The recent thaw in relations between the US and Cuba is a turning point in history. Both rival states are going to have a first round of talks aimed at restoring diplomatic and trade relations this week. After a 50-year long standoff with the communist-led island, the present US administration has taken the initiative to reshape its foreign policy towards Cuba. Under the new confidence building measures, the US administration has decided to exclude Cuba from the list of terror-sponsoring countries and roll back restrictions on travel and trade. Earlier, the Cuban government released an unnamed American intelligence agent who had been imprisoned for nearly 20 years and Alan Gross, a 65-year-old American subcontractor who had been imprisoned in Havana since 2009. The US in turn released the three remaining Cubans of the famous five who served more than 13 years in prison. The prisoner swap has paved the way for normalisation after hostility for half a century. The conflict between the US and Cuba started soon after the coming to power of Fidel Castro, a revolutionary in the true sense. The way he ousted Fulgencio Batista in 1959 had been a role model and inspiration for revolutionary movements around the world. He laid the foundations of communism in Cuba, which proved a total anathema to the US. The US applied all its bag of tricks to repeatedly try and overthrow this regime, including innumerable attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro. But the communist regime of Cuba outlived the cold war and bitter sanctions. Cuba’s loss of major ally the Soviet Union in 1991 exacerbated Cuba’s economic difficulties but the bond between the Cuban people and their revolutionary government remained intact because they lived under an equitable social order.
The five-decade trade embargo is coming to an end now. Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother Fidel Castro as president in 2008, has adopted a pragmatic approach. He has already initiated a reform process in Cuba. The rapprochement was also made possible due to a change in the Obama administration’s approach towards resolving the conflict with Cuba. Now Cuba cannot let its guard down against US attempts to subvert socialism in Cuba through ‘soft’ power. Cuba’s growing entrepreneurial class and the private sector are the US’s main targets, which Washington hopes will help bring retrogressive political change. In order to completely lift the trade embargo on Cuba, a nod from the Republican-controlled US Congress is required. It is premature to guess the outcome of this challenge. But the momentum of change in the relationship between the two countries seems unstoppable. It is, finally, the verdict of history that a determined small country can defy and stave off a hostile superpower neighbour, provided it is armed with revolutionary ideology. *