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

States’ fundamental project of achieving political, economic, and military domination of the region had not changed.¹¹

Notwithstanding the outlook of the Obama administration, this book will seek to demonstrate that Latin America is significantly changing its view of the United States, and Cuba occupies a central place in that rethinking, even if U.S. government officials and policy-making think tanks fail to recognize it. University of Havana Latin American historian Carlos Oliva Campos provides a detailed historical overview of Cuba’s relationship with the hemisphere from the triumph of the revolution in 1959 to the present, paying particular attention to its relationship with its neighbors in the Caribbean Basin. Oliva identifies three broad periods—1959 to 1979, 1979 to 1998, and 1998 to the present—but he also describes the ebbs and flows of Cuba’s international relations within each era. Oliva sees the first period as primarily one of Cuba’s isolation from the governments of the region, the result of Cuba’s support for armed struggle movements and its close relations with the Soviet Union in a sharply bipolar world context. The second era, characterized by Cuba’s gradual reinsertion into hemispheric affairs, is a complex one that began with an upsurge in revolutionary activity, most notably the triumph of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the rise of the New Jewel Movement in Grenada. If such a trend had continued, it might have meant that Cuba’s isolation would end with a vindication of its armed struggle strategy and a fundamental reordering of the social and political structures of the region. However, that did not turn out to be the case. The New Jewel Movement was removed from power by a U.S. invasion in 1983; the Salvadoran and Guatemalan revolutionary movements were stopped short of achieving state power; and in 1990, the Sandinistas, weakened by a decade-long war with the U.S.-backed rebels, were driven out of power by an election. The world context also shifted with the fall of East European socialism between 1989 and 1992 and the subsequent economic crisis for Cuba. Chapter 2 details how the Cuban leadership maneuvered during these contradictory events to a place of greater connection with the established governments in both the Caribbean and Lain America, a necessity following the loss of its special