Cuba and U.S. strategy

Moderator
Person Interviewed
Mujal-León, Eusebio
Hamilton, John
Abstract
Examines U.S. policy towards Cuba following the end of the Cold War and the decline of Cuba as a threat to American national security.
Description
In 1959 a young revolutionary named Fidel Castro swept to power in Cuba, ushering in an era of communist government and anti-American policies. During the Cold War, communist Cuba served as an aggressive surrogate for the Soviet Union, sparking such incidents as the Cuban Missile Crisis. American attempts to rid Cuba of communism through military intervention, covert operations, and a unilateral embargo all failed. Far from buckling under American pressure, Cuba remained a stable outpost of communism, and Castro actively supported communist movements in Latin America and Africa. Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of Soviet financial support, tensions between the U.S. and Cuba eased significantly. Nonetheless, occasional flare-ups between the two nations persisted, such as a 1996 incident in which the Cuban Air Force shot down two planes carrying Cuban-American Exiles, setting off a new round of recriminations and anti-Cuban legislation in the United States. Given the end of the Cold War and the decline of Cuba as a national security threat, why should the U.S. care about Cuba? If the U.S. should care, through what means should it advance American interests? In this episode, host Peter Krogh sits down with Dr. Eusebio Mujal-León, Chair of the Government Department at Georgetown University, and John Hamilton, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central America, the Caribbean, and Cuba, to discuss American foreign policy towards Cuba.
Permanent Link
Date
1998
Subject
LOCATION
Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean; Cuba;
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