¡Viva Cuba!: Lucho de Curso entre de E.E.U.U. y Cuba (Emma Kostyun)
In learning about Cuba throughout my American schooling, I have always seen Fidel Castro as another country's leader that I am supposed to despise. "Castro is a no-go" keeps playing through my head (it's a lyric from Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start the Fire'). As I watched the corresponding videos and read the corresponding articles in this module I started to realize that my preconceived idea on who Castro was might have been just what my white-washed textbook told me to think. The countless revolutions and battles that the cubans went through to feel free surprised me, although I knew very little about Cuba's history I did not know it would be like this. America has always had this "job"of making every country they can a progressive democracy, to adhere to their ideals and their ways. Cuba remains outside of this equation, as they aligned with the Soviets during the Cold War we have always seemed to need to keep an eye on the country in case they decided to repeat this "treason". Although we have moved past our Cold War Era criticism of Castro and his regime we have still held a grudge towards the country which many others have held as well, this shows that there is a cross-cultural and socio-economical divide concerning the perception of this small but mighty country. As a journalism student I found the news interviews and articles very intriguing to me, the interviews with Castro seemed similar to our interviews with our own political leaders in a sense where as journalists they were trying to make him look and sound bad based off the questions that were posed. Something that stuck out to me was during the 'Cuban Revolution' video, was when they mentioned that during the revolution Cuba, would invite foreign journalists to report and give their struggle international attention as well as help increase their popularity. I think the use of media is a powerful tactic that Cuba used to their advantage during the time of their most political turmoil. Returning to my previous point about this American view of Cuba that textbooks and the media portray it as, I want to bring up the American idea of Communism/Socialism. Once viewed as a punishment worthy of death, being named a Communist was one of the worst things for Americans. Hollywood threw out many actors, directors and writers because they were seen as potential communists. Now we have moved past this drastic notion but there are still many Americans that view this political affiliation and even socialism in this way. Since Obama's reentrance into Cuban affairs, Cuba has seemed to hide from our cutthroat media making it a safe haven for themselves while they begin to recover from the Americanization that afflicted them countless times and for many years. Our history with Cuba has been a complicated one (which is seen in many countries in Latin and South America) but despite this their culture has seemed to flourish and their arts and music continue to be the beating heart of their country.
- From an American point of view, it seems Castro is an unsavory character but to the Cuban people they seem to love him; How does this divide contribute to U.S. and Cuba relations now?
- There are five communist state countries left in the world; China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea. How long until the United States decides to interfere with this ideology again?
This is my Blog-- Apologies I will include my name when publishing in the future!
ReplyDeleteBilly Joel wasn't running through my head until I read this. Now he is. :)
ReplyDelete1. I can't tell from the wording of the first question if you necessarily allege that Castro himself is a divisive character, but I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that characterization. I think that Castro is divisive because to Cubans, he is a hero who freed them from an oppressive right-wing dictatorship. To Americans, he is "that guy" who confiscated land owned by American corporations that was benefitting the US economy. This continues have an outsized effect on Cuban-American relations due to the significant influence of corporations in American governance.
2. I'm not sure what you're trying to ask here - could you clarify this question? I would argue that Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos are all very different places than either China or North Korea. Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos actually do, to wildly varying extents, run "communist" or "socialist" economies. This system does not exist in China, which despite its government's claims to the contrary, is openly capitalist. North Korea is a totalitarian dictatorship whose rulers control the entire economy. There can be neither capitalism nor socialism in an economy ultimately controlled by one person.
If the question is how long until the US interferes with any of these five countries - I would say it is already happening. US interference in Cuba never stopped, and American politicians often speak as if there should be a second cold war, but with China.
This "new cold war" doesn't seem to have manifested anti-"communist" sentiment as the first did, nor does it seem to have the same influence on overall American society.
Interesting take Emma! I understand how it can be confusing to grasp all the opinions and biases regarding Castro and what he did. This is how I have come to understand it: The Cubans who were able to flee their home country and immigrate to Miami, or other cities, and escape Castro were not in favor of his rule. Whereas, those who stayed in Cuba, supported him and the revolutionists because that was all they knew. I think the most clear representation of this divide, is seen when Castro dies. The Cuban population in America, including my Grammy, cried tears of joy and "celebrated" his death, while those in Cuba mourned the loss of their leader.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to you, I also found the news videos and interviews with Castro interesting to watch. His propaganda within these interviews, and his prolonged speeches, misled the Cuban people. Castro used these platforms to spread his message to the Cuban people and to "promise" them a life he could not fulfill.
I really enjoyed reading your post. I especially liked how you addressed the United States and your own view of Fidel Castro. I started this module trying to be open-minded about the struggles that Cuba has faced, and hearing about friends and family asking me "Why do you want to go to Cuba", probably because of the history they grew up hearing of. I found that when I asked people why not Cuba, they didn't really have an answer, and I suppose that is partially because of the United State's involvement in Cuban politics. I think it's also due to how the United States painted Castro as an "unsavory character" as you put it. I think United States propaganda at the time perpetuated those sentiments. I think this divide still has an impact on United States and Cuban relations to this day. I think we are taking things slow in terms of mending relations.
ReplyDeleteAs I read the articles I found that I was able to understand more deeply Casto's impacts on Cuban life. I can see why people loved him. I can see that he gave the Cuban people direction and support, especially for rural Cuba, which is huge for the Cuban people.
I really enjoyed the writing style of your post. The inclusion of your personal views added a lot to it. If you're interested in relationship between post-revolution Cuba and American journalism, there is an excellent (though incredibly depressing) documentary called "Cuba and the Cameraman" that discusses the topic.
ReplyDelete1. I think the American distaste of Castro comes largely from the fact that he was a socialist (and later a communist). Like you said, America has always had an irrational fear of other socially liberal economic systems. Although the sentiment isn't as strong as it was during the Cold War, it definitely survives to this day. The lack of compatability between capitalist ideology and socialist ideology creates a rift between the Cuban and American governments that is difficult to bridge.
2. This is an interesting question. After the disaster of the Vietnam War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of the United States' anti-communist policies lost favor. While I don't doubt that we'd interfere with communist countries for other reasons, I'm not sure it would be possible to justify military action simply because they are communist. Perhaps that opinion is too optimistic, but it's one I'd like to believe.
I think that Castro being a communist made the US dislike him as well as the missle crisis that arose while he was in power. To cubans he was seen as a hero who freed people from Batista, but Americans saw him as a threat as well because of his alliance with the Soviet Union. The two different governments starts to create disagreements.
ReplyDeletethis was my reply^
DeleteCastro is a very controversial figure as many people have already argued here. Inside Cuba he was well liked by the people, but it is hard to say whether or not that was because of his propaganda. It is true that he made healthcare within Cuba more affordable, and increased the Cuban people's access to education, so arguably he was a good leader in that way. But his regime also led to a brutal U.S. embargo that made Cuba extremely poor when the Soviet Union collapsed and could no longer support Cuba. You could argue that this was more the U.S.'s fault than it was Castro's, but the U.S. did it as a response to his actions as a leader. As Alex mentioned, many Cuban-Americans despise Castro and celebrated when he died. It is hard to say for me from an outside perspective which side I align with.
ReplyDelete