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Fear’s Devastating Effects: A Look into the Global Relations between the United States and

Cuba

Jenna L. Steele

University of Michigan-Flint

POL 190- Introduction to Comparative Politics

Professor Dauda Abubakar

August 7, 2023
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Fear’s Devastating Effects: A Look into the Global Relations between the United States and

Cuba

According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook (2023), Cuba is the

largest country in the Caribbean with an area slightly smaller than Pennsylvania located 93 miles

south of Key West, Florida. Cuba is estimated to be the 85th most populated country in the world

with almost 11 million inhabitants. Since Cuba hasn’t participated in a census since 2012, the

CIA produced estimated data of its demographic. Reportedly, 64% of the demographic is White,

26% Mulatto/Mixed, and 9% Black. Likewise, Cuba has no reliable source of self-reported data

for religious affiliation, so the CIA estimates 59% of the demographic is Christian, 18% folk

religion, and 23% with no religious affiliation (The World Factbook, 2023).

For centuries Spain ruled over the Cuban people, eventually leading to civil unrest and

the desire for independence, thus the Spanish-American War began in 1898 (Cuba Overview,

2013). The United States (U.S.), after the sinking of the USS Maine in the Havana Harbor,

entered the Spanish-American War helping Cuba become an independent nation in 1902.

The liberation of the Cuban people was far from over, however. The reign of authoritarian

figures started shortly after the U.S. ceased intervening in their political system. From there, a

cycle was born. Leaders would implement a democratic system that would quickly become

corrupt and overthrown by another leader with similar promises and fates (Cuba Overview,

2013).

The Cuban Revolution began the current authoritative, communist cycle fabricated by

Premier Fidel Castro. Cuba’s conversion was partly influenced by their correspondence with the

U.S. growing increasingly sour. Simultaneously, Castro broke off ties with the “Democratic left”

of Latin America and thus his Marxist ideology took shape. He was known to squash any source
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of opposition and needed arms to protect his political position. In Suárez’s (1967) book, Cuba:

Castrosim and Communism, he explains how the island and Soviet ties came into fruition. Castro

had bitter ties with the U.S., who heavily influenced Europe and its source of supplies, leaving

the only country untouched by their influence: the Soviet Union (Suárez, 1967).

Cuba had been on the U.S. radar for years as a breeding ground for communism,

something lawmakers immensely feared (McKercher, 2014). In October 1962, three years into

Fidel Castro’s rule, President John F. Kennedy announced that the U.S. military will begin

searching all vessels carrying military equipment to Cuba (Colman, 2019a). The U.S. feared that

the communist Soviet Union was sending missiles to Cuba, as relations between the two grew.

Solicitude rose when close relations bred Cuban dependence on the Soviets and the Castro

regime’s expropriation of U.S. properties (Cuba Overview, 2013).

Before the naval blockade was in place, another tangible effort was made by the U.S. to

solve Cuba’s political crisis. Known as the Bay of Pigs, the U.S. attacked Cuba on April 17,

1961. The U.S. was defeated 2 days later by Cuban armed forces, under Castro’s order. The

blockade and the Bay of Pigs disaster had the opposite desired outcome, strengthening Castro’s

position and allowing the country to form closer ties with the former Soviet Union (The Bay of

Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, April 1961–October 1962).

The U.S Department of State (2009) archived report states that Cuba has a “Totalitarian

Communist state; current government assumed power by force January 1, 1959”, when Castro

seized power (The Bay of Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, April 1961–October 1962). Since that

document was archived in January 2017, the CIA reports that Cuba is still a communist state

where only one political party is allowed. This single party is named the Cuban Communist Party

or PCC (The World Factbook, 2023). Cuba has been a communist-party state, where one party
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“exercises a complete monopoly on political power and controls all important state institutions”,

for the last 64 years (Kesselman et al., 2019).

Cuba’s government is made up of three branches- executive, legislative, and judicial. The

executive branch is headed by the Chief of State, or president, who is “indirectly elected by the

National Assembly” (The World Factbook, 2023). Upon further investigation, the National

Assembly is a unicameral parliament made up 474 elected individuals. As one would reasonably

expect, the members of the judicial branch are elected by the National Assembly as well.

Centralization of power is at the heart of the political processes of the Cuban government. This

style of government was strategically set in place to give the executive branch, mainly the

president, unchecked power; a gateway to corruption and abuse of power (Domínguez, 2018).

Kesselman (2019), in their textbook on comparative politics, notes seven criteria for a

democratic political system. One is that all citizens possess political rights including the right to

vote, free assembly, expression, and to criticize the government without fear of retaliation. Cuba

does in fact hold public elections, but the votes are negligible since a small group determines

who runs for office, generally unopposed. Castro exercised his power to further secure his

position by “requiring lengthy incarceration of political opponents” (Domínguez, 2018). If

political leaders are barred from disparaging the bureaucracy, a common citizen suffers an

analogous fate.

Cuba’s official ideology is based off Marxism-Leninism, more commonly known as

socialism. A core idea is the government-led redistribution of wealth and goods, attained by the

forceful acquisition of all land. This allows Cuba to control its economy by “owning most means

of production and employing over 80 percent of the workforce” (Cuba Overview, 2013). Grave

economic issues arise from this structure when the impoverished government is unable to
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provide a livable salary for its workers if they are even able to provide a salary at all (“Cuba

Overview, 2013).

Targeting Cuba’s economy to solve the “Cuba problem” is not a new one. In 1992, the

Cuban Democracy Act (CDA) prohibited any U.S. subsidiaries from “entering U.S. territory and

unloading freights” if it had “been involved in trade with Cuba” (Cuba Overview, 2013). U.S.

companies were forced to choose between business with the U.S. or with Cuba, not both.

Predictably, they chose the larger, more profitable market, effectively cutting Cuba’s economy

off from free trade.

Herein lies the question, how would one expect Cuba to adopt a liberal, free-market

economy if bigger players, like the U.S., enact trade protectionist policies like the CDA? Would

less border restrictions on imports, exports, and travel, inherently lead to the demise of the

current regime? The speculations are endless, and the proposed resolutions are complicated.

Staunch advocates for capitalism and democratic procedures, The United States has been

unwilling to support the communist state for over half a century. In lieu, they have enacted

sanctions on Cuban trade with the U.S to increase pressure on Cuba to transition to democracy

(Cuba Overview, 2013).

In large part, these sanctions are regarded as a failure and call for a change in the U.S.’s

approach to pressuring democratic transition. In fact, the first president to loosen these sanctions

was President Barack Obama in 2014 that allowed a two year “unprecedented boom in private-

sector activities in Cuba, significant openings for civil society discourse, and other reforms by

the Cuban government” (Venancio et al.). Our World in Data reveals there is a positive

correlation between economic growth and trade, countries with higher rates of Gross Domestic

Product (GDP) growth tend to have higher rates of growth in trade. As of 2014, Cuba’s annual
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change in GDP per capita was +1.75%, and the annual change in trade was -2.43%, the second

lowest rates in the world (Roser et al, 2023). It can be deduced that stagnancy in globalization

reveals a stagnancy in annual income growth (Fouquin & Hugot, 2016).

The United States involvement in Cuban political fairs has had a substantial impact on

the country’s economy and nationalism. However, the U.S. pursuit of democratic transition in

place of an authoritative communist state has proven to be futile. The current economic approach

of enacting sanctions to isolate the regime is, at best, creating stagnancy in growth for the

country. This problem is two-fold. The “Red Scare” that ignited the United State’s fear of

communism, and their leaders, holding too much power that would have worldwide, devastating

effects (Cold War Hysteria).

The anxious U.S. politicians developed a causal theory during the Cold War. They

hypothesized that if Cuba was isolated from the global economy (X), that the country would be

forced to transition to a democracy (Y). So, they implemented the tariffs and sanctions, the X or

independent variable. The outcome or dependent variable was a country with little economic

growth, wealth, and autonomy. In fact, as aforementioned, many of the attempts made by the

U.S. have strengthened the Cuba’s political positioning.

To ignite change in the country, the U.S. must reevaluate this hypothesis. One proposition

is to lift the embargoes, allowing the country to slowly enter the global economy. Subsequently,

this will allow Cuba to become self-sufficient. The trade openness index measures the ratio of a

country’s total trade to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The higher the index, the

larger influence trade has on domestic activities. As of 2021, 80% of Cuba’s Gross Domestic

Product (GDP) was influenced by trade, one year before it was 22% (Fouquin & Hugot , 2016).

These numbers demonstrate the vulnerability of Cuba’s economy especially related to trade. If
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the U.S. lifted the embargoes, Cuba would have a chance to stabilize itself in the global

economy, using trade to achieve self-sufficiency instead of being dependent on it (National

Evolution and Soviet Influence).

By slowly pushing the Cuban government to embrace a more liberal economic policy and

by lifting current embargoes, the country will then support the private sector allowing small

business and self-employment to flourish (Venancio et al.). Consequently, once the Cuban

government releases land back to the people to use to grow, sell, and produce goods, the nation’s

wealth will build. This shift in economic policies and growth supported by the U.S. who can

place stipulations like if Cuba doesn’t hold a free, fair election in a set amount of time, they risk

having the sanctions reenacted. By restaffing the U.S. embassy in Cuba, the U.S. can monitor the

progress of the state. No one nation can solve the communist problem in Cuba. Collaboration

from the United Nations (UN) and other democratic nations on strategies and a timeline for the

transition, and barriers in place to protect the integrity of the world’s economy.

Finally, in the modern world, Cuba is not a major source of concern for the United States.

This is partly because the former Soviet Union has pulled most of their monetary support,

leaving the country unsupported and low on military supplies (National Evolution and Soviet

Influence). The lack of third-party support and U.S. sanctions leave the economic situation in

Cuba dire. To dismantle the current communist state the U.S. must rescind Cold War policies, or

at the very least leverage them to force the country into a democratic transition. Continuing to

enforce stagnant policies based on the political affairs of over half a century ago, has proven to

be futile and insane. And as quoted by Albert Einstein, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and

over and expecting different results”.

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Works Cited

Central Intelligence Agency. (2023, July 25). The World Factbook- Cuba . Central Intelligence

Agency. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/cuba/#people-and-society

Colman, J. (2019a). Toward “World support” and “The ultimate judgment of history”: The U.S.

legal case for the blockade of Cuba during the Missile Crisis, October–November 1962.

Journal of Cold War Studies, 21(2), 150. https://doi.org/10.1162/jcws_a_00879

Domínguez. (2018). Cuba : order and revolution. Harvard Univ. Press.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (Ed.). (n.d.). National Evolution and Soviet influence.

Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Cuba/National-evolution-and-

Soviet-influence

Kesselman, M., Krieger, J., & Joseph, W. A. (2019). Introducing Comparative Politics . In

Introduction to comparative politics: Political challenges and changing agendas (Sixth, p.

17). essay, Cengage Learning.

McKercher, A. (2014). Steamed Up: Domestic Politics, Congress, and Cuba, 1959–1963*.

Diplomatic History, 38(3), 599–627. https://doi-

org.libproxy.umflint.edu/10.1093/dh/dht101

Michel Fouquin & Jules Hugot , 2016. "Two Centuries of Bilateral Trade and Gravity Data:

1827-2014," CEPII Working Paper 2016- 14 , May 2016 , CEPII

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Public Broadcasting Service. (n.d.). Cold War Hysteria. PBS.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/nash-hysteria/

Roser, M., Arriagada, P., Hasell, J., Ritchie, H., & Ortiz-Ospina, E. (2023, July 14). Economic

growth. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/economic-growth#all-charts

U.S. Department of State. (2009, January 20). Cuba (05/07). U.S. Department of State.

https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/cuba/85033.htm

U.S. Department of State- Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute. (n.d.). The Bay of

Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, April 1961–October 1962. U.S. Department of State.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/bay-of-pigs

Venancio, I. O. and M. N., Oliver, I., & Venancio, M. N. (n.d.). Understanding the failure of the

U.S. embargo on Cuba. WOLA. https://www.wola.org/analysis/understanding-failure-of-

us-cuba-embargo/

Suárez, A. S. A. (1967). Cuba: Castroism and communism: 1959-1966. M.I.T. Press.

(2013). Cuba Overview. Congressional Digest, 92(7), 2.