The relationships between the United States and Cuba weren't the best in history so far. The relations which had been severed in 1961 during the Cold War were restored diplomatically on 20 July 2015. Following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, bilateral relations deteriorated substantially. In 1961, the U.S. severed diplomatic ties with Cuba and began pursuing covert operations to topple the Cuban government. The 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and American efforts to stand up to Fidel Castro's attempts to spread communism throughout Latin America and Africa are main highlights of the U.S. antagonism towards Cuba during the Cold War. However, Nixon, Ford, Kennedy, and Johnson resorted to back-channel talks with the Cuban government during the Cold War.
Despite agreeing to normalise the relations with the nation just 90 miles away, the United States continues to maintain its commercial, economic, and financial embargo, making it illegal for the U.S. corporations to do business with Cuba. The then-president Barack Obama realised that the American policy of isolating Cuba had not worked yet, and thus agreed with Cuban President Raul Castro to exchange prisoners, open embassies, and ease restrictions on commerce and trade. An associate professor of Political Science at the Northeastern University and an affiliated faculty member of the International Affairs and African American Studies departments Amílcar Antonio Barreto explained what this historic policy shift means for these two nations.
He proclaimed, "Normalisation may signal American willingness to allow Cuba to join the Organisation of American States—a move Washington has been blocking for decades." However, he feels that this decision won't hamper or better the political stature and image of Obama for the next elections. The improved trade relations from now would mutually benefit both the nations they were deprived of the past fifty years.
Harminder Singh