferences and wants to do more of them, let them go on longer. That tends to be less the case at the White House than abroad, when Obama’s trying to make a point about a repressive regime by turning to the press.
He did it in China in 2013 by giving a New York Times reporter a question to Xi Jinping right after the government in Beijing had kicked out a reporter from the newspaper. He did it in Ethiopia last year when he forced the journalist-jailing prime minister to stand next to him for a long press conference where Obama talked about the country’s record on human rights and held forth on American politics.
Monday afternoon here in Havana, he did it to Raúl Castro, right in the Revolutionary Palace, letting him be pressed with questions for the first time — ever — and joining in himself. And not just that: he had to answer for the political prisoners that the government rounds up almost daily, but denies exist at all.
Read more here
President Barack Obama kicked off his historic visit to Cuba to a drizzle that became a heavy rain, complicating his already complicated logistical and diplomatic two day tour here that began Sunday.
It didn’t stop the Cubans from turning out to see him, standing by the side of the road as the motorcade passed or cheering as they lined the square outside the cathedral, where the president briefly put down his umbrella to shake some hands in the crowd.
The tourism piece of his trip, which was meant to kick off with a walking tour of old Havana, was cut short. But the official business continued, with the president first stopping at a hotel to greet embassy staff — the rain meant the outdoor arrival ceremony at the embassy building had to be scrapped — and meeting privately at the cathedral with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who has been a force with Pope Francis pushing for normalization of relations.
MIAMI — Cuba didn’t want to change the way things were — the United States convinced them to, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said here Friday.
Normalization wasn’t even on the minds of Cuban officials as Rhodes in 2013 began the secret talks that led to the release of American prisoner Alan Gross, he said, arguing that the Castro government felt like it benefited from the isolation and opposition to the United States.
Rhodes came here on a trip to the heart of the Cuban ex-pat community, meeting with students, religious leaders and human rights advocates to discuss plans and their concerns ahead of President Barack Obama’s scheduled landing in Havana next Sunday, March 20.
In contrast with the Cubans, Rhodes said, he went into the talks with instructions from the president “to see how far we could go.”
Read more here
On this day in 1982, Orlando Tardencilla recanted his claim that he had trained as a guerrilla fighter in Cuba, and said that he had in reality been tortured by El Salvador.
The United States had brought Tardencilla to Washington because they believed that his claims would be the smoking gun that proved that Cuba was intervening in El Salvador. However, his recanting put the U.S. in a bind. Should the U.S. deport him to El Salvador where he had been reportedly tortured? Or Nicaragua where he would be welcomed as a hero? Or grant him asylum in the U.S. after he admitted to lying?
Read on at the link to learn more about the 19-year-old guerrilla fighter and what decision was ultimately made regarding his fate.
After the grand restoration of diplomatic relations, the administration’s recent modification of financial and investment regulations have seemed like small, incremental adjustments- leaving the impression that the president’s ability to maneuver on Cuba is coming to a close. It isn’t. Allowing Cuba access to the IDB may be the last big, irreversible move the administration can take to empower the Cuban people and enhance prosperity on the island.
The United States continues to be constrained by the Helms-Burton legislation, which makes it impossible to vote for Cuba’s membership to the IDB. But given that the United States does not hold veto power over the matter, a U.S. vote is not needed to approve membership.
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The idea of allowing Cuba to join the Inter-American Development Bank will unleash groans of discomfort from Washington insiders. The Treasury Department may resist, saying that Cubans should not be allowed membership in the IDB without also meeting the minimum requirements to enter the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Congressional hardliners will protest that the administration is again giving away too much. The State Department may argue that Cuba needs to do more on human rights before receiving further international privileges.
Groans of discomfort won’t just be coming from Washington. Not that the benefits of IaDB membership aren’t valid, but I don’t think the bulk of the Communist Party necessarily sees membership as a priority at the moment.
Even if the elite of the elite see access to capital as necessary to maintaining the party’s position (i.e. similar to Beijing’s pivot decades ago), how much sway do party hardliners hold in Havana? The island’s incremental opening of reforms have been incremental for a reason and I wouldn’t doubt Washington is taking cues from Havana in terms of the reforms they push for.
February 16th 1959: Fidel Castro becomes Prime Minister
On this day in 1959, Fidel Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba. Born to a wealthy Cuban family in 1926, Castro attended university in Havana. In 1952, he witnessed the overthrow of the government by the forces of General Batista, leading Castro to call for full-scale revolution. After serving some time in prison for an attempted uprising against the dictatorial Batista, Castro fled to Mexico where he met Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara. In 1956, Castro and Guevara began a guerrilla war against the U.S.-backed government, which was ultimately successful and caused Batista to flee in early 1959. Upon becoming Prime Minister, Castro inaugurated a Marxist-Leninist plan for Cuba, which caused some conservative Cubans to emigrate to the United States. Though initially trying to establish normalised relations with the United States - which included Castro meeting with Vice President Richard Nixon in April 1959 - tensions soon escalated between the two nations. In 1960, the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Cuba, and in 1961 the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, in which CIA-sponsored Cuban exiles launched an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba. The U.S. distrusted Castro’s communist leanings and feared an alliance between Cuba and the Soviet Union - America’s Cold War rival. This fear appeared well founded, as in 1962 the U.S. discovered that Castro had secretly allowed the Soviets to plant missiles in Cuba. This led to the Cuban Missile Crisis, where tensions over the missiles escalated to a point where many thought nuclear war was imminent. Castro became President in 1976, though his leadership was controversial, for while he ruled dictatorially and repressively, he was generally popular among Cubans for his education and healthcare programmes. Castro stood down in 2008, and was succeeded by his brother Raúl. Last year saw a momentous normalisation of U.S.-Cuba relations, ending a fifty year trade embargo and establishing diplomatic relations.
Once a Prisoner, Transgender Cuban Woman Vows to Never Return to Cuba
These days, it’s a lot easier to travel between the US and Cuba, but some Cubans have no interest in going back to their homeland.
On this day in 1961, the U.S. closed its embassy in Havana, Cuba, formally severing its diplomatic ties with Cuba.
The U.S. and Cuba have only just re-established relations on July 20, 2015, and U.S. Embassy Havana re-opened on August 14, 2015.
You can read more about the United States’ hasty exit from Cuba at the link.
