Fidel Castro, the infamous communist leader of Cuba stepped down after 49 years of continuous reign over the small, renegade Caribbean nation. He’s recently had a series of secretive health problems that led to some unsubstantiated rumors that pronounced him dead in the past year. Now that Castro has stepped aside, the Cuban government will have the opportunity to select a new leader to guide the floundering and isolated nation.
Cuba’s history has been intertwined with the United States since colonial times, when Cuba was a Spanish colony struggling to find its identity. Before the Civil War, Cuba had become the target of American expansionists, especially politicians in the South looking for ways to bolster slavery in the United States. Aside from forced attempts, the United States allegedly tried to buy Cuba from Spain for an astronomical sum of money. Following several battles between Spain and the Cuban revolutionaries, the United States finally entered the fray following the attack on the USS Maine in 1898.
This subsequently led to United States military intervention that would immortalize future President Teddy Roosevelt and drive out Spanish colonial forces. But as one colonial power left, the United States virtually became the next through a new Cuban constitution that gave the United States the right to monitor and intervene in Cuban internal affairs. In 1949, unrest culminated into the takeover of the island’s government by Fidel Castro and communist forces.
From 1949 onward, Castro made it his point to be a thorn in the side of the American government. He nationalized the island’s economy, which included a number of companies with American interests. He also allowed the Soviet Union to provide advisers, aid and eventually nuclear missiles aimed toward the United States that would nearly trigger World War III. A report prepared by the CIA that was declassified in 1993 detailed several attempts to assassinate or embarrass Fidel Castro.
These plots included disguised revenge hits by the mafia for ousting their lucrative casino business and included poisonous cigars, tainted skin-diving suits, poisoning Castro so he’d lose all his hair, exploding conch shells and spraying a chemical with effects similar to those caused by LSD on a radio station. Despite these attempts on his life and pride, Castro survived to govern for 49 years through an American economic embargo and insurgent uprisings. He’s survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, his main financial backer, and he guided a nation that was ideologically isolated following the collapse of the Berlin wall.
Castro’s resignation opens up the door for political and economic reform in a nation that’s been paralyzed by isolation by America. Some nations have already normalized trade relations with Cuba in the past several years, citing their belief that the embargo is outdated from the Soviet era.
I don’t believe its time for the United States to make that step unless Cuba is willing to commit to some serious political reform as well as establish an open-market economy. The good news is that with Castro’s resignation, a new generation of leaders can come forward and propel the once prosperous and popular island into the modern era and normalize relations with the United States and the rest of the world.
Tell Benton how you think the United States with should deal with the changing Cuban government. E-mail him at [email protected]
