Classic cars are still on the road in Cuba, due to the trade embargo and lack of contact with other countries since the 1960s. GOOGLE IMAGES /steranomolinari.com

By Alma Flores

After the United States helped win Cuba’s independence from Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898, U.S. companies began investing in Cuba. Ever since 1898 Cuba and the United States has had a tight economic relationship, revolving around trade and tourism.

It was 1959 when the Castro administration seized control over Cuba that the relationship ended. Immediately after he took over, Castro restructured Cuba’s government to a one-party communist system, and then expropriated American properties in Cuba. This is when Cuba became a Communist country.

Cuba became aligned with the Soviet Union, the sworn enemy of the United States. Cuba nationalized U.S. oil refineries and all other properties. President Eisenhower, who was president then, had implemented restrictions on trade with Cuba. The U.S. retaliated by unilaterally embargoing all exports to Cuba. Trade restrictions were implemented to contain Cuba’s leadership, and hurt the Castro communist regime.

President Kennedy continued and even strengthened the embargo of Cuba, eventually leading up to the Cuban missile crisis. The Soviet Union attempted to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, aimed at the United States. Kennedy placed the U.S. Navy between Soviet ships and Cuba and prevented the Kremlin from getting a strategic advantage in the western hemisphere. This was the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear war.

Now President Obama has opened up relations with Cuba, but there are many who are concerned about this, because the relationship between Catro and the U.S. has not changed. Cuba is still a communist country.

“The recently announced changes in U.S.-Cuba policy, specifically the lifting of travel restrictions and the promotion of business and commerce between the two countries, will require a significant change in the U.S. border security and border control missions between the two countries,” according to Defense One, a national security news website.

The concerns are that this plan has not been well thought out. There are many serious changes that need to happen to prepare for this and the communist dictatorship in Cuba has not changed at all.

There are others who see this policy as an opportunity. Big business and many politicians are pushing to end the U.S. embargo on Cuba. A new lobbying group called Engage Cuba launched a campaign, with the support of many Fortune 500 companies, to re-establish relations with Cuba. However, the opportunity to make money in Cuba may not be the best way to support the people of that nation, as long as they have a harsh dictator as leader.