US policy on Cuba during the presidency of Barack Obama

Natalia Pasichnyk, Ph.D. in History, Associate Professor, Bila Tserkva Institute of Economics and Management of the University «Ukraine», Bila Tserkva, Ukraine

Abstract

The article is devoted to U.S. policy on Cuba during the presidency of Barack Obama. The author identifies that during its first six years, the Obama Administration continued the dual-track policy approach toward Cuba that maintained U.S. economic sanctions and continued measures to support the Cuban people, such as U.S. government-sponsored radio and television broadcasting and funding for democracy and human rights projects. At the same time, however, the Obama Administration initiated a significant shift in policy toward Cuba beginning in 2009 that included the abolition of certain restrictions on remittances and travel.

The article emphasizes that the significant changes in US-Cuban relations were occurred in the second term of Barack Obama. A new course in U.S. relations with Cuba, announced by the President, included the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba; a review of Cuba’s designation by the Department of State as a state sponsor of international terrorism; and an increase in travel, commerce, and the flow of information to and from Cuba.

The author examines the factors that influenced the change of the Washington’s policy on Cuba, in particular failure of U.S. policy of the embargo; the economic benefits of normalization of Cuba-United States relations; the impact of public opinion; the political influence of the Cuban American lobby; the attitude of Latin America towards the US-Cuban stand-off; the changes under way within Cuba since the assumption of the presidency by R. Castro in 2008 and others. The article contained evaluation of the current state and progress of the US-Cuban normalization process

Keywords
USA, Cuba, Embargo, «Spy Swap», the Cuban Five

Full text
PDF

References

  1. LAZAREV V.V. (2014) Vlijanie politiki reform Raulja Kastro na amerikano-kubinskie otnoshenija. Nauka, tehnika i obrazovanie. 2(2). [Online]. Avaliable from: http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/vliyanie-politiki-reform-raulya-kastro-na-amerikano-kubinskie-otnosheniya.
  2. MAKARENKO H., RATNIKOV O. (2015) «Kubynska vidlyha»: navishcho Obama pishov na prymyrennia z «Ostrovom svobody». 112.ua [Online]. Avaliable from: http://ua.112.ua/statji/kubynska-vidlyha-navishcho-obama-pishov-na-prymyrennia-z-ostrovom-svobody-246605.html.
  3. Novi aspekty heopolitychnoi stratehii SShA. Nezalezhnyi analitychnyi tsentr heopolitychnykh doslidzhen «BORYSFEN INTEL». [Elektronnyi resurs].– Rezhym dostupu: http://iac.org.ua/novi-aspekti-geopolitichnoyi-strategiyi-ssha/.
  4. PASICHNYK N.S. (2015) Amerykano-kubynski vidnosyny na suchasnomu etapi //In Proceeding of 2nd international conference Spolucheni Shtaty Ameryky u suchasnomu sviti: polityka, ekonomika, pravo, suspilstvo. Vol.2, Lviv, May 2015. Lviv: Tsentr amerykanskykh studii FMV LNU im. I. Franka. pp. 218-221.
  5. SUDAREV V. (2010) Trend neopredelennosti v Zapadnom polusharii. – Mezhdunarodnye processy. Zhurnal teorii mezhdunarodnyh otnoshenij i mirovoj politiki. Vol.8. No.24(3). [Online]. Avaliable from: http://www.intertrends.ru/twenty-four/011.htm.
  6. Charting a New Course on Cuba. The White House. [Online]. Avaliable from: https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/foreign-policy/cuba.
  7. SULLIVAN M.P. (2012) Cuba: Issues for the 112th Congress. CRS Report for Congress. 06 November. Congressional Research Service. [Online]. Avaliable from: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41617.pdf.
  8. SULLIVAN M.P. (2017) Cuba Issues for the 114th Congress. CRS Report for Congress. 18 January. Congressional Research Service. [Online]. Avaliable from: http://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R43926.pdf.
  9. Fact Sheet: Charting a New Course on Cuba. The White House, December 17, 2014. The White House. [Online]. Avaliable from: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/17/fact-sheet-charting-new-course-cuba.
  10. Fact Sheet: One-Year Anniversary of the President’s Policy of Engagement with Cuba, December 16, 2015. The White House. [Online]. Avaliable from: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/12/16/fact-sheet-one-year-anniversary-presidents-policy-engagement-cuba
  11. KORNBLUH P., LEOGRANDE W. (2015) Inside the Crazy Back-Channel Negotiations that Revolutionized Our Relations with Cuba. Mother Jones. [Online]. Avaliable from: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/secret-negotiations-gross-hernandez-kerry-pope-obama-castro-cuba.
  12. (2014) Obama in 2008: No Normalized Relations with Cuba Until All Political Prisoners Released. Breitbart. [Online]. Avaliable from: http://www.breitbart.com/video/2014/12/17/obama-in-2008-no-normalized-relations-with-cuba-until-all-political-prisoners-released.
  13. ZELENY J. (2008) Obama, in Miami, Calls for Engaging With Cuba. The New York Times, May 24. [Online]. Avaliable from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/us/politics/24campaign.html?_r=0.
  14. DEYOUNG K. (2015) Obama removes Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Washington Post. April 14. [Online]. Avaliable from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-removes-cuba-from-the-list-of-state-sponsors-of-terrorism/2015/04/14/8f7dbd2e-e2d9-11e4-81ea-0649268f729e_story.html?wpmk=MK0000203
  15. (2013) Remarks by the President at a DSCC Fundraising Reception, Miami, Florida // The White House, Office of the Press Secretary. [Online]. Avaliable from: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/11/ 08/ remarks-president-dscc-fundraising-reception-0.
  16. (2009) Remarks by the President at the Summit of the Americas Opening Ceremony // The White House, Office of the Press Secretary. [Online]. Avaliable from: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-the-Summit-of-the-Americas-Opening-Ceremony.
  17. RENWICK D., LEE B. (2015) U.S.-Cuba Relations. The Council on Foreign Relations, January 20. [Online]. Avaliable from: http://www.cfr.org/cuba/us-cuba-relations/p11113.
  18. (2016) Statement by the Press Secretary on the President’s Travel to Cuba and Argentina. The White House, 18 February. [Online]. Avaliable from: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/18/statement-press-secretary-presidents-travel-cuba-and-argentina
  19. (2011) The Cuban Government Should Respect Human Rights Week Activities. United States Department of State. 14 December. [Online]. Avaliable from: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/12/178852.htm.

DOI http://doi.org/10.17721/2521-1706.2016.02.197-205