USA & Cuba: A Brief History

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From being within its sphere of influence to acting as a thorn in its side, Cuba has always been seen as strategically important to the USA. What has the nature of their relationship been historically? What is the legacy of the Cold War within Cuba? And what does the future hold for prospects of normalisation?

In this episode, Professor Michael Bustamante joins Don to take us through the historic highs and lows of Cuban-American relations.

Michael is an Associate Professor at the University of Miami and is the author of 'Cuban Memory Wars: Retrospective Politics in Revolution and Exile'.

Edited by Tom Delargy. Produced by Tom Delargy and Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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1:00.0	Ten years ago, in 2015, during the second Obama administration, it was announced that after 50 years ago, in 2015 during the Second Obama administration, it was announced that after 50 years of severed diplomatic relations, the U.S. would be reopening its embassy in Cuba.
1:21.0	It seemed quite evident that droves of Americans would soon be dashing south to sun themselves on those fabled shores.
1:27.3	So we headed down, too, to produce a TV special on Cuban history.
1:31.3	It was a life experience, one that concluded with our last day at the former home of Ernest Hemingway.
1:37.3	Think of Aegea, or Lookout Farm was Hemingway's primary residence and workplace for 21 years, starting in 1939.
1:45.1	Today, it's maintained as a house museum.
1:48.1	Paintings on the walls, stuffed animal heads from safaris, books on the shelves,
1:52.2	all that Hemingway stuff, all staged as it was when the great author departed Cuba in 1960 with revolution in the air.
1:59.5	The building is open in the tropical climate, and visitors pay a small fee to gawk like a
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