![Sample our Global Development journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5929/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Global-Development.jpg"})
Abstract
Existing accounts of the US–Cuba Thaw correctly identify the decisiveness of Latin American states in pushing the 2014 change in US policy towards Cuba. Problematically, however, these accounts overlook a range of regional integration projects pursued by Latin American states that prove pivotal in ascertaining the central dynamics of the region in shaping the Thaw. This article argues that these regional integration projects are imperative to understanding how Latin American states were able to alter US policy towards Cuba, for three reasons. First, these initiatives, and Cuba’s role in these projects, are central to understanding why Cuba came to be a unanimously ‘regional’ issue for Latin American states of all political persuasions; second, the challenges to US dominance in the region provided by these integration projects were ultimately what gave Latin American states their teeth in pushing the Obama administration to reconsider its policy towards Cuba; and third, a consideration of this broader regional context more thoroughly illustrates the strategic nature of the change in policy towards Cuba as an attempt by the US to salvage its ability to influence regional affairs in response to these integration initiatives that excluded it from the region’s architecture.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Tom Chodor and Shahar Hameiri for their fantastic supervision and their earlier comments on this piece. Thanks also to the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback and the TWQ editorial team. Likewise, my gratitude goes to Amelia Edwards, who proofread the final draft. Responsibility for the final version of this piece remains mine.
Notes on contributor
John de Bhal is currently pursuing an MPhil in International Relations at the University of Oxford. His work has previously been published in Contemporary Politics. He is a graduate of the University of Queensland, where he was supervised by Dr Tom Chodor and Associate Professor Shahar Hameiri.
Notes
1 Obama, “Text of President Barack Obama’s Speech.”
2 LeoGrande, “Normalizing US–Cuba Relations”; López-Levy, “What Obama’s New Cuba Policy Means”; Shifter, “US–Cuba Thaw and Hemispheric Relations”; Feinberg, Open for Business, 4–6; de Bhal, “More Continuity than Change.”
3 LeoGrande, “Normalizing US–Cuba Relations,” 482; Shifter, “US–Cuba Thaw and Hemispheric Relations,” 75.
4 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 149.
5 Riggirozzi, “Region, Regionness and Regionalism in Latin America.”
6 Riggirozzi and Tussie, “Rise of Post-Hegemonic Regionalism,” 1.
7 Grandin, Empire’s Workshop.
8 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 1.
9 Robinson, Promoting Polyarchy, 48.
10 Robinson, Latin America and Global Capitalism, 266; Reygadas, “Latin America: Persistent Inequality,” 124.
11 Hakim, “Is Washington Losing Latin America?,” 47.
12 LeoGrande, “Poverty of Imagination,” 385.
13 Rafael Correa cited in MercoPress, “Correa Says OAS Should Have Been Disarticulated.”
14 UNASUR, “South American Union of Nations.”
15 US Department of Defense cited in Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 150.
16 Javier Ponce cited in MercoPress, “UNASUR Defence Council Has to Protect.”
17 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 150.
18 Ibid.
19 Marco Aurélio Garcia cited in Carlson, “Venezuela Launches.”
20 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 151.
21 Achtenberg, “Bolivia’s 9/11 .”
22 Rafael Correa cited in Segovia, “Latin America and the Caribbean,” 97.
23 Hugo Chávez cited in Gutiérrez, Latinos and Latinas at Risk, 138.
24 Rafael Correa cited in Segovia, “Latin America and the Caribbean,” 97.
25 Rafael Correa cited in ibid.
26 Daniel Ortega cited in Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 1.
27 Ibid., 159.
28 Golinger, “Washington behind the Honduras Coup.”
29 Lula da Silva cited in Yapp, “US Still Acts Like an ‘Empire.’”
30 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 156.
31 Arenas-Garcia, 21st Century Regionalism in South America, 79.
32 Riggirozzi, “Region, Regionness and Regionalism in Latin America,” 433.
33 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 154.
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Fornes and Mendez, China–Latin America Axis, 66, 158.
38 Tanas, “Russia Forgives $32B of Debt.”
39 MercoPress, “South American Leaders Sign Agreement.”
40 Bizusaperu, “BNDES Increases Disbursement”; Barry Cannon, Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution, 186.
41 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 155.
42 Ibid.
43 Chodor and McCarthy-Jones, “Post-Liberal Regionalism in Latin America,” 220.
44 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 156.
45 Martin Hart-Landsberg, Capitalist Globalization, 164.
46 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 156.
47 Venezuelan Bank of External Commerce cited in Paul Kellogg, “Regional Integration in Latin America,” 202.
48 Cuba and Venezuela were the founding members in 2004. Other members include Bolivia (2006), Nicaragua (2006), Dominica (2008), Antigua and Barbuda (2009), Ecuador (2009), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (2009), Saint Lucia (2013), Grenada (2014), Suriname (2012), and Saint Kitts and Nevis (2014).
49 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 158.
50 Ibid.
51 Ibid.
52 Jubilee South et al., “Open Letter.”
53 Riggirozzi, “Region, Regionness and Regionalism in Latin America,” 425.
54 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 160–1.
55 Legler, “Post-Hegemonic Regionalism and Sovereignty,” 339.
56 Riggirozzi, “Region, Regionness and Regionalism in Latin America,” 437.
57 Havana Times, “Cuba’s Role in Latin American Integration.”
58 Segura and Mechoulan, Made in Havana.
59 Riggirozzi, “Region, Regionness and Regionalism in Latin America,” 437.
60 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 161.
61 John Kerry cited in Karpova, “John Kerry, Secretary of State.”
62 Santos, “Remarks by President Juan Manuel Santos.”
63 Cawthorne and Ellsworth, “Latin America Rebels against Obama.”
64 Chodor, Neoliberal Hegemony and the Pink Tide, 175.
65 Cawthorne and Ellsworth, “Latin America Rebels against Obama.”
66 Feinberg, “Cuba and the Summits of the Americas.”
67 Ibid., emphasis added.
68 John Kerry, Cabinet Exit Memo, 13.
69 The White House, “Charting a New Course of Cuba.”
70 Kerry, “Remarks on US Policy.”
71 See, for example, Mills, “John Kerry at the OAS”; Finchelstein and Piccato, “Latin America Sees Straight.”