Cuba in a Global Context: International Relations, Internationalism, and Transnationalism

Introduction: Cuba in a Global Context

Introduction Cuba in a Global Context Catherine Krull For more than half a century Cuba has occupied a unique position in global affairs, with a steadfast prominence that at first glance might seem unlikely for a small, developing island country nestled in the Caribbean. Indeed, Cuba has long had a significant, highly active place not just in the foreground of international relations—where Cubans found themselves at the center of the three-decade Cold War geopolitical struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union1—but also, equally importantly, within the constructs of internationalism (the promotion of increased economic and political cooperation amongst nations) and transnationalism (people-to-people rather than government-to-government relationships). These constructs of international relations, internationalism, and transnationalism are not only intertwined but also central to the country’s revolutionary project. The Context Cuba’s prominent international position began with the successful revolution led by Fidel Castro in January 1959, and it arose particularly because of that achievement and the subsequent determination of the Castro government to bring about a complete economic, social, and political transformation on the island. There was also a Cuban determination to support other revolutionary regimes and oppose what Havana saw as increasing American hegemony in the developing world, which even led to military intervention to help defend socialist Angola against U.S.-supported anti-Marxist guerrillas between 1975 and 1991. Even after the Cold War ended in 1990–91, Cuba remained in a perilous position as the U.S. government reinforced its policies designed to strangle the revolutionary government economically in hopes of engineering a regime Catherine Krull 2 change to something approaching the American model.2 Throughout, the Cuban people on the island have generally supported the aims of the revolution politically—those who opposed it ideologically and had the opportunity to leave largely departed. Cognizant of the dire situation in which the vast majority of Cubans had languished before January 1959, when the United States supported a succession of pro-American dictatorial regimes on the island,3 the Cuban people proved willing to continue backing revolutionary—and sometimes very unrevolutionary—economic and social efforts to build a new society. Suffused by reactive Cuban nationalism, the continuing U.S. embargo after 1991, supported by only a few U.S. allies, appears only to have strengthened Cuban resolve. The determination to continue building a different economic, political, and social system from that of the United States underscores Cuba’s continuing strategic position in global affairs—although Marxist prescriptions for the economy are to some extent being supplanted by market-driven approaches . For instance, since 2008, the Cuban government has allowed private farmers to work plots of fallow public land; eliminated a range of subsidies, including food rations; permitted limited private trade, including the selling of used cars; and expanded the purchase of some heretofore controlled consumer goods, like computers and cell phones. Moreover, more than 500,000 state workers—10 percent of the workforce—were laid off by the end of March 2011. To alleviate unemployment, the government proposed new regulations that would enlarge the cooperative sector and encourage private-sector employment , and subsequently there has been a relative explosion in the number of restaurants. These and other efforts were designed to stimulate the economy, though their impact is as yet uncertain.4 Nonetheless, determined to be accepted as a sovereign people governing themselves in their own best interests, even if they make mistakes in doing so, Cubans refuse to prostrate their country before their exceedingly powerful neighbor.5 By the same token, in the realm of internationalism the long-lasting success of the Cuban revolution and the country’s activist foreign policy, which includes the defense of Marxist Angola, have seen support for Cuban ideals and practices emerge among developing countries in the Caribbean, Latin America , Africa, and Asia. For the same reasons these phenomena have spurred continued American opposition.6 But support for revolutionary Cuba never did abate in the wider world, in Britain, Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, despite these countries’ diplomatic and military connections to the United States.7 Both capitalist and social-democratic governments have offered support for reasons of economic and political self-interest; and because at least some of their perceived national interests are dissimilar to those of the Introduction: Cuba in a Global Context 3 United States, they share the Cuban desire to conduct foreign and economic policies...