International Political Relations

International Relations between the United States and the nation of Cuba has had many ups and downs in the last one hundred years. Since 1960, the United States has held economic sanctions over the nation of Cuba in response to disagreements within the Fidel Castro regime such as the Cuban missile crisis and human rights violations. In 1961, Fidel Castro declares the Nation of Cuba as a communist states subsequently allying with the USSR leading in to what is known as the Cuban missile crisis (bbc.com, 2012). The embargo placed on Cuba was aimed at putting a strangle hold on the Cuban economy in hopes that the Cuban people would suffer so much economically, that they would rise up and over throw Castro (LeoGrande, 2015). In January of 2014, the Obama Administration announced plans to reestablish relations with the nation of Cuba (bbc.com, 2012). The plans to lift some of the restriction noted in the embargo could have a positive impact on both nations, more so the Cuban nation as the profit from trade may rid them of the third world label possibly pulling them north of the south divide.

The Cuban missile crisis during the 1960’s was a critical moment during the cold war. For 14 days in Introduction

October of that year, the world stood on the brink of nuclear war (Reynolds Wolfe, 2010 ). Cuba allowed the USSR to build a nuclear missile base on its shores. This only aided the dwindling relationship between Cuban and the United States. Furthermore, the Cuban government not only increased trade with the USSR, they also hiked up taxes on American Imports. (Renwick, 2015). Along with attempts by the CIA to over throw and assassinate Castro, the United States placed economic sanctions on one of the Cuba’s main exports, sugar( Reynold Wolfe, 2010 ). The economic sanctions were in attempts to diplomatically isolate the country. In response to the economic sanctions put on Cuba by the United States, agreements were made between the USSR and Cuba in relation to trade...