Cuba experts Valerie Wirtschafter and Julia Sweig discuss the negotiations that led to the historic détente with Cuba and what to expect moving forward after Obama and Castro leave office.
During the early 20th century, the hegemony of the United States on the island-shaped diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba — one factor that drove Fidel Castro’s revolutionary fervor and fueled the Cuban Revolution. During the Cold War, mutual hostility and distrust defined relations. Cuba served as one of the main theaters in which the U.S. and the Soviet Union waged many of their power struggles. But on December 17, 2014, something astonishing happened: the governments of the United States and Cuba decided to reshape this fraught history and chart a new course in diplomatic relations, one built on dialogue and compromise, as well as a shadow of mutual understanding...
