US Cuban Research Articles

US–Cuban Relations: Is There a Light at the End of the Tunnel?

U.S.–Cuban Cooperation Past, Present, and Future. By Melanie M. Ziegler Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007. 182 pp., $59.95 cloth (ISBN: 978-0-8130-3087-6). This excellent book is an important contribution to the literatures on US–Cuban relations, foreign policy analysis, international cooperation, and security studies. It tackles the neglected issue of US–Cuban collaboration in areas of mutual interest for both countries, such as illegal immigration, drug trafficking, managing tensions around Guantanamo Naval Base, and diminishing the danger of accidental war. The triangular relationship between US policymakers in Washington, the Cuban exiled community in Miami and the Cuban government underlies the persistence of the “Cuba problem” in US foreign policy. Many analysts believe that the continuation of the US economic embargo on trade with Cuba (imposed after the Cuban revolution in 1959) is an anachronism in the post-Cold War era, when the United States has normal relations with China and Vietnam and is negotiating the normalization of relations with North Korea. The refusal of the US government to seriously consider a normalization of relations with the Castro regime is greatly determined by the top-heavy influence of the Miami-based Cuban exiled community in US policymaking, which reinforces the hegemonic presumption (see Lowenthal 1976) in US policy toward the island and becomes an obstacle to consistently implement even mild confidence-building measures (CBMs) such as the migration agreements discussed in this book. The United States helped Cuba to become independent from Spain by winning the Spanish–American war of 1898, but Cuba soon became a US protectorate with the Platt Amendment to the 1903 treaty with the island, which gave the United States the right to intervene in Cuba to protect Cuban security. Since then, the United States has considered that it has a “natural right” to exercise hegemony in Cuba. The Cuban revolution in 1959, “challenged United States hegemony in the Western Hemisphere to an unprecedented degree” (Connell-Smith 1974:226) not only due to the revolutionary Cuban government's alignment …

Normalizing Cuban refugees

This article examines the representation of Cuban refugees during the 1960s and 1970s in the USA. Positioning the Cuban refugees as `ideologically' valuable, the US government undertook a substantial public relations campaign that sought to secure public mandate for incoming refugees. In order to avoid a national anti-Cuban backlash, the US government and the popular media alike constructed `positive' portrayals of incoming Cuban refugees. These representations played up the refugees' purportedly universal anti-communist stance and the socially and racially desirable qualities of these `good immigrants', who were perceived as `white' and middle to upper class. In order to contextualize these representations, a history of US—Cuban relations and mid-20th-century refugee policies are discussed. Thus anti-communism, whiteness, and middle-class attributes were strategically linked and broadcasted by the US government and public media sources alike.

Computational Biology in Cuba: An Opportunity to Promote Science in a Developing Country

Computational biology can be considered a supradisciplinary field of knowledge that merges biology, chemistry, physics, and computer science into a broad-based science that is important to furthering our understanding of the life sciences. Although a relatively new area of research, it is recognized as a crucial field for scientific advancement in developing countries. This Perspective introduces our vision of the role of computational biology in biomedical research and teaching in Cuba. Except where individuals are directly quoted, any opinions expressed herein should be considered those of the authors. (For author information, see Box 1.) The challenge for Cuba was to initiate this new field of research and development without existing expertise. In addition, we had to face the same problems experienced elsewhere in this field—most life scientists were not familiar with the potential of information processing tools, and conversely, computer scientists were unfamiliar with problems facing the life sciences, often brought about by large amounts of new data. Cuba also faced unique problems. As a result of the United States trade embargo, Cuban scientists buy most of their research supplies from Europe. This adds delays and can triple costs, especially for equipment or spare parts that are made only in the US and must be purchased from a third party. In addition, curbs on travel between the US and Cuba isolate Cuban scientists from colleagues and conferences in the United States. Finally, Internet access is also affected by this policy, and Cuban scientists lack fast and efficient access to scientific information from overseas. Despite these drawbacks, Cuban biotech products and activities from biomedical institutes within Cuba have been recognized by other authors [1–4]. Further offsetting these drawbacks, our country has a high educational level, and Cuban universities produce hundreds of new scientists every year. The challenge then is to implement higher education using both the coherence of existing disciplinary education and the means to break down disciplinary walls for students interested in computational biology and other multidisciplinary fields. Since Cuba has scant resources for significant investments in scientific instrumentation, a science such as computational biology that relies mostly on computers, network connectivity, and human resources offers an excellent opportunity. The current challenges facing computational biology research in Cuba are: (1) getting results of direct interest and impact to motivate funding, (2) fostering young leading scientists to sustain present and future research, and (3) using limited infrastructure in the most efficient and productive way. Computational sciences in Cuba were first applied to physics and chemistry in the late 1960s at the University of Havana, with the use of quantum mechanics to model sugar cane derivative molecules [5]. Such an early application of this technology, which was entirely absent in the majority of the world, indicated a new approach to scientific development in a Latin American country. Another important effort began in the early 1970s at the National Center for Scientific Research in the field of computational neurosciences, mostly with Cuban-designed and Cubanmanufactured hardware [6]. Since then, after a heavy effort to build up human scientific potential, mostly with the influence and support of Eastern European countries, the problem of Cuba’s limited computing potential was overcome and Cuban scientists gained valuable experience with microcomputers in the 1980s. Limitations to high-tech development during the 1970s originated from the obsolescence of devices built in the former Soviet bloc and a strong dependence on components from the same market, which hindered Cuba’s national hardware production. Cuba was well-positioned to take advantage of the benefits of the microcomputer revolution of the 1980s. Applications of these new devices to the physical and biological sciences were frequent in that time and several computer programs were written or adapted to allow such applications [7,8]. During the economic crisis of the 1990s, these developments continued in the established groups and appeared in new teams at the Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) [9].

From the mean streets of Havana to Miami: José Latour's Outcast

This article focuses on how the Cuban writer José Latour's novel Outcast draws on both Cuban and US literary traditions in order to illuminate US–Cuban relations in the mid-1990s. The article examines how Latour's work may be seen as a response to the socialist genre of crime fiction promoted by the Castro regime in the 1970s and 1980s, which was anti-US and anti-capitalist in its orientation. By contrast, Latour uses the crime fiction genre as a way of voicing social criticism of the Cuban regime and also of highlighting problems faced by new immigrants struggling to survive in Miami. Latour both invokes and challenges stereotypes derived from the Cuban and US hard-boiled variants of the genre in order to explore constructions of race and masculinity which might be described as 'postnational'.

The Limits of Populist Diplomacy: Fidel Castro's April 1959 Trip to North America

This article asks what lessons about diplomacy can be drawn from Fidel Castro's April 1959 trip to the United States and Canada, a trip long neglected by historians as an aberration in US–Cuban relations because of its apparent public relations success. The trip's meaning, rather, lies in the populist style Castro practiced to circumvent normal protocol, and more importantly in the failure of that populism to sway not only US foreign policy makers but also the US public. Based on comprehensive media and archival research and of interviews in Cuba and the United States, this is the first ever article-length treatment of this diplomatic visit. It helps to understand not only the US–Cuba divide that soon followed Castro's trip but also the limited potential of a populist diplomacy.

Gendering Latinidad through the Elián News Discourse about Cuban Women

This article examines the interconnected discourse of gender and Latinidad circulated through the Elian Gonzalez national US news coverage by focusing on the journalistic images and narratives circulated about Cuban women. It theorizes that these stories mediate public understanding of Cuban politics and identity specifically, and Latino/a politics and identity more generally, in ways that are both gendered and racialized. The study concludes that: (1) journalistic texts focusing on Cuban women are informed by pre-existing Latina archetypes; (2) by foregrounding Cuban women within the journalistic coverage, historically established ethnic-specific images of US Cuban immigration and US Cuban exile identity are problematized; and (3) the cumulative gendering of the Elian Gonzalez news story contributes to the continuing shift in the cultural and symbolic status of the Cuban exile community within the contemporary US imaginary about Latino/as and Latinidad.

Engineered Migration and the Use of Refugees as Political Weapons: A Case Study of the 1994 Cuban Balseros Crisis

This paper presents a case study of the August 1994 Cuban balseros crisis, during which more than 35,000 fled the island and headed toward Florida in the span of a few weeks. It argues that Castro launched the crisis in an attempt to manipulate US fears of another Mariel, and in order to compel a shift in US policy, both on immigration and on a wider variety of issues. The paper further contends that from Castro’s perspective, this exercise in coercion proved a qualified success – his third such successful use of the Cuban people as an asymmetric political weapon against the US. In addition, the paper argues that Castro’s success was predicated on his ability to internationalize his own domestic crisis and transform it into an American domestic political and foreign policy crisis. Finally, it offers a novel explanation of how, why, and under what conditions, states and/or non–state actors may attempt to use refugees as coercive political weapons. Although dwarfed in size by the larger 1980 Mariel boatlift, the 1994 crisis is important for several reasons. First, despite its brevity, it had far reaching consequences for US–Cuban relations. Without warning or preamble, it catalyzed a shift in US policy vis–à–vis Cuban immigration that represented a radical departure from what it had been for the previous three decades. Second, it influenced US domestic politics on the national level, by expanding the scope and salience of the issue, and mobilizing not only Floridians, but also the larger public concerned about illegal immigration. Third, the crisis illustrated the potential potency of engineered migration as an asymmetric weapon of the weak. Finally, the brief, but significant, interactions of international and domestic actors in this case warrant examination because, although the 1994 crisis was limited, in its dynamics it resembles myriad other international refugee crises, large and small. Thus the case offers valuable lessons that may aid in dealing with future (real or threatened) crises.

Eisenhower and Castro: US—Cuban relations, 1958–60

Books reviewed in this article: United States Government Printing Office, Foreign Relations of the United States 1958–1960, Vol. V. American Republics United States Government Printing Office, Foreign Relations of the United States 1958–1960, Vol. VI. Cuba

US Expansionism and Cuban Annexationism in the 1850s.

US Expansionism and Cuban Annexationism in the 1850s.

British Investments in Latin America, 1939

Previous articleNext article No AccessBritish Investments in Latin America, 1939J. Fred RippyJ. Fred Rippy Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Political Economy Volume 56, Number 1Feb., 1948 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/256638 Views: 2Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1948 The University of Chicago PressPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:William Edmundson Commerce and Industry, (Jan 2009): 131–146.https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230101210_9Alan Dye, Richard Sicotte, Jeremy Atack, Larry Neal The interwar shocks to US–Cuban trade relations: A view through sugar company stock price data, (): 345–387.https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511757419.013