Cuba USA
- When Us - Cuba Normalizing Relations Becomes Difficult
by Manuel E. Yepe A CubaNews translation. Quite a task is facing the US and Cuban leaders and officials who must try to reach agreements on the way to the normalization of relations between two neighbor countries that have so many differences. In the...
- The History Of The Guantanamo Base Written By… Its Occupants
by Jose Manzanedasource La Pupila Insomnetranslation Cuba - Network in Defense of Humanity The television section of the Spanish daily, El Pais, visited the Naval Base of Guantanamo. But not to view the horrors of the high security prison but to interview...
- Normalizing Relations With Cuba: Has The U.s. Learned Its Lesson?
by Nelson Valdezsource counterpunch Before 1898 Cuba was a nation without a state. It had a colonial status but also had an evolving national culture and identity, an emerging nationhood and its own history. Its sovereignty was exercised by Spain through...
- Island In The Gulf
by Graziella Pogolottisource Juventud Rebeldetranslation Cuba - Network in Defense of Humanity It is a first step. The legal mess of the blockade cannot be undone in one day or the next and will confront sectors of resistance of U.S. political groups....
- Yawning Up San Juan Hill
By David Abel SAN JUAN HILL, Cuba - Maria Terrero reluctantly marched up this famous slope, cupped her ears with her hands as she passed a band of trumpeters and yawned under signs blaring "Fatherland or Death" and "We will never renounce our independence."...
Cuba USA
Cuba in the Imagination of the United States
by Graziella Pogolotti
source juventud rebelde
A CubaNews translation.
The concept of collective imagination has become widespread only relatively recently. It refers to the popular view about some important issues, including how we see ourselves and how we value other nations. In the case of Cuba, psychologist Carolina de la Torre studied this issue in the context of a broader research on our cultural identity. She analyzed our high self-esteem, particularly considering the educational development of the country and some natural intelligence tempered perhaps by the traditional component of bichería [streetwisdom]. In my opinion, that optimistic self-appraisal owes a lot to the work of the Revolution and the results of its international projection; in contrast with the image that we previously had due to the deep disappointment caused by the US intervention, the imposition of the Platt Amendment and its derivatives, a geographic fatalism and our political and economic dependence.
Its popular representation was embodied in the comic-strip character Liborio de Torriente with his guajiro [rural area resident] sadness. He was introduced in the pages of La Política Cómica and made even humbler when he was given the nickname Liborito.
Editorial Ciencias Sociales [Ciencias Sociales Publishers] has published a substantial and revealing book by historian and University of Carolina professor Lou A. Pérez. Cuba in the Imagination of the United States is the result of a rigorous revealing study according to which, since the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, a cultural construction began to take shape which would lead to forging a shared image of the United States and the rest of the countries. In this regard, the author focuses on the Cuban case. The analysis underpins the unstoppable interdependence between the US’s vision of its own destiny and that of the island.
The American collective imagination began its construction shortly after the independence of the Thirteen Colonies. The speeches of presidents, congressmen, and state secretaries; the newspaper articles, some literary works, art performances and symbolic images shaped the self-image and the images of the rest of the peoples in the world. Mystified the conquest of The West would be seen as a struggle between good and evil. Thus, the country extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific and increased its territory in that direction by taking over much of Mexico. The incorporation of Louisiana and Florida extended the country to the basin of the Gulf of Mexico. A key to this maritime space, Cuba occupied a strategic position for trading with the four cardinal points of the Ocean; while the southern states –with a plantation economy supported by slavery-- perceived their potential convergence of interests with the Cuban sugar barons.
The core of the concept of manifest destiny is in the messianic self-representation incorporated into the collective imagination of the US people. Its attributed virtues make up a model that, by reason of justice, must be imposed on others to ensure greater security. Conceived in absolute terms, this view ignores the historical and cultural specificities of the rest of the world. Concerning Cuba, there were failed attempts to get the cession of the island from Spain.
Meanwhile, throughout the nineteenth century, Cuba was becoming increasingly important in the American imagination. The arguments disclosed by sources of high political representation were aimed at justifying the need for intervention. Commercial reasons were adduced given the strategic position of Cuba; along with alleged geological theories that linked the island to the peninsula of Florida. Later, arguments of national security were added. These are still used in relation to Cuba and many other unfamiliar places located at great distance from the United States. The campaign became more colorful in so far as the insurgency gained strength among Cubans. Public opinion was being shaped with increasing strength in preparation for what would result in the intervention in the Spanish-Cuban-American War.
The time had come to move, to shake people's feelings and ideas developed by reasoning. There was no lack of derogatory positions regarding a people deemed incapable of getting rid of their oppressor without help. This thesis would take further and more precise expressions and claim our inability to govern ourselves. The horrors caused by Valeriano Weyler’s concentration areas helped awaken a genuine sympathy from the American people. The graphics in the press of the time multiplied the impact of words. Cuba appeared as a defenseless woman in the arms of her protecting neighbor [the US]. Then it would be a baby sheltered by a big protective brother, and finally a small child whose hand had to be held when walking.
In fact, the war in Cuba had become unsustainable --both economically and militarily-- for Spain by the time the explosion of the Maine served as a pretext for the United States to declare war on Spain. The mambises [Cuban liberation army] had already achieved the feat of invading the island from one end to another. The US contribution was only the sinking of the Spanish fleet as it was leaving the bay of Santiago and a landing at Daiquiri under the protection of the Cubans.
However, with this blow, Cuba was out of the game. It was excluded from taking part in the Treaty of Paris, unknown as a key contender, and could not even claim a rightful compensation from Spain. The intervention Government replaced the colonial metropolis, the Liberation Army was disbanded, and Máximo Gómez was discharged. Everything was ready to impose the Platt Amendment that recognized the right of the US to intervene in Cuban internal affairs. Even after the abrogation of the Platt Amendment, in 1934, the occupation of Guantanamo Bay remains to this day.
The work by Lou A. Pérez is an excellent example of historical research. It is supported by numerous and relevant quotations and accompanied by graphics that show the procedure whereby the establishment builds a collective imagination. It helps to understand the past. But even more enlightening, it provides keys analyze the methods that – with resources unimaginable in the 19th century-- are used today. The messianic will to justify interventions anywhere on the planet persists today. A threat to the national security of the United States is used too often. The publication of the book is a publishing success.
- When Us - Cuba Normalizing Relations Becomes Difficult
by Manuel E. Yepe A CubaNews translation. Quite a task is facing the US and Cuban leaders and officials who must try to reach agreements on the way to the normalization of relations between two neighbor countries that have so many differences. In the...
- The History Of The Guantanamo Base Written By… Its Occupants
by Jose Manzanedasource La Pupila Insomnetranslation Cuba - Network in Defense of Humanity The television section of the Spanish daily, El Pais, visited the Naval Base of Guantanamo. But not to view the horrors of the high security prison but to interview...
- Normalizing Relations With Cuba: Has The U.s. Learned Its Lesson?
by Nelson Valdezsource counterpunch Before 1898 Cuba was a nation without a state. It had a colonial status but also had an evolving national culture and identity, an emerging nationhood and its own history. Its sovereignty was exercised by Spain through...
- Island In The Gulf
by Graziella Pogolottisource Juventud Rebeldetranslation Cuba - Network in Defense of Humanity It is a first step. The legal mess of the blockade cannot be undone in one day or the next and will confront sectors of resistance of U.S. political groups....
- Yawning Up San Juan Hill
By David Abel SAN JUAN HILL, Cuba - Maria Terrero reluctantly marched up this famous slope, cupped her ears with her hands as she passed a band of trumpeters and yawned under signs blaring "Fatherland or Death" and "We will never renounce our independence."...