Castro’s Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy
►
His Nationalism…anti-US Imperialism – key feature of his speeches /
broadcasts, at home and at UN meetings….
►
Did he try to work with, appease the USA……before visit and
meeting with Nixon?....pace of expropriation / nationalization…
►
did he unnecessarily antagonize the US gov. – documentary says yes,
that US gov / ambassadors were willing to accept that the US was
over-represented in the Cuban Economy but that Castro wasn’t
cooperative
►
Castro felt it was only a matter of time before he would have to
consider turning to the Soviet Union for economic
assistance….because of US attitude…..complaints about executions,
Nixon, objections to Expropriations / Confiscations
►
Eisenhower admin….did they unnecessarily alienate / fail to engage
Castro?
► But
also, he felt, for symbolic political reasons: there
was no greater way for a nation in the Western
Hemisphere to make a statement about its freedom
from US domination than to deal with the Soviets on a
friendly basis, no greater expression of Cuban
nationalism, of the nation becoming a truly independent
sovereign state (Bourne)…..to show defiance of / to US
► In
the meantime, Cuba purchased arms from the Czechs
and Belgians
► USSR
interested too in developing a Cuban
relationship / Cold War… made overtures about trade
relations, leading to the visit of Vice Premier Mikoyan
and the signing of a trade package, in Feb 1960.
► The
USSR would lend Cuba $100m a year for 12 yrs at 2
and a half % interest, and would purchase 425,000 tons
of sugar in 1960, and 1m tons a year during the next 4
yrs….replacing losses in US market
► Cuba
would also sell citrus fruits, animal hides to USSR,
and the USSR would sell oil, fertilizer, steel, iron, to
Cuba and provide technicians to help build factories and
replace the expertise of those who fled to the US.
► In
March 1960 a vessel bringing arms from Belgium
exploded in Havana harbor – killing 75 people – Castro
drew parallels with the Maine and implicated the US
► CIA
may have been involved but no hard evidence
► Castro,
during the funerals, attacked the USA for its
hostility towards Cuba, and for its past history of
Imperialism towards Latin America.
► Cuba
also signed trade agreements with Yugoslavia,
Poland, China – all Communist countries in 1960
► In
May 1960 Cuba formally established diplomatic
relations with the USSR when they exchanged
ambassadors
in Relationship with the USA, 1959 –
1960; Criticism of executions, attitude of Nixon /
Eisenhower and Nixon during visit to USA, objections to
expropriations / confiscation of US owned property, and
amalgamation with Communist Party, trade ties with the
USSR, Yugoslavia, Poland, China, and diplomatic
relationship with USSR….all criticized by the US Gov.
► Deterioration
► US
saw it as betrayal, deserting the West in the Cold War
► 1960
► Congress
/ Eisenhower agreed to reduce Cuban sugar quota
– described by Castro as an act of aggression
► Cuba purchased oil from USSR and requested that major
oil refineries in Cuba – US owned: Standard Oil, Royal
Dutch Shell, and Texaco – process and refine it. At urging
of US govt. they refused. Castro then expropriated these
refineries
► Congress approves of end to Cuba’s sugar quota, at
Eisenhower’s discretion
► Cuba authorized the expropriation / confiscation of all US
owned land in Cuba in response
► Eisenhower cancels Cuba’s sugar quota
► Confiscation
of all large scale US owned industrial and
agrarian enterprises is carried out
► CIA began to funnel money to various exile groups for
arms and training
► Eisenhower acceded to the long standing pressure from
the joint chiefs of staff and Nixon and the CIA to
authorize the CIA to begin training and arming a Cuban
exile force
► CIA sets up a training camp in Guatemala for an
invasion force…hoped to link up with / inspire anti
Castro groups in Cuba (had been a minor peasant
uprising against Castro)
► All US banks in Cuba are confiscated
► US govt. prohibited exports to Cuba except for non
subsidized foodstuffs and medicines
► Cuba
expropriated or confiscated all US owned
wholesale and retail trade enterprises and the remaining
smaller US owned industrial and agrarian enterprises inc. Sears, Coca-Cola
► US withdraws ambassador
► Outgoing Eisenhower admin. severed diplomatic
relations with Cuba
► As
US-Cuban relations declined, a formal Cuban-USSR
military alliance was added, in July 1960, to the trade and
diplomatic alliances – the USSR promised to “use all
means at its disposal to prevent an armed US intervention
against Cuba”.
► In
July 1960, Khrushchev suggested that Soviet missiles
would be used to defend Cuba from an American attack
► USSR
announced that it would purchase the 700,000 tons
of sugar that the US had now stopped buying
► On
April 15th, 1961, the Kennedy approved invasion of
the Bay of Pigs took place
► Fiasco:
►
1. Kennedy did not want US involvement in the invasion to be
obvious, was to be undertaken by a CIA trained exile brigade with
minimal US assistance in the form of air support, to be made look
like defecting Cuban planes; but at the last second he reduced the
first air strike from 16 to 6 B-26s, which was ineffective in
destroying all of Cuba’s air bases / air force, then cancelled the
second strike
►
2. The invasion was based on the false assumption that it would
have popular support and inspire a popular uprising – failed to do so
►
3. Castro had knowledge of invasion plans, reported in Miami and
Guatemalan newspapers, had arrested all counterrevolutionary
elements in days preceding invasion, and had Soviet weapons,
advisors, an enlarged army, navy, air force, at his disposal
► Rather
than being overthrown, Castro’s prestige and
popularity soared to new heights - he had done what
generations of Cubans had fantasized about, he had taken on
the US and won (later got $53m from US in food and
medicine in ransom for captured invasion force)
that year – 1961 – Castro announced that he was a
Communist (Documentary says he announced just before
the Bay of Pigs attack / invasion that he was a “socialist”),
that he had been a Communist since his days in College, but
had disguised this fact, to advance his movement, that his
revolution was a Communist, Marxist-Leninist
revolution…. followed by 20,000 arrests of opponents
► Later
► But
says that now he wanted people to finally know what
they had fought for and were working towards, and why
solidarity with the USSR was so important
► Historians
are skeptical; Bourne says that he had shared
many of the idealistic goals of his Communist friends
while at the University but was certainly not a
Communist then in the traditional sense.
► Bourne
► 1.
explains his Conversion in 1961:
He could not have established Cuban independence
without the patronage of the USSR – he went over to
Communism to get the military and economic support he
needed. Without doubt, adopting Communism provided
him the most potent symbol with which to assert his
independence from the US (survival, independence)
► 2.
Marxism was “an ideology that would allow him to
justify assuming total power and keeping it for the rest of
his life without being accused of being just another Latin
American dictator driven solely by a desire for power and
personal aggrandizement”.
► Theodore
Draper also agrees that Castro was not a
Communist when he claimed he had been. Cites his
constant denials, and his harsh criticism of them, and their
criticisms of him
► “Historically,
then, Castroism is a leader in search of a
movement, a movement in search of power, and power in
search of an ideology. .he won power with one ideology
and has held it with another. This is perhaps the most
peculiar aspect of the Castroite phenomenon.”
► Draper
suggests that he may have exchanged control of
one superpower for another – but at least the USSR was
further away
► Yet,
Castro also made a point of asserting Cuba’s
independence from the USSR, and was a headache to the
USSR on many occasions
► US
begins covert campaign to assassinate Castro
(managed by Robert Kennedy, Attorney General…all
failed. Also included sabotage of industry /
economy)….he felt another US invasion was a strong
possibility, by US troops, not exiles
► In
1964 Castro back-tracked somewhat on his declaration
that he had always been a Communist when in an interview
he told NY Times journalist Herbert Matthews that the
revolution
 “was a gradual process, a dynamic process, in which the pressure
of events forced me to accept Marxism as the answer I was
seeking….as events developed after the revolution I gradually
moved into a Marxist-Leninist position, I can not tell you just
when.” ….
the most likely explanation – he was not a
Communist before – he changed, evolved…change brought
on by needs.
► Seems
► (Discuss
his conversion to Communism under domestic
Political Policies)
► Cuban Missile Crisis
► In the wake of the failed
Bay of Pigs invasion, the USSR
pledged to defend Cuba in the event of an attack by the
USA and stepped up its flow of arms
► Khrushchev
felt, after meeting with Kennedy at Vienna, that
he was young, inexperienced, and lacking toughness – he
would be the first to blink in a confrontation……
► Decided
in March-April 1962 to use Cuba as a strategic
pawn in the struggle with the US (for Berlin esp.) by
placing nuclear missiles there (Defense and Leverage –
Atomic Diplomacy??)
► Bourne
suggests that Castro’s first concern was the security
of Cuba from US attack so he wanted short range, defensive
missiles, but Khrushchev wanted medium and long range
offensive missiles – and got his way
► Castro
stated that his acceptance of the Khrushchev plan
was “an act of gratitude and Socialist solidarity…..to
strengthen socialism on an international scale.” (told
Khrushchev that he was willing to sacrifice Cuba in the
interests of international Communism….Khrushchev was
astonished and felt Castro was insane)
► USA
discovers the existence of missiles, demands removal
and sets up quarantine, standoff for 13 days…. Khrushchev
/ Kennedy deal – USSR will withdraw all missiles in return
for a promise from the US to never invade Cuba, and that
the US would take its missiles out of Turkey
► Castro
was a non player in the whole affair; upset he was
not consulted: felt the Soviets had abandoned him and
made a deal with the US…treated Cuba as badly as US had
in the past…used it
►
But he had really won big; as it turned out - Cuba would be the “big
winner” in the whole Cuban Missile Crisis; security was guaranteed /
the US would never again invade....though he never again fully trusted
the USSR…invited to visit USSR to patch up relationship….trade
relationship improved – USSR bought more sugar and sold more
products to Cuba
►
Cuba was now truly independent of the US: it had been given the right
to have in the Western Hemisphere, a govt. of which the US did not
approve, with a guarantee that there would be no US military
interference or invasion
►
US efforts to subvert and harass the Cuban Rev. with the aid of
counterrevolutionary Cuban exiles contd. They included CIA
sponsored raids against refineries and ports, infiltration of US agents,
and even some bizarre attempts to assassinate Castro. Kennedy called
these off after Cuban and USSR complaints… “and it was a decision
that may well have cost him his life.”… (Judge and Langdon)
► Castro,
in 1963, anxious to show his independence from
the USSR, tried to improve relationship with the US
► Cuban
delegates to the UN met with US delegates to
convey message that Castro was interested in some kind
of accommodation
► Kennedy
encouraged the discussions, but before progress
could be make he was assassinated.
► One
of the conspiracy theories was that he was murdered
by the CIA – to prevent talks with Castro developing
(Mafia, Castro… conclusion of Warren Commission – a
lone deranged gunman)
► Talks
with US not resumed until Carter regime…detente,
/ tried to improve relationship, but destroyed by Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan. Return to hard line policy under
Reagan / escalation of Cold War, and US activities in
Latin Am, El Salvador, Granada, Nicaragua.
► Cuba
is now on good terms with most nations, but not the
USA – embargo still continues, in spite of appeals from
UN, Latin American countries, even Pope, to end it
► US
has normalized relations with former and continuing
Communist countries but not with Cuba
► US
passed Torricelli Act in 1992 (US companies
operating in Third World could also not trade with
Cuba…)
Helms-Burton Act, 1992….US companies who had
property / businesses nationalized could sue foreign
companies who benefited from acquiring these…..
► The
► Why
is US still so hostile to Cuba?
► Presidents have resisted dialogue because of backing
they get from anti Castro Cuban-American Community.
► Payback for Cuban Missile Crisis. US continues “to
harbor cold war prejudices and illusions about Cuba that
it abandoned long ago about a much more powerful
communist state, the PRC.” Keen
► World
Scene
► Castro
insisted on the independence of his foreign
policy, asserted right to make its own foreign policy
decisions without interference from its new ally, the
USSR (didn’t get on as well with Brezhnev as with
Khrushchev)
► Assisted
in revolutions in Zaire, Tanzania, Algeria,
Ethiopia, Angola…..idealistic (Che Guevara’s
influences…they later fell out / 1966….Che left...later
killed in Bolivia while trying to encourage communist
revolutions throughout Latin America)
► 11,000
Cuban troops assisted Ethiopia in repelling the
1978 invasion by Somalia
► 50,000
Cuban soldiers helped Angolan govt. forces in
their 14 yr struggle against counterrevolutionary rebels
supported by the US and South Africa
► 1988;
helped secure the independence of Namibia from
pressure from South African, who withdrew its forces by
agreement
► Castro
also tried to spread Communism in Latin
America, promising to turn the Andes into the Sierra
Maestra of South America, but most Latin American
countries and their leaders bitterly resented Castro’s
interference in their internal affairs
► In
the 70s Castro changed course and sought to
reestablish normal diplomatic relations with other
governments of the hemisphere
► Cuba
still sponsors what is considered the greatest Peace
Corps program of civilian aid in the world – 16,000
doctors, teachers, construction engineers, agronomists,
economists, serving in 22 Third World countries
► Bourne
explains; “Part of the problem was his
preoccupation with the expansion of Communism to
other Latin American countries – Guatemala, Chile,
Granada. He wants to thrust himself on the world stage,
he desires historical stature – which involves a huge
commitment of resources and manpower. Most Cubans
would probably be willing to trade some of the
international prestige Fidel has brought to them for even
a modest improvement in their standard of living.”