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That Infernal Little Cuban Republic: The United States and the Cuban Revolution

2010; Duke University Press; Volume: 90; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1215/00182168-2010-081

1527-1900

Eric Paul Roorda,

Cuban History and Society

Have you heard the joke about the Central Intelligence Agency? Its motto is “Overthrowing Fidel Castro since 1959.” This may be a joke, but as this excellent book shows, it is also true. This magisterial volume will become the new standard account of U.S.-Cuban relations.The title comes from a quotation by Theodore Roosevelt, who set the precedent for U.S. policy toward the Republic of Cuba. As detailed here, the United States has never and “still cannot concede to Cubans the right of self-determination, while Cubans apparently consider this concession the essential first step toward accommodation” (p. 567). The policy may be misguided, but it has been consistent, from William Howard Taft’s “earnest effort to uplift these people” to George W. Bush’s determination to “go down and lift those people up” (p. 552). Unfortunately, as Lars Schoultz observes, “Washing-ton’s uplifting mentality” is “clearly delusional” (p. 557).Problems began when U.S. policy makers failed to understand the nature of the revolution led by Castro. The author quotes Hunter S. Thompson to characterize what happened in Cuba in 1959: “Every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash.” However, “unable to interpret this long fine flash . . . the dark suits in the Eisenhower administration concluded that the revolution was not a grassroots movement but the machinations of a bearded misfit. They personalized the revolution” (p. 558). Obsessed with Castro, they overlooked the fact that “no island is a man” (p. 559).The book documents how this rigid anti-Cuba stance continued even as the reasons for it disappeared. The end of the Cold War removed the strongest argument against Castro, that he was a proxy for the Soviet Union, but hostility toward the island endured. Schoultz argues convincingly that the reason for this was the “Cuban Americans’ capture of U.S. policy toward Cuba” (p. 402). He shows that “both major political parties gave Cuban Americans what they wanted” (p. 448), conceding power to the Cuban American National Foundation and to three inordinately influential Cuban American representatives in Congress.Schoultz bases his analysis on incredibly exhaustive and penetrating research. The range of sources he consulted is astounding, from the trove of declassified material at the National Security Archive to the Spanish language edition of Elle magazine. Much of the information is new. Some of the most fascinating passages come from the many interviews the author conducted over a quarter century, such as the trash talk that Alexander Haig dished out about the Reagan administration, not sparing Nancy.Organized with a chapter on every U.S. presidential administration from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush, the study directs harsh criticism at each of them. But the second Bush administration stands out among them, having conducted what Lawrence Wilkerson, aide to Secretary of State Colin Powell, called “the dumbest policy on the face of the earth” (p. 540).The writing is lucid and witty, filled with penetrating observations, such as the following: “. . . each new Washington generation vows to help make Cuba democratic, even if that means, as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge phrased it in 1906, shaking the Cubans by their necks until they behave. But democracy is not about replacing bad leaders with good leaders; rather, it is a method of governance, simply one good way people have developed to get along without shaking one another by the neck” (p. 559). This sort of acerbic acuity, which pervades the prose, brings to mind Ambrose Bierce. It is a delight to read.The narrative includes other contexts for the events it examines, most notably the geopolitical developments that distracted U.S. policy makers from focusing on Cuba, right up to the war in Iraq. In detailing the violent operations against Cuba carried out by the CIA and various organizations of Cuban exiles, the book also highlights the double standard of U.S. policy regarding terrorism.This book is a Herculean effort at nearly 750 pages, yet there might have been room to mention that the two men implicated in the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976, which killed 73 people, today live in the United States; one, Orlando Bosch, was pardoned by George W. Bush, while the other awaits trial on minor immigration charges. Also deserving a place here are the “Cuban Five.” They infiltrated anti-Castro exile organizations operating in Florida and gave information about the terrorist activities being planned to the FBI in 1998; but instead of pursuing the terrorists, the FBI arrested the five informers as spies! The fact that members of the “Cuban Five” are still in prison serving long sentences, while Orlando Bosch enjoys freedom, perfectly demonstrates the hypocrisy of U.S. policy when it comes to “that infernal little Cuban republic.” This indispensable book persuasively and voluminously pillories that policy as an embarrassing failure.