Additionally, Cuba is seeking to end the 40-year United States trade embargo against the island.
Should this occur, it would greatly enhance the country?s currently sagging economy. There is
increasing pressure from United States business and agricultural communities to begin brisk
trade with Cuba and take advantage of a new and potentially highly profitable market.23 If Cuba
is successful at expanding its monocultural economy the country should experience remarkably
auspicious results in the event of a lifting of the U.S. embargo. More importantly, Castro would
no longer have an excuse for the deficiencies in the Cuban economy.
Additionally, housing for Cubans, which is guaranteed in the constitution, or the recent
lack thereof, has reached epidemic proportions in Havana, the island?s capital. Reportedly, the
government admits the country does not have nearly enough building materials or manpower to
give everyone the home they have been promised.24 For a socialist society dedicated to taking
care of its people, the country seems to have fallen short in this arena, as well.
Another recent political Cuban event overshadowing most other important Cuban
political events, if only due to the extensive media coverage than the actual quality of
newsworthy content, is the ?tragicomedy? of the custody battle of near Cuban defector, Elian
Gonzalez. In what should have been nothing more than an international custody battle over the
six year old Cuban child, an all out political battle between the United States and Cuba ensued.
In my opinion, the incident had been seemingly spawned mainly from harbored resentment by
Cuban-Americans over the failed Bay of Pigs event, in addition to their hatred of the
authoritarian leader. Again, they fought and lost to Castro. This time, however, Fidel Castro
was legitimate in his reproach and used the situation to portray the United States in an extremely
unfavorable light. He succeeded, as the rest of the world looked on wondering what all the hype
was about.
What is extraordinary about Fidel Castro, however, is that he is still here at all. More
than 40 years after coming to power, he survives. He survives in the face of the unremitting
hostility of a superpower only 90 miles away. He survives in spite of the fact that his main
patron, the Soviet Union, has disappeared, his ideology, Marxist-Leninism, is discredited, and his
economy is less than perfect. Despite the fact that an inordinate number of common citizens
prefer to chance death at sea rather than remain in his nation, Fidel survives.25
NOTES
1Juan M. del Aguila, Cuba: Dilemmas of a Revolution (Colorado: Westview Press, Inc.,
1984), p. 9.
2Juan M. del Aguila, Cuba: Dilemmas of a Revolution (Colorado: Westview Press, Inc.,
1984), p. 12.
3Juan M. del Aguila, Cuba: Dilemmas of a Revolution (Colorado: Westview Press, Inc.,
1984), p. 13.
4Terrance Cannon, Revolutionary Cuba (Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, 1981),
p. 30.
5Terrance Cannon, Revolutionary Cuba (Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, 1981),
p. 37.
6Terrance Cannon, Revolutionary Cuba (Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, 1981),
p. 38.
7Terrance Cannon, Revolutionary Cuba (Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, 1981),
p. 44.
8Terrance Cannon, Revolutionary Cuba (Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, 1981),
p. 46.
9Terrance Cannon, Revolutionary Cuba (Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, 1981),
p. 46.
10Geoff Simons, Cuba: From Conquistador to Castro (New York: St. Martin?s Press,
1996), p. 254.
11Geoff Simons, Cuba: From Conquistador to Castro (New York: St. Martin?s Press,
1996), p. 257.
12Juan M. del Aguila, Cuba: Dilemmas of a Revolution (Colorado: Westview Press, Inc.,
1984), p. 38.
13Juan M. del Aguila, Cuba: Dilemmas of a Revolution (Colorado: Westview Press, Inc.,
1984), p. 40.
14Sandor Halebsky and John M. Kirk, Cuba: Twenty-Five Years of Revolution, 1959 to
1984 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1985), p. 358.
15Mark J. White, Missles in Cuba: Kennedy, Khrushchev, Castro and the 1962 Crisis
(Chicago: Mark J. White, 1977), p. 12.
16Michael G. Roskin and Nicholas O. Berry, The New World of International Relations
(New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1999), p. 190.
17Michael G. Roskin and Nicholas O. Berry, The New World of International Relations
(New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1999), p. 190.
18Sandor Halebsky and John M. Kirk, Cuba: Twenty-Five Years of Revolution, 1959 to
1984 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1985), p. 375.
19Sandor Halebsky and John M. Kirk, Cuba: Twenty-Five Years of Revolution, 1959 to
1984 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1985), p. 375.
20Sandor Halebsky and John M. Kirk, Cuba: Twenty-Five Years of Revolution, 1959 to
1984 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1985), p. 421.
21World Wide Web, U.S. Policy Towards Cuba, (www.closeup.org/cuba, 1997).
22World Wide Web, Boston Globe – CubaNet News, Inc., (www.cubanetnews.com, 2000).
23World Wide Web, China Helps Cuba Get Current on Communications Technology,
(www.cubanetnews.com, 2000).
24World Wide Web, Despite Guarantess, Homelessnes Creeps Into Cuba,
(www.cubanetnews.com, 2000).
25World Wide Web, Government and Politics of Cuba, (www.cubapolidata.com, 2000).