Blog Post #1- Brynn Hespeler
After reading and reviewing the material in Module 1, I learned many facts and stories about Cuban culture and the revolution. I read about Cuba placing an importance on symbolism and how their identity was from the multiple struggles for independence, with one being the 26th of July Movement where the flag celebrates Castros attack on Army barracks at Moncada. This was interesting to learn because Cuba places a ton of ongoing symbolism with the flag dating back to 1800s and early 1900s.
When looking through the modules about the Cuban Revolution, I learned all about how Castro started guerrilla warfare to slow down Batista’s army, which ultimately allowed him to take power. At the time Batista was led by dictatorship with repressive political and social conditions on the island, which restricted freedom and favored the rich leaving those in poverty with a much harder life. When Fidel Castro took over, he created a communist state and wanted to improve the quality of life for the poor and create better health care, so I think he mainly created social and political conditions on the island which benefited the poorest but also harmed Cuban society in the long run. When wondering if Cuba would have been better if there wasn’t a revolution, I think that Cuba would be a lot different and probably worse under Batista’s rule. Although Castro wanted to overthrow Batista to help the poor community, he became more powerful as a communist leader after his victory and eventually turned against the poor people who helped him achieve victory and had many people prisoned and murdered, which also led to the rich fleeing to Florida. In my opinion, I think Castro wasn’t the positive force he promised to be, although the alternative with Batista may have been much worse at the time and for the future.
Rual Castro, Fidel’s brother, was appointed
by Fidel Castro in 2008 after Fidel said he was stepping down due to dealing with
health problems. 8 years later, in 2016, Obama was the President of the United
States, and the first president to visit Cuba since 1928. Obama had opened relations with Cuba and the
US. Obama ended up meeting with Rual and exporting and importing goods between
each country became less restricted. This was a positive thing in my opinion
because it allowed for reestablishing a friendly relationship with Cuba.
Two questions
It was interesting to learn and get a better view about Cuban history and after looking through the readings and videos my two questions are,
1. What political and economic factors do you think harmed Cuba the most under the rule of Raul (Castro’s brother)
2. What do
you think Cuba would be like now if the US didn’t become involved in the revolution?
When considering the influence of the Castro regime, I think its important to look not just at the actions of Castro himself, but also at the impact of outside forces on the Cuban government. For example, the Cuban economy collapsed many times under the Castro regime, but it was due to the United States' embargo and their depedence on trade with the deteriorating USSR. It wasn't necessarily a result of Castro's actions or of negligence.
ReplyDelete1. I think Cuba's poor economy and insistence on stringent communism have hurt the country the most under Raul. The two issues sort of go hand-in-hand, as the economy is kept down by the resistence of the Castro's to liberalizing their economic policy.
2. I think Cuba would be very different. Just how different is difficult to say. I doubt that it would be a communist country now, as it was only forced into a communist alliance with the Soviet Union by the US embargo. If I had to guess, it would probably be a flourishing tourist destination filled with casinos and bars, much like it was during the early 20th century.
While its impossible to predict what would've happened if the US didn't become involved, however I do believe that without US influence, there is a good chance that Cuba wouldn't have developed a communist regime. What I think is most interesting, is that while the US is so pro-democracy, at the same time, they support communist regimes solely out of their own interest. Cuba isn't the only nation that the US has done this too either. This begs the question, does the US really care about making the world a better place, instilling freedom and democracy.....or is it solely out for itself, regardless of the consequences as long as they are beneficial to the US?
ReplyDeleteChris
I agree with Chris. Although it is hard to say what may have happened if the US never got involved, I think Cuba would have been less likely to become a communist state. The reason that the revolution happened in the first place was because of U.S. supported dictators who created a situation where the vast majority of Cubans were impoverished. Cubans were tired of military coups that just put a new authoritarian regime in power, so communism was their last resort for real change.
ReplyDeleteIt is also true that Cuba is not the first country that the US has intervened with in this way. They actually have done it quite a lot. Most of the time the revolutions against U.S. puppet regimes are not successful, so it makes sense that Cubans felt a strong sense of cultural pride and nationalism as a result of their victory.
Question 2) I think Cuba would be similar to how it is now. It would have still developed ties with the Soviets as they share similar political ideology and ended up in the same place economically.
ReplyDelete