United States' Presence in Cuba During Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution

U.S. and Cuban relations have had a very interesting history. Some times have been better than others but ultimately relations between the two nations have not been good. Historically the U.S. has had a dominant presence on the island and made their political and economic presence known very early. Authors Rabe and Lipman show two different yet similar aspects of the presence and views the U.S. had in Cuba during and before the Cuban Revolution lead by Fidel Castro.

In Lipman’s Guantanamo and the Case of Kid Chicle the author shows the hardships and environment that were present in Cuba, specifically, in the Guantanamo Bay area. During the time the U.S. wanted to expand and build new facilities on the naval base on Guantanamo Bay. To do so they contracted a U.S. company, Fredrick Snare Company, to build these new facilities. FSC then began hiring Cuban locals as subcontractors to help them in this work.

As Lipman shows us with his analysis of several primary sources, the FSC took full advantage of the unclear political jurisdiction of Guantanamo Bay and didn’t follow U.S. or Cuban regulations and standards and took the role of a public-private company, doing whatever it pleased with the support of the U.S. Navy.

The section “Kid Chicle: Anger, Ambiguity, and Accommodation with the American Neocolonial State” continues the story told in the beginning of the reading about a poor ex-boxer travelling to Guantanamo Bay in hopes of a job and better life who was killed by an American Navy officer after he was denied work and then tried to sneak on the base as a worker.

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This passage, however, specifically shows the economic and hierarchal dominance the US had on the island.

Lipman analyses his sources in a more contextual manner showing the reader the environment after the death of Kid Chicle. Cuban locals that witnessed the several cases of mistreatment of protested and demanded justice be served in Cuban courts for the death of Kid Chicle. Lipman describes the position in which FSC was in where they took advantage of the uncertain jurisdictions and were able to get away with the murder of Kid Chicle. Cuban officials launched an investigation but were unsuccessful in prosecuting the American soldier after American officials convinced Cuban officials that they had jurisdiction because the boat that Kid Chicle was on was American property.

Lipman’s passage analyzes of primary sources to show the in-state environment and dominance the U.S had in Cuba. He shows the reader how closely the U.S. Navy worked with the FSC and how they used their close relationship to get away with the mistreatment of workers and other atrocities. Lipman states at the end of the passage that the death of Kid Chicle was not the only unsolved Cuban death on the base and in fact there had been other cases where the families were not even paid attributions for their deaths.

During the Cuban Revolution lead by Fidel Castro, it was clear where the U.S stood politically. In Rabe’s The Killing Zone, Chapter 4, entitled “To Playa Girón (The Bays of Pigs)”, the author does a great job at showing the reader, through direct quotes, Washington’s views and how the U.S. planned to oust Fidel Castro and his regime. Rabe uses a different technique then Lipman to prove his point and show the reader his analysis of his primary sources.

Rabe uses direct quotes taken from documents and files to show the U.S. planned on removing Fidel Castro. Rabe describes the environment in Washington showing the reader how Washington felt about Cuba and how it was organizing a rebel army to try and take over the current regime, much like how they had previously done in Guatemala. Rabe quotes President Nixon and Clinton as well as state department officials and CIA officers as his analysis of primary sources.

In Rabe’s passage he shows the political views of Washington against Cuba, in contrast to how Lipman showed the economic and social hierarchal dominance, however, in both passages both authors show how the U.S. felt about asserting their dominance in Cuba as if it was their right to do so. Rabe’s passage shows how the US felt leading up to the Bay of Pigs invasion that eventually turned out to be a huge disaster for the US and a phenomenal victory for Castro and Cuba. Rabe states that this win was huge for Cuba and another loss for the US for getting involved in Latin American issues.