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Cuba: dangerous island or nation adrift?
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Congress and Castro (AP Photo/Juvenal Balan Neyra)
In the 1950s classrooms in the United States prepared their students for possible nuclear annihilation. There were two common techniques to defend against this prospect. Children were either told to quickly, but orderly, climb under their desks or to line up in hallways and shield their heads against the wall. School infrastructure would save our children from a nuclear explosion. Nevermind such explosions register temperatures in the millions of degrees Celsius. The Soviet Union and the United States were in a global competition for supremacy. At stake: the ideology that would dominate the political organization of humanity. There could be only one, communism or democracy.
On October 14th 1962 US military reconnaissance planes flying over Cuba spotted missile silos under construction. The Soviets were deploying nuclear warheads to their client to deter a possible invasion of Cuba by the United States. For Americans, nuclear attack felt imminent. Cuba would have to pay for their transgression. President Kennedy, after addressing the immediate crisis, extended a military embargo initiated by President Eisenhower to include economic goods. The United States would attempt to topple the communist regime by denying them economic vitality. Russia kept Cuba afloat, but for the next fifty years the tiny island nation was targeted by successive US Administrations and Congresses.
Children are no longer drilled to prepare for nuclear attack. Today, their desks can be used solely for education or as uncomfortable pillows. The missiles have long since been removed from the Cuban jungles and the Soviet Union exists now only in history books. The world is moving on. The man who once delivered fear in the hearts of mothers, and has survived numerous assassination attempts by the CIA, is ready to deal. Fidel Castro today met with three out of a seven member Congressional delegation and said, “How can we help President Obama?”
The Congressional delegation in Cuba is there to explore ways to improve US-Cuban relations. There is already legislation in the pipeline aimed at accomplishing as much. A bill has been introduced in Congress that would allow unrestricted travel to the island by Americans for the first time in over fifty years. President Obama is expected to announce shortly that he will ease travel and remittance restrictions strengthened by President Bush. These gestures have been warmly accepted by Fidel Castro and his brother and current president, Raul Castro. Raul Castro took office following a lengthy illness that sidelined Fidel. Since then, there have been overtures from the Cuban government signaling an interest in redefining US-Cuban relations to reflect more accurately the reality of the 21st century. The election of President Obama has made such a pursuit more palatable to hardliners in Cuba. Mr. Obama appears to be equally interested in improving US-Cuban relations and may usher in an era where the island of Cuba is viewed more as a potential tourist destination than a dangerous enemy.
In many ways the US embargo on Cuba was similar to the drills that mid-century school children endured in preparation for a nuclear attack. To be sure, there were practical reasons to deny the island the importation of goods that could be used in a military buildup. But beyond that, the embargo served a psychological need unrelated to military defense. In times of uncertainty people need to act, to plan, to be proactive. Much like the school children shielding their skulls from a nuclear inferno with several inches of wood or brick, the nation shielded itself behind the embargo. There was comfort to be found in the process, in knowing that there was a plan. All this in total disregard to effectiveness. In schools today children no longer hide under their desks. It is time the nation at large follow their lead.
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