From the Belly of the Beast

     One thing that is important to me is history. History has always been my biggest passion since I was in middle school. While throughout high school I was more interested in learning of ancient European history, early on in college I became obsessed with Latin American history. Particularly Latin American history from the 1950s to now. Latin America is often overlooked I feel when it comes to Western history. Located in what is known as "The Global South", Latin America is a relatively low socioeconomic region of the Earth when compared to its Global North counterpart which is predominantly white European countries. 

    The history of Latin America's relatively low standing in the socioeconomic scale is deeply tied to its history of being colonized and underdeveloped by the Spanish and by the United States. The term underdeveloped is important here as these countries are not undeveloped in the sense that they do not have the economic ability to develop their economies, their economies have been purposefully UNDER developed by colonial powers to make them dependent on the major economic players. My favorite example of an underdeveloped country is Cuba. When you think of Cuba what do you think of? Do you think of it as a communist menace resting only 75 miles off Florida's southern coast? Do you view it as a member of the "Axis of Evil" as it was referred to by former United States Security advisor John Bolton? Or do you view it as a country that is being starved by its neighbor to the north based off sanctions that were placed on it 60 years ago? Cuba might be a controversial country and I do not think it is a perfect country, however, Cuba is in my opinion one of the best examples of a country that was purposefully underdeveloped by its colonial rulers.

    Cuba was originally a colony of Spain, however after decades of conflict with Cuban independence movements and a war with the United States, Cuba was released from Spanish colonial control, however it was not freed from white European colonists. The United States took Cuba into its own sphere of influence, looking over Cuban elections, controlling the Cuban economy, and letting American corporations run freely through Cuba extracting whatever they wanted. Cuba existed in this state under unfair and unfree elections and even a military dictatorship until 1959. In 1959, Fidel Castro and his Fidelistas, overthrew the Cuban government headed by dictator Fulgencio Batista, and installed their own soon to be socialist government by the people for the people. One of Cuba's first policies it put in place was a Land Reform policy which nationalized much of the land that was owned by foreign corporations and returned it to the Cuban people. This obviously did not reside well with the United States, hence starting a 60 year terror campaign against the island with many periods of rising aggression between the two countries.

    The Cuban people have resisted though. 62 years after the Cuban Revolution, and 30 years after the fall of their major trade partner, the Soviet Union, and the Cuban people have survived through it all. The spirit of the revolution was tested in the 90's however it is still running strong. I find this history fascinating and it has helped me understand a people in which I have no connection to, and I find myself highly sympathetic to their cause. While I agree that Cuba has made mistakes post-revolution, I admire their attempts to make life better despite the many factors going against them. I am currently writing a research paper in my History 295 class on the Cuban medical industry which is considered to be one of the best medical industries in the world, and my research has taught me many facts that I did not know prior. Cuba has really dragged itself up and stood tall out of the belly of the beast.