La Lucha for Cuba "ss1.23"

Chapter 5. The End of the Elián Saga

1. These attempts were as follows: (1) Concerned about Cuba falling into British or French hands, Jefferson proposed to James Madison in 1809 an exchange with Napoleon (who supposedly controlled Spain and its empire): Cuba in return for a free hand elsewhere in Spanish America. (2) President Madison tried to negotiate Cuba's annexation with the elite rich Cuban landowners; however, negotiations fell through because of Cuban fears of a British invasion if annexation were to take place. By 1822 talks had resumed, but to no avail. (3) During Latin America wars for independence (1823–1825), Bolívar intended to include Cuba but was foiled by then–secretary of state Henry Clay, who assumed a future annexation of the island by the United States. (4) After annexing Texas, then president James Polk made a $100 million offer to purchase Cuba from Spain in 1848. (5) When the talks to purchase Cuba failed, Narciso López, a nemesis of Bolívar, set up an expedition force from New Orleans. Euroamerican veterans

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took part in the venture attracted by the offer of $1,000, plus 160 acres of Cuban land. The 1848 expedition did not sail, mostly because the newly elected president and Mexican War hero, Zachary Taylor, preferred to buy Cuba. By 1850 a second expedition force was developed with the assistance of Mississippi governor John Quitman, who wanted to absorb both Cuba and the rest of Mexico. A six-hundred-man force landed, but the locals refused to join it, perceiving it to be part of a U.S. invasion. (6) In 1854 then-president Franklin Pierce raised his offer to $130 million. Retaliating against Spain's rejection of it, the United States signed the Ostend Manifesto, maintaining that Spain's refusal to sell justified (by human and divine laws) U.S. seizure of Cuba. (7) Before declaring war, President William McKinley offered $300 million for Cuba, with $6 million more going directly to the Spanish mediators.

2. Tomás Estrada Palma, Cuba's first president, rested comfortably in the United States during the war for independence. A U.S. citizen, he was wellknown for his pro-annexation ideas and his racism.

3. The Platt Amendment required approval from the United States before entering into any treaty with another foreign power; the right of the United States to acquire land for the purpose of lodging the U.S. Navy, for example, at the Guantánamo Naval Base; and the right of the United States to intervene in the Cuban government for the "preservation of Cuban independence," translated to mean protection of U.S. interests.

4. After a century of a United States–oriented economy, the blockade would have meant the eventual downfall of Castro, if it had not been for the intervention of the Soviet Union. Yet admission into the Soviet bloc meant exchanging one hegemonic power for another. Different organizational principles and economic paradigms were required to ensure Cuba's survival and to construct an indigenous form of socialism. The rapid reorganization of Cuba's economy, the external pressure of the United States, the legacy of centuries of colonialism, the development of unrealistic economic goals, the mismanagement caused by inexperienced personnel in turn caused by departing high management–level Cubans, the constant flow of administrative improvisations, and the switch in priority to industrialization over the island's economic dynamo, sugar, created economic failures during the attempt to build socialism. The economic disappointments of the 1960s led Cuba to forsake an alternative model to socialism, succumbing to the European model constructed by the Soviet Union. Submitting to the Soviet Union hegemony and becoming the sugar bowl of the Eastern bloc resulted in economic growth measured by sustained rise in productivity. During the 1970s and early 1980s Cuba's economy enjoyed respectable rates of growth because the Soviet Union decided to allow Cuba to sell any Soviet oil not domestically consumed on the free market; Cuba improved its planning techniques; and Cuba began to grant material incentives for laborers rather than expecting an increase in production based on moral obligation. The rejection of Marxism as symbolized by the crumbling of the Berlin Wall sent Cuba into an economic tailspin, as the foundation of the "socialist paradise" ended. The end of Soviet subsidies, euphemistically called the "special period," is characterized by the abrupt end of

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about 85 percent of foreign trade with the Soviet Union and the Eastern European community, causing imports to drop by 75 percent and the GNP to drop by 60 percent. Sugar production dropped to less than 4 million tons (the lowest since 1963), while factories ran at 30 percent capacity. The "new world order" forced Cuba to abolish the central planning board responsible for piloting the state-directed economy. By the end of 1994 Cuba signed joint ventures with 185 foreign corporations causing an increase in tourism (17 percent between 1991 and 1993) and the introduction of Western consumer products. These measures have contributed to the island turning a crucial financial corner since the economic collapse of 1993. While the economic free fall has been stopped by cracking a window to the economic breeze of the free market, inequalities caused by these latest initiatives threaten to undermine Cuba's boast of providing the most equal distribution of wealth among Latin American countries. Recent events have weakened some of the basic healthcare and educational accomplishments of the Revolution. The dollarization of the economy has increased the inequalities between the races. Because whites have access to diaspora capital on account of family connections, their ability to survive the "special period" has been enhanced. With an estimated $600–950 million from Exilic Cubans making its way across the island annually, a two-tier society has developed, one with dollars and one without. Usually those without dollars are not white (Bulmer-Thomas 1994, 12, 321, 347; Donghi 1993, 305–7, 373; and Fedarko 1998, 181–83). Additionally, tourism (with an industry growth of 12 percent in 2001) has provided a steady source of hard currency, increasing the living standards of those living in La Habana, which has undertaken major construction project to modernize the city; see Nancy San Martin, "Cafes, ATMs, Luxury Cars Dot City," Miami Herald, May 27, 2001.

5. Paul Brinkley-Rogers, Curtis Morgan, Elaine de Valle, and Audra D. S. Burch, "Case Provokes Harsh Feelings, Hope," Miami Herald, April 5, 2000.

6. Paul Brinkley-Rogers, "Exiles Tearful Over Boy's Future," Miami Herald, April 8, 2000.

7. Paul Brinkley-Rogers and Eunice Ponce, "For Most in Miami, Ruling Draws Restrained Reaction," Miami Herald, June 2, 2000.

8. Marika Lynch and Luisa Yanez, "Leaders Dust Off a Post-Castro Plan for South Florida," Miami Herald, July 9, 2001.

9. Paul Brinkley-Rogers, "Case Provokes Harsh Feelings," Miami Herald, April 5, 2000.

10. "I'm Tired of Not Being Proud of Miami," Miami Herald, May 21, 2000.

11. Paul Brinkley-Rogers, "Emotional Bond Compels Protesters," Miami Herald, January 8, 2000.

12. The event was scheduled for September 11, but the tragic events in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., led to the show's cancellation. Nevertheless, the playing out of la lucha before September 11 deserves analysis.

13. Cynthia Corzo, Daniel Chang, Charles Rabin, and Martin Merzer, "Miami May Lose Latin Grammys," Miami Herald, August 18, 2001; Elaine de Valle and Luisa Yanez, "Exiles Accept Plan for Protest Site at Latin Grammys," Miami Herald,

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August 20, 2001; Marika Lynch, "In Grammy Flap, an Unlikely Face," Miami Herald, August 21, 2001; John Dorschner, "Miami Suffers Blow Over Grammys," Miami Herald, August 22, 2001.

14. Alfonso Chardy, "Exile Ad Exhorts Anti-Castro Hard Line," Miami Herald, August 23, 2001.

15. Andres Viglucci, Jordan Levin and Charles Rabin, "Protests Jeopardize Safety at Event, Show Chief Says," Miami Herald, August 21, 2001; Andres Viglucci, "Grammy Flap Exposes Split Among Exiles," Miami Herald, September 2, 2001.

16. The poll was conducted for the Cuba Study Group, an informal association of about a dozen wealthy Exilic Cubans. Some of the group's members include Carlos Saladigas of Premier American Bank, Carlos de la Cruz of Coca-Cola Puerto Rico Bottles, Paul L. Cejas of PLC Investments, and Alfonso Fanjul of Flo-Sun Inc.

17. Andres Oppenheimer, "Poll Says Exiles Shifting from Hard-Line Positions," Miami Herald, May 16, 2002.

18. Realizing the importance of the Exilic Cuban voting bloc in the 2004 presidential election, President George W. Bush attended the centennial celebration of the formation of the Cuban Republic in Miami on May 20, 2002. There he unveiled his "initiative for a new Cuba," which reaffirms the U.S. economic embargo on the island; upholds the ban on most U.S. travel to the island, a ban that is defied by tens of thousands of Euroamericans each year; provides direct assistance to Cubans through nongovernmental agencies; negotiates for direct mail service between the two countries; provides educational scholarships for family members of political prisoners and those wishing to establish independent civil institutions; and facilitates humanitarian assistance by U.S. religious and nongovernmental groups. See Tim Johnson, "President to Reveal New Plan to Help Cubans," Miami Herald, May 20, 2002.

Yet leading dissidents on the island have responded negatively to Bush's proposal. Vladimiro Roca, who served almost five years in prison for his political views, insists that "dialogue, negotiation, and reconciliation" would better serve the cause of freedom than the continued Cold War rhetoric. Dissidents worry that Bush's proposal to provide funding to Resident Cubans would only strengthen Castro's arguments that dissident groups on the island are bankrolled by the CIA. "Any kind of financial help from any government for our work is unacceptable," said human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez. "That's especially true of a government such as Washington which has such very bad relations with Cuba." See Anita Snow, "Cuban Officials Accuse Bush of Pandering to Miami Exiles, Dissidents Fear Continued U.S. Policies Will Hurt Their Cause," Miami Herald, May 21, 2002.

19. "Bush Visit Today Sign of Exiles Influence," Miami Herald, May 20, Carol Rosenberg, 2002.

20. Russell Contreras, "Everyone's Loco for the Latino Bush They Call "P": Gorgeous George," Austin Chronicle, August 11, 2000.