Cuban–Latin American Relations in the Context of a Changing Hemisphere
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Cuban–Latin American Relations in the Context of a Changing Hemis ...

Chapter 2:  The Relations of Cuba with Latin America and the Caribbean: The Long and Winding Road of Reconciliation
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U.S. reaction against the revolutionary democratic government of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954. The hostility is captured in a U.S. State Department document justifying U.S. military support for the Colombian government in 1961, two years after the Cuban triumph:

All Latin American countries, including Colombia, have organized communist parties and leftist movements, which are connected and showed sympathy to the Cuban Revolution. But the fact that there were hundreds of thousands of farmers who have fought efficiently against the Colombian Army of more than 10 years, created a dangerous situation exactly in the moment the political conditions changed. That’s why the Colombian government needed military assistance.3

The polarization was also enhanced by the U.S. government’s policy of punishing any regional government that sought to maintain a dialogue with the new Cuban government. This is evidenced by the case of Argentina. The government of Arturo Frondizí sought to be a mediator between the governments of the United States and Cuba, an effort that was marked by the granting of an audience to Che Guevara in the Argentinean presidential palace. These efforts were rebuffed by the United States, and Frondizí was overthrown by the Argentine military in 1962. The conciliatory attitude toward Cuba, even though Argentina broke its formal diplomatic ties with the island, was one factor in Frondizí’s overthrow.4

Another point of contention between the United States and Cuba emerged over Puerto Rico. Following the statement of Cuban independence leader, José Marti, that Cuba and Puerto Rico were like two wings on the same bird, the Cuban government took up the cause of Puerto Rican independence at the United Nations out of support for its island neighbor. The diplomatic offensive was matched with direct support for Puerto Rican independence movements that had long been targeted with hostility by the U.S. government.5

The reaction by the U.S. government to Cuban support for Puerto Rican independence was immediate. The embargo on Cuba was tightened, especially with regard to Cuban emigration to the United States, and more importantly, these efforts to create a regional blockade of Cuba