The Obama’s just made the first presidential visit to Cuba in 88 years. After they left, 89-year-old Fidel Castro, Cuba’s retired communist leader, didn’t miss a step in shunning Obama’s visit and reminding the Cuban people of all the sh*t America has ‘done’ to them (think back to high school history class… Bay of Pigs, does that ring a bell?) The good thing about Castro’s feelings is that they prove Obama’s visit actually meant something. They show the significance and the importance of Obama’s choice to step foot in Cuba. White House Press secretary, Josh Earnest, told The Wall Street Journal that the “fact that the former president [Fidel Castro] felt so compelled to respond…is an indication of the significant impact of [President Obama’s] visit.”
But what does this all mean and who really cares? I mean, we’re in college, the place where most of us are too busy campaigning and feeling that Bern for “Free College Tuition” to actually care about what’s going on between America and Cuba…right?
I’ll admit it, I didn’t know about what was going on between Cuba and the U.S., so let’s take a trip back to high school American history class and work through this together:
- 1898 Spanish-American war: we beat Spain and they gave us the rights to its territories (Hello Cuba!) included in these rights was the infamous torture-filled detention camp, Guantanamo Bay.
- A short 3 years later in 1902, U.S forces no longer occupy and the new Cuban government takes control of its affairs. Our countries get along more or less for the next 50-ish years.
- The turning point is the Cuban Revolution: this is where Mr. Fidel Castro comes in with his band of guerilla soldiers to overthrow their President, General Fulgencio Batista. Fidel Castro now has full control over Cuba, executes over 500 pro-Batista supporters and begins to turn the country into a communist nation. Needless to say, America didn’t exactly love what Castro was doing but a few months later we invited him to D.C. to visit. This trip would be one of the last moments of friendship between our two countries.
- 1960, Castro hikes up taxes on American products and we cut our shipments in half. So where does Castro head for trade? The Soviet Union. Because of this we cut ties with the nation and will only communicate through Switzerland. By 1962, J.F.K. issues a permanent embargo with Cuba, which is still in place today. It is the longest trade embargo in history.
- The next 3 years are filled with attempts by the U.S. to kill Castro (this is where Bay of Pigs comes in). All of these attempts, obviously, failed but you can guess each one made Mr. Castro more and more bitter. Why’d we want to kill him? Well, let’s not forget about the Cuban Missile Crisis which was 12 straight days of threats to send of nuclear missiles between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. America was pretty angry that Castro allowed these missiles to be built so close to our mainland.
- 1980, Cuba’s economy has little to offer so Castro allows over 125,000 Cubans to leave and land in the U.S. Regardless of you opinion on refugees currently, these particular refugees [many of them] that he released were from prisons and mental-health facilities.
Okay, that was a lot but if you’re still with me, good for you. Pretty much what we need to know about the Obama’s visit is that it is a small step towards bettering relations with Cuba. The State Department has even announced the re-establishment of non-stop flights from the U.S. to Cuba. This is a huge change for American-Cuban families.
Let’s sum it up: basically, just take what Fidel Castro has to say about our nation, lightly. America’s made mistakes and Cuba’s made mistakes but at least we’re taking the opportunity to make more relations with Cuba and its president Raúl Castro (Fidel’s brother). Remember, Fidel is an 89-year-old communist who will probably hate America for the rest of his life. To put it lightly, Sebastian Arcos, Associate Director of the Cuban Research Institute in Florida says: “He’s essentially an old man ranting in the background.” Good to know, Sebastian. Now, that you know your basics, be sure to follow American-Cuban relations in the news because I’m sure things between our nations will stay interesting, like always.
Editor Note: The opinions and values expressed in this article are those of authors and don’t represent the values or opinions of Her Campus Utah or Her Campus International.