Being successfully nasty: the United States, Cuba and state-sponsored terrorism, 1959-1976
Date
2008-08-11T22:07:39Z
Authors
Douglas, Robert
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Abstract
Despite being the global leader in the “war on terror,” the United States has been accused of sponsoring terrorism against Cuba. The following study assesses these charges. After establishing a definition of terrorism, it examines U.S.-Cuban relations from 1808 to 1958, arguing that the United States has historically employed violence in its efforts to control Cuba. U.S. leaders maintained this approach even after the Cuban Revolution: months after Fidel Castro’s guerrilla army took power, Washington began organizing Cuban exiles to carry out terrorist attacks against the island, and continued to support and tolerate such activities until the 1970s, culminating in what was the hemisphere’s most lethal act of airline terrorism before 9/11. Since then, the United States has maintained contact with well-known anti-Castro terrorists, in many cases employing and harbouring them, despite its claims to be fighting an international campaign against terrorism.
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HISTORY, CUBA, GERALD FORD, GEORGE H. W. BUSH, UNITED STATES, U.S.-CUBAN RELATIONS, TERRORISM, WAR ON TERRORISM, FIDEL CASTRO, BAY OF PIGS, OPERATION MONGOOSE, CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, DWIGHT EISENHOWER, JOHN KENNEDY, LYNDON JOHNSON, RICHARD NIXON, HENRY KISSINGER, GEORGE W. BUSH, CUBAN EXILES, JORGE MAS CANOSA, LUIS POSADA CARRILES, ORLANDO BOSCH, FELIX RODRIGUEZ, CORU, CUBAN REVOLUTION, FILIBUSTERING, NARCISO LOPEZ