Relations between Cuba and the United States

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Relations between Cuba and the United States
Location of United States and Cuba
United StatesUnited States CubaCuba
United States Cuba

The relations between Cuba and the United States are characterized by strong tensions. These stresses manifest themselves especially in an unsuccessful invasion in 1961 and the trade embargo that the United States in 1962 during the Cold War against Cuba imposed and persists to this day.

Crossed flags of the USA and Cuba as a symbol of the Cuban exile group Unidad Revolucionaria , 1960s

History of US-Cuba Relations

Beginning of trade relations

After the capture and occupation of Havana by the British in 1762 and the lifting of the Spanish trade monopoly, free trade was established in Cuba. First economic relations with the North American colonies were established. Although the Spanish crown got Cuba back in exchange for Florida in the Peace of Paris in 1763 , the trade monopoly was not reinstated. Little by little, Cuba rose to become the leading supplier of sugar on the world market, and the independence of the United States of America opened up a new market.

Monroe Doctrine and First War of Independence 1868–1878

In 1823 the Americans registered their interest in the island and put forward "The Theory of the Ripe Fruit", which states that this tempting, ripe fruit Cuba cannot be left lying on the ground. The Monroe Doctrine , established under the maxim "America for the Americans", provided the legal and moral justification for the expansionist urge of young America. Some Cuban landowners and slave owners welcomed the idea of ​​joining Cuba with the United States, but the majority of the Cuban population felt a growing desire for independence. This led to the first war of independence of the slaves against the Spanish colonial masters in 1868 , which ended in 1878 with the peace of Zanjón and the victory of the Spanish over the rebels. After Spain had laboriously put down the rebellion and had to worry mainly about maintaining power, many restrictions such as taxes and tariffs were lowered or lifted, trade expanded and the market further liberalized. This led to a further opening towards the North American market and the trade relations between the USA and Cuba became more intensive.

Second War of Independence 1895–1898

Attack on the Colón signal tower during the Cuban War against Spain 1868–1878

The strong will for independence and the personal commitment of José Martí , who is now considered a Cuban folk hero, ultimately led to the Second War of Independence . Although Spain concentrated its military power on Cuba, it gradually lost more and more land to the insurgents and eventually offered them a status of autonomy. However, the rebels rejected this offer of peace and continued to fight.

Now the USA saw the right time to secure the economically interesting country and on April 20, 1898 also entered the war against Spain . This was made possible by the explosion of the warship Maine in the port of Havana, which was cleverly exploited for propaganda purposes: "Remember the Maine, to hell with Spain!" The Spanish army, weakened by the grueling war with the Cuban independence fighters, did not have the superior military strength of the Americans much more to oppose. About six months later, Spain was finally defeated in the decisive battle on the San Juan Hill near Santiago de Cuba . Thus, in the Peace of Paris on December 10, 1898, the USA finally got what they had tried to get half a century before through an offer to buy from the Spanish, along with Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines: Cuba, the “Pearl of the Caribbean ".

New dependency among the United States

As soon as the Spaniards were defeated in Cuba, the Cubans realized that independence was far from being achieved. The rebels were denied access to the city of Santiago de Cuba and the American flag was hoisted instead of the Cuban one. In December 1898, the Treaty of Paris placed Cuba under American tutelage and occupied it. The Platt Amendment formally guaranteed independence for Cuba, but the treaty gave the Americans the right to control and administer the agriculture, mining, and sugar production of Cuba. In addition, the rebels were disarmed and the Cuban revolutionary party dissolved.

Leonard Wood in 1903

Under the leadership of Military Governor Leonard Wood , a constitution for Cuba was drawn up and implemented in 1901. Part of the constitution was the Platt Amendment, which gave the USA the right to intervene militarily at any time to secure Cuba's independence:

“III. That the government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the government of Cuba. "

After these conditions were accepted - albeit under protest - the American military withdrew its troops and granted Cuba formal independence. However, Article VII of the Platt Amendment gave the US the right to buy or rent land on Cuban territory:

“VII. That to enable the United States to maintain the independence of Cuba, and to protect the people thereof, as well as for its own defense, the government of Cuba will sell or lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points to be agreed upon with the President of the United States. "

The US naval base Guantánamo was also built at this time and a treaty guaranteed the Americans the right to use it for military purposes for 99 years. This period was extended indefinitely in 1934, but has not been recognized since Fidel Castro came to power . It was clear that the Cuban Republic, although formally became independent, was in fact a "dependent or neo-colonial republic" and was dependent on the United States.

First and Second Republic (1902–1958)

Fulgencio Batista 1952

In 1902 the first republic was proclaimed in Cuba with President Tomás Estrada Palma at its head. After armed uprisings ensued as a result of the election of Palma's successor in 1906, the USA exercised its right to intervene and occupied Cuba again for three years. In 1908 the occupation ended with the election of José Miguel Gómez as 2nd President of Cuba. Mario García Menocal , previously the youngest general of the Cuban War of Independence against Spanish colonial rule, and owner of one of the largest sugar mills in Oriente, was elected 3rd President . The introduction of the Revenue Act of 1913 in the United States of America so damaged the flourishing tobacco and sugar business that he accepted the request of the President of the Association of Tobacco Manufacturers Theodore Garbade to find an agreement with the Americans. Under his government, Cuba entered the First World War on the US side in 1917 .

In the post-war period, sugar exports to Europe led to a boom in the Cuban economy. However, this led to a monoculture in the agricultural sector and, in addition to political mismanagement and influence by the USA, caused the dramatic effects of the global economic crisis of 1929 on the Cuban economy. As a result of the dissatisfaction of the Cuban people with the economic situation, the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) emerged.

During the following years, the US-backed Fulgencio Batista gained influence. With his help, Federico Laredo Brú came to power, who, among other reforms, abolished the Platt Amendment. This was done amicably with the United States during the Good Neighbor Policy under President Franklin D. Roosevelt . Batista himself was president from 1940 to 1944 and put himself to power again in 1952. In December 1941, Cuba joined the United States in World War II , even if Cuba's actual military engagement was limited. Cuba was able to profit again economically and received financial aid for social and agricultural programs. In 1948 , for example, the US Congress passed the Sugar Act , which provided imports from Cuba to account for more than 98% of the country's sugar supply. The law was extended for four more years in 1952 and 1956.

Batista's systematic suppression of the opposition prepared the ground for the Cuban Revolution , whose supporters succeeded from 1956 onwards with a coordinated combination of acts of urban sabotage and rural guerrilla warfare. Because of the civil war between Batista's government forces and the revolutionaries, the USA imposed an arms embargo in March 1958. In the course of the Cuban Revolution, the US withdrew Batista’s confidence. In view of the military and political collapse of his regime, he resigned from the presidency early in the morning on January 1, 1959 and fled into exile with numerous confidants. The revolutionaries, whose most charismatic and popular leader was Fidel Castro , took control of the country and shortly afterwards the government. Up until then, Castro's numerous public statements had not resulted in any anti-US attitude. A historical letter he had written to his confidante Celia Sánchez from the Sierra Maestra in June 1958 , however, only became public much later. Referring to US-made missiles that Batista's troops dropped on farmhouses, Castro wrote:

“When I saw the rockets that destroyed Mario's house, I swore to myself that North Americans would pay dearly for what they were doing here. When this war is over, a new war will begin for me, which will be longer and more violent: the war I will wage against them. I now know that this is my true destiny. "

Cuba under Fidel Castro in the Cold War (1959–1989)

Fidel Castro in 1959

At first it looked like the new government and the US would come to terms with each other. The US feared an attack on the property of American companies and citizens in Cuba. However, economic ties were still close, and previous experience had shown that verbally radical revolutionaries markedly moderate their positions when they became heads of government or essentially continued the policies of their predecessors. The "Spiegel" wrote in January 1959 that Castro had already "realized" that "his regime cannot prosper in the long run without the goodwill of the Americans". And the " New York Times ", which is influential in the USA and certainly completely unsuspicious of communism, praised Castro as a "freedom hero" and wrote "Cuba will need our help very much in the coming months. It should be granted with generosity and understanding. ”During his official visit to the USA as the new head of government in April 1959, however, Castro made it clear to the press that he had not come for money. He had even expressly forbidden his delegation members to accept offers of talks on possible economic support.

The escalation began in small steps. First, Castro put into practice an important promise the revolution made to the workers: the expropriation of the sugar industry and the division of the large plantations into sections of 25 hectares. The reinstatement of the 1940 constitution, which Castro had promised since 1953 , was not implemented. It had already provided for the abolition of large estates, but the expropriations should (according to Article 24) be compensated for by adequate and prior cash payment, which Castro refused. Because US companies were also affected, the US responded by blocking oil supplies to Cuba. In March, a working group made up of State Department , Pentagon , White House and CIA officials (called "Committee 5412") worked out plans to overthrow the Castro regime. Shortly thereafter, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his approval. In order to continue to be supplied with oil, Cuba first established trade relations with the Soviet Union in February 1960. US oil companies in Cuba refused to process Soviet oil. Only then were the US oil companies expropriated. The USA responded to this in July 1960 with an import blockade for Cuban sugar. In August 1960 there was then the nationalization of the entire corporate property of the United States on Cuba. The United States reacted to this with an export embargo in October 1960. Cuba then managed to mitigate the extent of the damage to its economy intended by the trade embargo by establishing trade relations with the Soviet Union. On January 3, 1961, Castro asked the US government to reduce the staff of its embassy in Havana to nine, to which Washington responded a day later by breaking off diplomatic relations.

The US now feared that the “communism virus” could spread to other Latin American countries. The conflict culminated in the attempt of the newly elected US President John F. Kennedy to overthrow Fidel Castro in April 1961 by means of an invasion by Cubans in exile in the Bay of Pigs.

However, this project failed and finally shattered relations between the two states. After the invasion, Castro experienced a further increase in support from the Cuban people. In addition, the ties to the Soviet Union became even closer and the Cuban economy benefited from the intensified partnership. This made Cuba the first real socialist state in the western hemisphere. On February 7, 1962, the US government imposed a total trade embargo on Cuba, which led to severe supply shortages in Cuba. Under the code name Operation Mongoose , the CIA organized numerous other assassinations of Fidel Castro and other leading Cuban politicians until 1965 in order to bring about a change of regime.

In the fall of 1962, the Soviet military began deploying nuclear missiles in Cuba in response to the threat posed by US nuclear missiles previously stationed in NATO countries Italy and Turkey. This prompted the American government to act immediately, as this imminent threat to the country was unacceptable to them. After negotiations with the Soviet leadership were initially unsuccessful, the USA imposed a naval blockade on Cuba. This blockade forced the adversaries to the negotiating table again and ultimately led to the withdrawal of nuclear weapons.

Cuba had no say in these negotiations, which led to resentment on the part of the Castro government and clouded Cuban- Soviet relations.

In the years that followed, the US trade embargo turned out to be causing significant problems for the Cuban economy. As a result of the crackdown on the liberalization and democratization movement in Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring in 1968, the Cuban leadership expressed solidarity with the Soviet Union in order to consolidate relations between the states. In the following years the relationship between the USA and Cuba remained bad, mutual allegations of conspiracy and human rights violations, as well as populist and one-sided media coverage on both sides shaped the relationship.

The US Senate Select Intelligence Committee reported that between 1960 and 1965 intelligence officials prepared eight attacks on Fidel Castro that were supposed to kill him; the report also mentions further plans against other Cuban leaders.

Because of its support for left-wing resistance movements in Latin America and Africa as well as European terrorist organizations such as the Spanish ETA , the government of Ronald Reagan put Cuba on the list of states supporting terrorism in 1982 .

End of the Cold War (from 1990)

With the end of the Cold War, the importance of Cuba for the USA changed fundamentally at the political level. The military threat posed by Cuba's relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War disappeared completely. The hostility of the two states is now based primarily on economic interests and ideological differences. But instead of easing relations, for example by lifting the US embargo or opening the Cuban economy to international trade at least partially, the fronts have hardened.

With the Soviet Union, Cuba lost its most important economic and ideological partner. This led to a serious economic crisis and growing resentment among the population. The Cuban economy contracted by about 50% between 1989 and 1992. This so-called " special period " was characterized by supply problems, power outages and factory closures. Another problem was the lack of foreign currency to pay for imports and service debt. To improve the situation, the US dollar was legalized in 1993, the possession of which was previously illegal. This, and the emerging tourism, which soon became the island's most important source of foreign currency, eased the situation noticeably. In 1995 the laws on investments by foreign commercial enterprises were liberalized. As a result, there was a surge in investment, which further eased the economic situation.

Robert G. Torricelli , initiator of the Torricelli Act named after him

On the US side, the embargo was tightened in 1992. Despite the previous easing of relations between the states, the Torricelli Act , also known as the Cuban Democracy Act, surprisingly came into force in the course of the presidential election campaign between George Bush and Bill Clinton . This prohibits u. a. foreign US subsidiaries to trade with Cuba and authorize the US president to cut aid for states that cooperate with the Cuban government.

This tightening of the embargo has to be seen against the background of Florida's important role in the voting decision in the US presidential elections. As a classic swing state and with its 25 electoral votes, Florida often plays a crucial role. Presidential candidate Clinton was actually against the embargo. He later told confidants: “ Anybody with half a brain could see the embargo was counterproductive. ”(German:“ Anyone with only half a brain could see that the embargo was counterproductive. ”) However, he campaigned for the votes of the Cuban community in exile in order to win the state of Florida. Robert Torricelli was his campaign advisor for Latin America at the time. President Bush was initially against this law, but then signed it so as not to give Clinton an advantage in the election campaign. Clinton won the election recommendation from the President of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) Jorge Mas Canosa and 22% of the votes of the Cuban exile community, until then one of the highest values ​​for a Democratic candidate, but this was not enough to win the entire state of Florida win.

Since the overwhelming majority of the Cubans who fled into exile are critical of the Castro government and, as a relatively large population group in Florida, they have a certain voting weight, George HW Bush tried to win these votes for himself with his tough line against Cuba in 1992. Ultimately, he was able to win the state of Florida for himself, but this did not change his defeat in the overall result. The new President Clinton made attempts to relax relations with Cuba and approved an immigration agreement. Contacts between American and Cuban organizations have also been simplified. However, the ingratiation to the CANF also took revenge in the election campaign: Clinton was unable to get his preferred candidate for the post of assistant in the State Department for Inter-American Relations. For this post he had initially intended the black Cuban American Mario Baeza , a lawyer from New Jersey . However, this did not belong to the "Miami Mafia", as Fidel Castro used to call the Cubans in exile. A black man was also not well received by the predominantly white elite of the Cubans in exile. After Baeza's name leaked to the press, the CANF campaigned against him and his name was removed from the list of candidates.

In 1996 the Helms-Burton Act passed Congress, whereupon Clinton threatened to veto over fears of sharp reactions from Europeans and Canadians. However, after the Cuban Air Force shot down two American aircraft belonging to the Castro-critical organization Brothers to the Rescue , Congress and the President approved the law. Following international protests, part of the Helms-Burton Act was defused. In addition, the Clinton administration moved again to Cuba and partially allowed direct flights to Cuba, a postal service and food and medicine deliveries.

After George W. Bush moved into the White House, the fronts hardened again. For example, a $ 73 million grain deal concluded under Clinton could not be completed because Cuban officials were not allowed to enter the country for the purpose of concluding the contract. Websites that are registered with US domain registrars and have Cuba as their theme are at risk of closure even if they are not doing business in the US. This mainly affects .com domains.

Since 1999, the Cuban armed forces and the US army have been holding regular joint disaster exercises on the heavily secured border with the Guantanamo naval base. However, this fact was kept secret until July 2009. Officially, it is about the coordination of emergency operations, but at the same time the development of relations with the Cuban army is the focus, according to a senior US general.

Presidency of Barack Obama

Headquarters of the US embassy and interim representation of US interests in Cuba ( United States Interests section ) in Havana's Vedado district .
The flagpoles were erected by the Cubans during the reign of George W. Bush in order to cover a ticker with "anti-Cuban propaganda" at the top of the building with the help of black flags. Barack Obama had this ticker switched off in 2009; in return, the Cubans removed the flags.

First term

The first few months of Barack Obama's presidency were marked by cautious rapprochement between the two states. The US embargo has been relaxed.

At first, travel by Cuban exiles to Cuba was made easier, and shortly thereafter the restrictions on travel and money transfers by Cubans in exile to Cuba were completely lifted. In addition, US telecommunications companies are now allowed to offer Internet and cellular services to Cubans, except for senior party officials. This also includes fiber optic connections or the provision of satellite channels between the US and Cuba. According to the US government, this is intended to remove any external restrictions on freedom of expression for Cubans. The Cuban government under Raúl Castro agreed to enter into a dialogue “on an equal footing”.

In addition, the United States is ready to revive the talks suspended in 2003 by the previous administration under George W. Bush on an “orderly migration” of Cubans to the United States. This is intended to help curb the number of illegal immigrants from Cuba, which has increased in recent years.

A complete or partial lifting of the trade embargo was hotly contested in Congress in 2009, including among MPs of Cuban descent. Cuba's socialist government could pose new challenges for these rapprochements, since without the enemy image of the USA it could be more difficult to explain to Cuban citizens that they renounce freedom and prosperity.

In December 2009, US aid worker Alan Gross was arrested in Cuba and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 2011 for harming the state. Among other things, he had illegally distributed satellite phones to members of the local Jewish community . Diplomatic efforts to get Gross free again met with success at the end of 2014.

The Cuban American René González of the Miami Five , part of a Cuban espionage network in Miami , was released from prison that day, but had to spend three years probation in the USA before he was allowed to travel to Cuba . Nevertheless, in March 2012 he was allowed a 14-day trip to Cuba to visit his seriously ill brother. He completed all probation requirements and returned to the United States on time. His father died in early April 2013 and René González applied for another trip to Cuba to attend his father's funeral. When he arrived in Cuba, he applied to be allowed to spend the rest of his probationary period in Cuba. In return, he offered to give up his US citizenship. In the end he was allowed to do this too.

After Alan Gross was arrested by Cuban security agencies, the US development agency USAID sent young people from Venezuela, Costa Rica and Peru on secret missions to Cuba in December 2009 in order to build up a youth opposition and instigate rebellions.

In 2010, USAID-funded short message service, ZunZuneo, was installed for Cuban cell phone users. The service was supposedly set up as a commercial company, but served the purposes of propaganda and data acquisition about the users. He was reinstated in mid-2012.

In January 2011, travel regulations for Americans were relaxed. Students, artists and church groups can now travel to Cuba more easily. Charter flights to Cuba will in future be possible from every international airport in the USA. So far, only the airports in Miami, Los Angeles and New York had a special permit. Furthermore, every US citizen will be allowed to send up to $ 500 per quarter to Cuba in the future. The recipients should not belong to the government or the Communist Party.

Second term, diplomatic rapprochement and Obama's visit to Cuba

In 2013, for the first time in years, there was a serious chance of removing Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terror , in which the country has been listed since 1982. In the past, terrorist organizations such as the FARC or ETA were given financial and material support and their relatives were given protection from persecution by finding refuge in Cuba, but this has hardly or not taken place since the 1990s, partly because Cuba is There is no money for it. Instead, for example, peace negotiations have been organized on Cuban soil between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas since 2012. There was no evidence that Cuba was still actively supporting terrorist organizations in 2013. Accordingly, there were demands from various areas of politics to remove Cuba from the list of terrorism supporters, if only to preserve the credibility of the political demands associated with the list. North Korea, for example, was removed from the list in 2008 and Pakistan , where the US most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden found refuge, is not on it. Conservative Cuban American politicians such as Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart campaigned heavily against removing Cuba from the list. They also admit that Cuba is probably not actively supporting terrorists. However, the country continues to offer shelter for wanted terrorists. Almost at the same time as the US government declared that Cuba would not be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, the FBI put the convicted police murderer Joanne Chesimard alias Assata Shakur on the list of the most wanted terrorists. It is allegedly suspected that Chesimard, who has enjoyed political asylum in Cuba since 1984 , had contacts with terrorism.

On December 17, 2014, after 18 months of secret negotiations, the presidents of the USA and Cuba announced in a simultaneous televised address that they wanted to take bilateral relations to a new level. This is how diplomatic relations are to be resumed. Numerous trade facilities were agreed. There was also a prisoner exchange during which USAID employee Alan Gross and another US secret agent who had been in custody in Cubans for a long time were released against the three remaining Miami Five and were able to return to their home countries. In addition, Cuba should be removed from the list of countries supporting terrorism . This would involve the lifting of further sanctions, particularly in the monetary area. The political scientist Bert Hoffmann considers this to be “a historical approximation”. According to Cardinal Ortega , December 17th was chosen because it is Pope Francis' birthday . The Vatican with the Pope was one of the main mediators in this conflict. After the Cuban government released 53 political prisoners as agreed at the beginning of January 2015, Barack Obama put the embargo easing into force on January 16, which is within his competence. This means easier travel for US citizens, an increase in money transfers to Cuba, easier banking and some trade facilitations. According to Finance Minister Jack Lew , the US government is pursuing the goal of replacing the failed embargo policy with a “policy of exchange and trade”. According to Albert Einstein , it is not rational to "do the same thing over and over again and expect different results."

Barack Obama and Raul Castro at the joint press conference in Havana in 2016

At the America summit in Panama on April 11, 2015, there was a handshake between President Obama and Raúl Castro, which commentators described as "historic", and later the first personal conversation between the presidents of the two countries in almost 60 years. On April 14, 2015, Obama announced that Cuba would be removed from the list of countries supporting terrorism after 33 years. The Republicans, who made up the majority in Congress at the time, announced that they would not take any action against Cuba's removal from the terrorism list, so that the removal was put into effect after 45 days on May 29 by Secretary of State John Kerry . At the end of June 2015, the two countries agreed to resume official diplomatic relations and reopen embassies . The United States Embassy in Havana officially reopened on August 14, 2015. Since September 17th, Cuba has again officially had an ambassador in the form of the previous head of the Cuban interest group.

On March 16, 2016, further embargo eases came into effect by presidential decree. Travel to Cuba was made easier and the Cuban state and its citizens were given access to the US banking system. US banks are now allowed to conduct transactions in US dollars in connection with Cuba and Cuban citizens residing in Cuba are allowed to open bank accounts and receive salaries in the US. In addition, direct mail between the two countries was resumed on that day. The US telecommunications providers Sprint and Verizon had already been able to conclude roaming contracts with Cuba's state telecommunications company ETECSA . However, the announcements regarding bank accounts and transactions did not work in the slightest two months later. The financial institutions, which until recently were imposed even for minor and negligent offenses against the embargo regulations, are legally far too insecure for a reasonably profitable business, and so they usually continue to reject any business related to Cuba .

From March 20-22, 2016, Barack Obama visited Cuba to talk to Raúl Castro about deepening the rapprochement process. He was the first US head of state in the country since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. Jimmy Carter was also in Cuba, but not during his tenure as US president.

As one of his last official acts as President, Obama ended the so-called “wet foot, dry foot” policy on January 12, 2017 . With this regulation, Cubans who made it to the US mainland without being picked up by the US Coast Guard received privileged immigration status. This was heavily criticized both by the Cuban government and most recently by Cuban American politicians. The program introduced by George W. Bush in 2006 to recruit medical professionals working in foreign missions has also been stopped.

The embargo

As mentioned earlier, the US embargo was imposed on Cuba on February 7, 1962. It relates to economic and financial issues. Further tightening was introduced in 1992 with the Torricelli Act (officially: Cuban Democracy Act ) and in 1996 with the Helms-Burton Act (officially: Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act of 1996 ). Originally, the official aim of the embargo was to stop Castro's support for revolutionary movements in Latin America, to prevent the Soviet military presence in Cuba, to force the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Africa and to improve the human rights situation in Cuba. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, three of the four conditions for ending the blockade were met; only the human rights situation was unsatisfactory. In fact, however, the primary goals of the embargo were to overthrow the Castro government through economic starvation, turn around key areas of Cuban domestic politics, return the property of American companies and citizens, and break the Soviet-Cuban alliance.

The aforementioned events during the presidential election in 1992 introduced the Torricelli Act, which significantly tightened the existing embargo. In addition, new goals were set which would have to be achieved in order to suspend the embargo. The document accuses the Cuban President: “ The government of Fidel Castro has demonstrated consistent disregard for internationally accepted standards of human rights and for democratic values. ”(German:“ The government of Fidel Castro has consistently demonstrated the disregard of internationally recognized human rights standards. ”) Furthermore, the Cuban government is accused:“ The Castro government maintains a military-dominated economy that has decreased the well-being of the Cuban people in order to enable the government to engage in military interventions and subversive activities throughout the world and, especially, in the Western Hemisphere. "(German:" The Castro government maintains an economy dominated by the military that has reduced the welfare of the Cuban people in order to enable the government to intervene militarily and engage in subversive activities worldwide, especially in the western hemisphere. ")

The goals of the Cuban Democracy Act were u. a. described as the following: the promotion of a peaceful transition to a democracy, the prevention of any aid from former Eastern bloc states to Cuba and the promotion of human rights on the island. In the event that these goals are met or improvements are foreseeable, the document states: " It should be the policy of the United States to be prepared to reduce the sanctions in carefully calibrated ways in response to positive developments in Cuba " (German: "The policy of the United States should be prepared, in response to positive developments in Cuba, to reduce the punitive measures in carefully weighed steps.") (ibid: 2) The allies of the USA and Europe in particular were involved in the implementation of the sanctions: “ The United States cooperated with its European and other allies to assist the difficult transitions from Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Therefore, it is appropriate for those allies to cooperate with United States policy to promote a peaceful transition in Cuba. "(German:" The United States has worked with its European and other allies to support the difficult transitions of communist governments in Eastern Europe. It is therefore appropriate that these allies cooperate with United States policy to bring about a peaceful change in Cuba to transport.")

Meeting room of the General Assembly

Europe and Canada protested against the document because they saw in it an improper interference in their foreign trade policy. Despite the protest, the Torricelli Act was implemented in this form. After this tightening, the American government found itself exposed to a growing international protest. In Canada, fines were threatened against companies that abide by the trade ban on US subsidiaries, the European Union warned that this addition could have a serious impact on transatlantic relations, and the UN passed a resolution entitled “ The Need to Terminate the US Economic, Trade and Financial Blockade Against Cuba. "(German:" The need to end the economic, trade and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba. ") The resolution called for laws that tightened the embargo against Cuba to be prevented and demanded an early abolition of the blockade. Besides the United States, only Israel and Romania voted against the resolution. Since then, the work has been voted on annually and has been confirmed each time with similarly clear voting ratios (as of 2007).

In the 1994 midterm elections, the Republicans were able to win a majority in both houses of Congress, which led to another change in the embargo. The Helms-Burton bill submitted by its namesake Jesse Helms and Dan Burton to the Senate and House of Representatives provided for the following tightening:

  • Sugar imports into the US from countries that import sugar from Cuba will be abolished.
  • American representatives in the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund and various other organizations are obliged to vote against Cuba's membership in these organizations. In addition, American dues will be reduced by the same amount paid to Cuba by these organizations.
  • US citizens who have suffered losses through the nationalization of their property by the Cuban government have the right to sue any person or company that has invested in their property for damages.
  • Any citizen of a third country who has been involved in business with nationalized goods and companies in Cuba is denied entry to the USA.
  • Aid payments to former Eastern Bloc countries will be reduced by the same amount that they are providing military support for Cuba.

The President then announced his veto if the document was approved in Congress. He argued that the provisions of the Torricelli Act were sufficient: “ I support the Cuban Democracy Act, which was passed in 1992 and which we have implemented faithfully. [...] I think we should continue to operate under it. I know no reason why we need further action. ”He also referred to the expected diplomatic entanglements with allies that the renewed interference in their economic policy would bring with it. He also indicated the incompatibility of the law with international law and treaties within the framework of the WTO.

The aforementioned downing of two civil aircraft by the Cuban Air Force put Clinton under pressure and eventually signed the slightly modified Helms-Burton Act. The modifications primarily concerned the President's ability to suspend punitive measures against third countries and, if it is in the “national interest”, to suspend the provisions of the Helms-Burton Act for six months. Clinton made use of this right as soon as the law was passed by freezing Article 3 of the Act for six months in order to defer the international outrage until after the elections and not to scare away the indecisive conservative electorate about what he was doing a rejection of the law would have done.

After the EU threatened to bring an action against the Helms-Burton Act before the WTO, an agreement was finally reached which, among other things, promised the EU a further suspension of Article 3.

In April 2009, the newly elected US President Barack Obama lifted the restrictions on travel and money transfers from Cuban exiles to Cuba and allowed US companies to provide telecommunications services with and in Cuba. The possibility of connecting fiber optic cables was also expressly included. In the course of the normalization of mutual relations since December 17, 2014, further embargo eases were introduced. For example, travel by Americans to Cuba has been made easier and less bureaucratic, even though purely tourist trips remain prohibited. The removal of Cuba from the list of countries supporting terrorism at the end of May 2015 will bring further relief.

Shortly before Barack Obama's state visit to Cuba, the first visit by a US head of state to the Caribbean state since 1928, mail traffic between the USA and Cuba was resumed on March 16, 2016. In September 2016, the first regular scheduled flight from the USA to Cuba took place and ended the era in which only charter aircraft could connect the two countries under certain conditions.

See also

literature

  • Charles. I. Bevans (1968): Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, 1776-1949. 8th edition Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office .
  • Wilson Cardozo: The Eternal Cold War, Cuban Interest Groups, and US Foreign Policy . VS-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010. ISBN 978-3-531-17544-7
  • H. Michael Erisman (2000): Cuba's Foreign Relations in a Post-Soviet World. Gainesville, Fl .: University Press of Florida. 270 pp.
  • Marc Frank: Cuban Revelations: Behind the Scenes in Havana (Contemporary Cuba) , University Press of Florida, October 2013, ISBN 978-0-8130-4465-1
  • Andrea Gremels, ed. (2016): Cuba: ¿Tránsito o cambio? . In: Romance Studies 3 (2016), 23–116. http://romanischestudien.de/index.php/rst/issue/view/5 .
  • Donna R. Kaplowitz (1998): Anatomy Of A Failed Embargo. US Sanctions Against Cuba. Boulder, Col .: Lynne Rienner Publishers. 247 pp.
  • William M. LeoGrande and Peter Konrnbluh: Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, updated edition 2015 (English), ISBN 978-1-4696-2660-4
  • Thomas G. Paterson: Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press 1994, 364 pp., ISBN 978-0-19-508630-0
  • Horst Schäfer: In the crosshairs: Cuba - 50 years of US state terrorism. Kai Homilius Verlag Berlin, updated paperback 2007, ISBN 978-3-89706-518-5 .
  • Lars Schoultz: That Infernal Little Cuban Republic: The United States and the Cuban Revolution. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 2009 (English)
  • Wayne S. Smith and Esteban Morales Domínguez (Eds.): Subject to Solution: Problems in Cuban-USRelations. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder 1988 (English)
  • Michael Zeuske and Max Zeuske (1998): Kuba 1492–1902. Colonial history, wars of independence and first occupation by the USA. Leipzig: Leipzig University Press. 449 pp., ISBN 978-3-931922-83-2
  • Michael Zeuske (2004), Island of Extremes. Cuba in the 20th century, Zurich: Rotpunktverlag (second edition). 416 p .; 2 maps., ISBN 978-3-85869-208-5

Web links

Commons : Relations between Cuba and the United States  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bevans, Charles. I. (1968): Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, 1776-1949. P. 1116f.
  2. ^ Zeuske, Michael and Max Zeuske (1998): Kuba 1492-1902. Colonial history, wars of independence and first occupation by the USA. P. 417.
  3. ↑ Cuba en la mano . Enciclopédia popular ilustrada, Havana 1940, p. 1198 .
  4. ^ The Cuba Review. The Munson Steamship Line, 1913, p. 25 , accessed October 7, 2017 .
  5. ^ Staten, Clifford L. (2003): The History Of Cuba. P. 62.
  6. ^ Staten, Clifford L. (2003): The History Of Cuba. P. 64.
  7. ^ Sugar Act of 1948: Hearings before the United States House Committee on Agriculture, Eightieth Congress, first session, on June 21, 25, 27, 1947. Open Library, November 10, 2008, accessed March 6, 2011 .
  8. ↑ quoted from: José de Villa and Jürgen Neubauer: Máximo Líder , Berlin: Econ, 2006, p. 108f.
  9. ↑ Fifty years ago: a historical letter by Fidel Castro to Celia Sanchez on June 5, 1958 in the blog Cuba Journal of June 5, 2008, accessed on June 3, 2012 (English / Spanish)
  10. ↑ Fidelito from the bush . In: Der Spiegel . No. 3 , 1959 ( online ).
  11. ^ Augustin Souchy : Subject: Latin America. Between generals, campesinos and revolutionaries , p. 169, Frankfurt: Edition Mega, 1974, ISBN 3-87979-003-5
  12. ↑ Incurably romantic . In: Der Spiegel . No. 36 , 1959 ( online ).
  13. ^ Matías F. Travieso-Díaz: The Laws and Legal System of a Free-Market Cuba: A Prospectus for Business , p. 83, Westport: Quorum, 1997, ISBN 1-56720-051-6 (English)
  14. ^ David Kaiser : The Road to Dallas. The Assassination of John. F. Kennedy. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 2008, p. 45.
  15. ^ Staten, Clifford L. (2003): The History Of Cuba. P. 89
  16. ^ David Kaiser: The Road to Dallas. The Assassination of John. F. Kennedy. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 2008, pp. 97-122.
  17. ^ Staten, Clifford L. (2003): The History Of Cuba. P. 100
  18. ↑ Interim Report: Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders. Assassination archives and research center. Original document. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
  19. ↑ Cuba and the deletion from the US terrorist list standard.at on April 15, 2015
  20. ^ Staten, Clifford L. (2003): The History Of Cuba. P. 126.
  21. ↑ William M. Leogrande, Peter Kornbluh: backchannel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana, The University of North Carolina Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4696-1763-3 , pp 269-271
  22. ↑ William M. Leogrande, Peter Kornbluh: backchannel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana, The University of North Carolina Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4696-1763-3 , page 271
  23. ^ Staten, Clifford L. (2003): The History Of Cuba. P. 134.
  24. ^ Staten, Clifford L. (2003): The History Of Cuba. P. 135.
  25. ^ The New York Times A Wave of the Watch List, and Speech Disappears, March 4, 2008
  26. ↑ USA and Cuba: Prohibited good relations ( Memento of July 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Financial Times Germany of July 22, 2009
  27. ↑ In Havana, US turns off sign critical of Cuban government , CNN .com of July 27, 2009
  28. ↑ a b welt.de : Embargo-Easing - The arch enemies USA and Cuba are approaching from April 17th, 2009
  29. ↑ Obama relaxes embargo on Cuba Spiegel online April 13, 2009
  30. ↑ a b White House / Press Office: FACT SHEET: REACHING OUT TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE ( memento from April 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) from April 13, 2009
  31. ↑ Spiegel-Online: USA offers Cuba talks on immigration issues from May 23, 2009
  32. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: Cuban caution ( memento from September 14, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) from April 9, 2009 only part of the page is visible.
  33. ↑ Mark P. Sullivan: Cuba: Issues for the 111th Congress ( Memento of December 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 779 kB) , Congressional Research Service, January 13, 2010
  34. ↑ Americans and Cubans Still Mired in Distrust , New York Times, September 15, 2011
  35. ↑ Knut Henkel: Naive victim or accomplished US spy? , taz.de of February 7, 2011
  36. ↑ FAZ.net: End of the Ice Age between America and Cuba
  37. ↑ Knut Henkel: Difficult Agent Exchange , taz.de, October 14, 2011
  38. ↑ René en la Patria , Granma, April 26, 2013
  39. ↑ Ex-Cuban spy offers to renounce US citizenship  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.miamiherald.com   , Miami Herald dated April 29, 2013
  40. ↑ US judge allows Cuban spy to stay in Havana if he renounces citizenship , Miami Herald, May 4, 2013
  41. ↑ Knut Henkel: Chances of release low , taz of August 6, 2014
  42. ↑ The goal was a rebellion. USA funded spies on Cuba n-TV August 5, 2014
  43. ↑ Obama eases sanctions against Cuba , Handelsblatt from January 15, 2011
  44. ↑ Political calculus keeps Cuba on US list of terror sponsors , Los Angeles Times, May 3, 2013
  45. ↑ Oliver Grimm: End of the Ice Age: USA and Cuba reconcile , Die Presse of December 17, 2014
  46. ↑ Sebastian Fischer: [1] , Spiegel Online from December 17, 2014
  47. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30516740 , BBC News from December 17, 2014 (English)
  48. ↑ USA - Cuba: “A Historical Approach” , Deutsche Welle, December 17, 2014
  49. ↑ Cuba's secret negotiator with US was president's son: cardinal. (No longer available online.) AFP via Yahoo.com, March 24, 2017, archived from the original on March 25, 2017 ; accessed on March 15, 2017 (English).
  50. ↑ Histórica decisión de los Gobiernos de los Estados Unidos de América y de Cuba , Granma of December 17, 2014 (Spanish)
  51. ↑ Pope Played Crucial Role in US-Cuba Rapprochement. The New York Times, December 17, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014 .
  52. ↑ Comunicato della Segreteria di Stato. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office , December 17, 2014, accessed March 21, 2016 (Italian, with English and Spanish translations).
  53. ↑ Karl Kaufmann: “Still 70 political prisoners” , taz.de from January 13, 2015, accessed on January 18, 2015
  54. ↑ USA relaxes travel and economic embargo against Cuba , Der Standard from January 15, 2015, accessed January 18, 2015
  55. ↑ Q&A: Understanding latest US-Cuba rules , The Miami Herald from January 15, 2015, accessed January 18, 2015 (English)
  56. ↑ Tobias Buyer: Cuba libre , Der Tagesspiegel from January 16, 2015
  57. ↑ John Kerry , Penny Pritzker , Jack Lew : Kerry, Pritzker, Lew: President Obama's new Cuba policy looks forward, not back , The Miami Herald, December 20, 2014
  58. ↑ Peter Sonnenberg: Obama and Castro at the America Summit They shake hands. tagesschau.de, April 11, 2015, accessed on April 11, 2015 .
  59. ↑ [2] , Berliner Zeitung of April 11, 2015
  60. ↑ USA removes Cuba from terror list , Der Tagesspiegel of April 14, 2015
  61. ↑ Congress Won't Block Obama From Delisting Cuba on Terror List , Foreign Policy of April 22, 2015
  62. ↑ USA has removed Cuba from the terrorist list , Spiegel Online, May 29, 2015
  63. ↑ Matt Spetalnick, Lesley Wroughton, Daniel Trotta: US-Cuba deal to restore ties to be unveiled on Wednesday , Reuters on June 30, 2015
  64. ^ Anne-Katrin Mellmann: Day of Strong Symbols in Cuba Kerry opens US Embassy in Havana. (No longer available online.) Tagesschau.de, August 14, 2015, archived from the original on August 14, 2015 ; accessed on August 14, 2015 .
  65. ^ Cuba ya tiene Embajador en Estados Unidos , Granma of September 17, 2015
  66. ↑ What's changing for travel, commerce as Obama punches new holes in US trade embargo on Cuba , Associated Press via US News & World Report of March 16, 2016
  67. ↑ Julie Hirschfeld Davis: US Eases Restrictions on Travel to Cuba and Bank Transactions , The New York Times, March 15, 2016
  68. ^ Daniel AJ Sokolov: US carriers network with Cuba , Heise online from March 16, 2016
  69. ↑ William LeoLe Grande Despite Loosened Embargo, Bankers' Fears Block US Commerce With Cuba ; WPR - World Policy Review ( PDF )
  70. ↑ Visit to the former archenemy: Obama landed in Cuba - Hope for the end of the ice age at Spiegel Online , March 20, 2016 (accessed March 20, 2016).
  71. ↑ Trip Report by Former US President Jimmy Carter to Cuba, March 28-30, 2011
  72. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: "Wet foot, dry foot": Obama ends exception regulation for refugees from Cuba - SPIEGEL ONLINE - politics. In: SPIEGEL ONLINE. Retrieved January 13, 2017 .
  73. ↑ Associated Press: Obama Ends Visa-Free Path for Cubans Who Make It to US Soil. In: New York Times. January 12, 2017, accessed January 14, 2017 .
  74. ^ Staten, Clifford L. (2003): The History Of Cuba. P. 132.
  75. ↑ Alice Coulter: The US Embargo on Cuba
  76. ↑ a b c Cuban Democracy Act ( Memento of October 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  77. ↑ Kaplowitz, Donna R. (1998): Anatomy Of A Failed Embargo. US Sanctions Against Cuba. P. 154.
  78. ↑ Kaplowitz, Donna R. (1998): Anatomy Of A Failed Embargo. US Sanctions Against Cuba. P. 3.
  79. ↑ Kaplowitz, Donna R. (1998): Anatomy Of A Failed Embargo. US Sanctions Against Cuba. P. 156.
  80. ↑ Kaplowitz, Donna R. (1998): Anatomy Of A Failed Embargo. US Sanctions Against Cuba. P. 157.
  81. ↑ Albrecht, Birgit, M. v. Baratta, S. Brandner, et al. (2006): Fischer Weltalmanach 2007. Numbers. Data. Facts. P. 306.
  82. ↑ Erisman, H. Michael (2000): Cuba's Foreign Relations in a Post-Soviet World. P. 179.
  83. ↑ Erisman, H. Michael (2000): Cuba's Foreign Relations in a Post-Soviet World. P. 180.
  84. ↑ Erisman, H. Michael (2000): Cuba's Foreign Relations in a Post-Soviet World. P. 183.
  85. ↑ Erisman, H. Michael (2000): Cuba's Foreign Relations in a Post-Soviet World. P. 192.
  86. ↑ First letter from the USA delivered to Cuba, blockade relaxed
  87. ^ First regular scheduled flight from the USA to Cuba , NZZ , September 1, 2016, page 2