After Fidel: The US-Cuba System and the Key Mechanisms of Regime Change
*This article is written prior to Fidel Castro’s death in which the author examines the future shape of Cuba under the regime of post-Castro.
1. The Cuban exile community concentrated in the Miami region has a great influence on US policy towards Cuba. Cuba policy usually comes up in the context to secure the majority’s vote in the Florida districts during the elections.
2. As the US proclaims itself the world police and the defender of freedom and democracy, Castro's Cuba is regarded as an inconvenience and a contradiction not only to the “American way of life,” but also to the “free market democracies” of the nation.
3. The Cuban Communist administration has been able to maintain its political stance in the face of strong opposition from the United States and has survived for many years after the fall of the Soviet Union, who was once the powerful ally and supporter of Castro’s Cuba.
4. A special coordinating agency in the State Department was established in 2005 in order to make extensive plans for US intervention after Fidel Castro’s death.
The US-Cuba Thaw and Hemispheric Relations
1. The US trade embargo against the government of Fidel Castro remains in effect and as a federal law would require US Congress to be amended or revoked.
2. Polls in both countries have consistently shown tremendous support for the policy shift.
3. The US Chamber of Commerce is asking the Congress to enact legislation to lift embargo for it could bring trade and investment opportunities and benefits for American companies.
4. At the 2012 Summit of the Americas, all Latin American leaders warned Obama that they would not participate in another summit unless Washington includes Havana in the future.
5. The presence of Cuba at the Panama summit in 2015 marked a moment of renewed rapprochement in hemispheric relations. Washington reclaimed some lost credibility in Latin America.
6. The broken US immigration system will still be a major obstacle to improve relations with Latin America.
Questions:
1. What do the people and the government of US want from Cuba? And vice versa?
2. Is Castroism the inevitable outcome of more than a century of American interfering Cuba?
3. Was Castro always a Communist, or was driving into the Soviet bloc his only choice to brand his revolution against the United States?
4. Is the death of Fidel Castro an opportunity for the US to retake its control over Cuba or a liberation of Cubans from tyranny? How is Fidel Castro viewed in the eyes of Cubans?
5. How will Trump’s administration impact on the rapprochement that Obama’s administration has built?
6. When people think of Cuba, the majority thinks of Havana. But what about the rest of the provinces? Why haven’t they gotten the same level of attention from the mass media?
Work Cited:
Pickel, Andreas. “After Fidel: The USA“Cuba System and the Key Mechanisms of Regime Change.” International Politics, vol. 45, no. 5, 2008, pp. 613–632., doi:10.1057/ip.2008.23.
Shifter, Michael. “The US-Cuba Thaw and Hemispheric Relations.” Current History, vol. 115, no. 778, Feb. 2016, pp. 75–76. ProQuest, search.proquest.com/docview/1774301047.
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