An Era Beyond Closure

Abstract

The Cuban Revolution has elicited widespread scholarly interest since it came to power in 1959. Its role in the Cold War, arguably the key historical period in the latter half of the 20th century, not only inspired political plots and military operations but also stirred intellectual pursuit. Cuba, then an island-nation of six million people in the Caribbean, suddenly became a protagonist in a world stage caught in uncharted political, social, and cultural terrain. While the broader outlines of the period obviously corresponded to the United States-Soviet divide, its most direct impact in the Americas has always required a deeper understanding of Cuba’s role. The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis remains its most dramatic event, but one should not lose track of other ramifications that left their mark on history, such as the Latin American impulse toward national emancipation, armed revolution, and anti-imperialist redress, which lingered and ultimately intensified. The main inspiration for that revolutionary fervor, at times the key material source, derived from the Cuban Revolution. The same could be said for its capacity to motivate the Left as a whole, both in the United States and Latin America. An unmapped era had arisen in the hemisphere, as Washington met the Cuban Revolution with a dogged opposition that ultimately became an obsession, which in turn fueled many counterrevolutionary measures throughout the area.