CUBA “EXCEPTIONAL” CASE

Is Cuba an “exceptional” case within the hemisphere?

Is Cuba an “exceptional” case within the hemisphere?

Introduction

The economic sanctions imposed on Cuba by the United States are unique in view of their longevity and of their complexity but they are consistent with the real objectives of the first world power. In order to show this, it is necessary to base this analysis on the following postulate: the blockade is part of a scheme designed not to promote democratic values, as the administration in Washington would have us believe, but to control the natural resources of Third World nations through subjugation (World Bank, 2002: 24). And the history of the United States characterized mainly by violent and bloody conquest of new territories  proves this unequivocally.

Main Theme

As far back as the middle of the 19th century, U.S. expansionist William Gilpin announced: "The destiny of the American people is to subdue the continent." The primary goal of the United States is to make sure that the resources of the countries of the South remain at hand of the capital of the masters of the universe (Waller, 1994: 35). The case of Cuba is exceptional because it is the only country that has dared to refuse to follow the orders set by their northern neighbor, designing its political, economic and social system, at once sovereign and independent, despite the unilateral constraints imposed by Washington. The enmity Cuba is a victim of reflects a historical continuity whose broad lines must be retraced. And by the way, it would be widely-known if something like a sense of respect for obvious historical truisms existed. This topic would not be controversial if the society we live in was intellectually free (U.S. Bureau of the Census: 1997).

Discussion analysis for the Argument

Cuba is no doubt the oldest preoccupation of U.S. colonialists. As far back as October 20, 1805, Thomas Jefferson evoked the extreme importance of the Caribbean archipelago  under Spanish rule at the time  stating: "The control which, with Florida Point, this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, as well as all those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the measure of our political well-being." (Roberts & Churchill, 1999: 87) However, Spain could rule the island until "our people is sufficiently advanced to take those territories from the Spanish, bit by bit". In 1809, in a letter to James Madison, he wrote: "I candidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States." The theory of the "ripe fruit" evoked in 1823 by one of the most clear-sighted and intelligent political visionary of the history of the United States, John Quincy Adams mentioned "an object of transcendent importance to the commercial and political interests of our Union" that was to fall in the hands of the United States at all costs. This object was the Cuban island, which was already the priority of the ...