World Conflicts 7.6

United States-Cuba Relations

Essential Questions: 

• What caused the rift in Cuban-American relations? 

• How long has there been issues with Cuban-American relations? 

• What is currently being done about the United States relationship with Cuba? 

• Will there be a change with the United States embargo against Cuba?  

Although it is said that Cuba and the United States want nothing to do with each other, this is not true. The United States and Cuba have been watching each other with interest, even before the embargo against Cuba began. Plans to purchase Cuba from the Spanish Empire have been brought up for years but never fully put into action. When the United States gained authority over the Caribbean islands, the Spanish lost  its economic and political influence over the area. Cuba is about 90 miles south from Key West in Florida, United States, which was not taken over by the United States. 

Following the Cuban Revolution in 1959, relations fell apart fast. 2 years after the Batista regime was removed from office, the United States placed a embargo on exports to Cuba (excluding food and medicine). (A embargo is an official ban on trade or commercial trade with a particular country.) In 1962, the embargo was extended and was more drastic stating that no food or medication was allowed to be sent to Cuba. The embargo is currently enforced with 6 written statutes including the trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Cuba Assets Control Regulations of 1963, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement act of 2000. Regulations concerning the Cuba and America are continuously updated and more enforced. 

What is Amnesty?

Although the United States and Cuba have a difficult relationship, that does not change how the public feels. Excluding how the governments feel about each other, the citizens of each country may feel differently. Cuban Citizens are treated poorly and have no freedom. The United States is concerned with the Cuban governments having no concept or respect of basic Human rights.  Cubans are granted Amnesty which is an official pardon for people who have been convicted of political offences. If any Cubans set foot on American soil, they are granted immigration Amnesty and have the ability to obtain American citizenship. You may wonder how they get to America if we do not allow them to fly here. The United States does NOT allow any transportation for Americans to go to Cuba or for Cubans to travel to the United States. Thousands of people each year try to leave Cuba and escape to freedom in the United States. Cubans will make makeshift boats and take on the dangerous 20 hour-4 day journey at sea. They will try to float to either Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas or Key-West in Florida. The United States Coast Guard act as boarder patrol on the sea preventing as many Cubans as they can to stop entering the United States. If caught, they will be sent back into Cuba in which they will be prosecuted for attempting to leave the country.

Currently, the United States government is attempting to remove these forums and stop the embargo. If the United States makes a new treaty with Cuba, it is said that it may open public air travel to and from Cuba. Relations with Cuba may once again be on the positive side of their long going relationship. 

Click HERE to watch a video on President Barack Obama statement concerning on how the United States relationship with Cuba may be normalized. (shortened) 

Click HERE to watch the full speech

Related Links/Sources:
A Brief History
Cuba-U.S. Relations in Detail 
5 Questions

*Feeling up to the challenge? Gather into groups of 4 and each discuss about a different essential question from above.

Thanks for Reading!
Made by Ethan Tipton
Mr. Sontheimer's Global Issues Final