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Anglo-Cuban Diplomacy: The Economic and Political Links with Britain (1945–60)
Abstract
Following the Second World War, after a period when European markets were disrupted and Anglo-Cuban bilateral links had stagnated, Cuban diplomacy engaged in a diplomatic offensive aimed at regaining this market. This article starts by showing how the thinking of the ruling elite of the island was guided by a proactive foreign policy implemented at two interdependent levels: using normal diplomatic channels combined with economic and trade missions. In the second part, the stage immediately following the victory of the revolutionary forces in Cuba will be evaluated, during which time policy making was dominated by commonly held ideas about the importance of commercial and economic links. Finally, the combination of factors that interacted to upset this dynamic will be evaluated: US pressure, British promises to the American government and the growing close relationship between Cuba and the Soviet Bloc.
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Jorge Renato Ibarra Guitart, El Tratado Anglo-Cubano de 1905: Estados Unidos contra Europa (La Habana, Cuba: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 2008).
Morris H. Morley, ‘The United States and the Global Economic Blockade of Cuba: A Study in Political Pressures on America's Allies’, Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique 17(1) March 1984: 25–48; Andrew Holt, ‘Lord Home and Anglo–American Relations, 1961–1963’, Diplomacy & Statecraft 16(4) 2005: 699–722.
Chris Hull, ‘Our Arms in Havana: British Military Sales to Batista and Castro, 1958–59’, Diplomacy & Statecraft 18(3) 2007: 593–616; Chris Hull, ‘“Going to War in Buses”: The Anglo-American Clash over Leyland Sales to Cuba, 1963–1964’, Diplomatic History 34(5) November 2010: 793–822; Mark Phythian and Jonathan Jardine, ‘Hunters in the Backyard? The UK, the US and the Question of Arms Sales to Castro's Cuba, 1959’, Contemporary British History 13(1) 1999: 32–61.
Stephen Wilkinson, ‘Just How Special Is “Special”: Britain, Cuba, and US Relations 1958–2008 an Overview’, Diplomacy & Statecraft 20(2) 2009: 291–308.
Chris Hull, British Diplomacy and US Hegemony in Cuba, 1898–1964 (London: Palgrave, 2013).
Oscar Zanetti, Los cautivos de la reciprocidad (La Habana, Cuba: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 2003).
The government of Gerardo Machado, in an attempt to stabilise the price of sugar on the world market, by putting the Chadbourne Plan into effect. This had been drawn up and was managed by Thomas L. Chadbourne, a US lawyer linked to the sugar corporation Cuba Cane as well as the Chase National Bank of New York. The plan was based on the unilateral restriction of Cuban sugar production but failed in the face of its rejection by Hawaii and the lack of compliance by other US sugar producing areas.
Rafael Martínez Ortiz, foreign minister in the government of Gerardo Machado, and Luis Machado were the two principal proponents of this policy. In 1927, Martínez Ortiz gave an address to the Sociedad Cubana de Derecho Internacional entitled ‘El Comercio y los tratados comerciales como medio de acrecentar la riqueza y cimentar la unión espiritual de los pueblos’ (Commerce and commercial treaties as a means of achieving growth and cementing the spiritual union of the peoples of the world). Two years later, in front of the Sociedad Cubana de Ingenieros, Luis Machado expressed his ideas on ‘diversifying markets’ in order to reduce dependency on the US market, in a speech on the ‘Necesidad de adoptar una política de comercio exterior’ (Necessity of adopting a commercial foreign policy).
Jorge Ibarra Guitart, El Tratado Anglo cubano (La Habana, Cuba: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 2006).
Official of the Cuban Foreign Ministry responsible for foreign treaties.
Fondo Secretaría de Estado, Informe de la Comisión Interdepartamental de la Secretaría de Estado , 11 de marzo de 1938, expediente 7381, Legajo 389, Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba.
Fondo Secretaría de Estado, Convenio Cuba-Inglaterra , Resolución aprobada por el senado, 27 de julio de 1938, Expediente 327, Legajo 17, Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba.
Fondo Cuba-EEUU, Asuntos Económicos 1892–1940 , Memorándum del 2 de mayo de 1938, Archivo del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de la República de Cuba.
Fondo Ministerio de Estado, Nota del ministro en Londres Roberto González de Mendoza al ministro de Estado Ernesto Dihigo , 23 de marzo de 1950, Expediente 17290, Legajo 1110, Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba.
Cuba managed to sign an agreement with the United Kingdom to sell sugar, but the volume was no higher than previous normal exports. Jacinto Torras, ‘Torquay y la independencia económica de Cuba’, en Fundamentos , julio de 1951, pp. 627–34.
Fondo Ministerio de Estado, Nota confidencial del ministro en Londres Roberto González de Mendoza al ministro de Estado Ernesto Dihigo , 31 de marzo de 1950, Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Julián Alienes, one of the most prominent experts on the Cuban economy working for the Cuban National Bank, argued that an indispensable element of the struggle against deflation was the maintenance at all costs of exports to Europe. Alienes also foresaw the inevitable fall in sugar exports after the war. In his opinion, this was due, among other factors, to the devaluation of the pound sterling reducing the comparative costs of sugar production in the British Commonwealth, which would result in an expansion of the latter, which would have unfavourable repercussions on the Cuban position. Evolución de la economía cubana en la postguerra. Informe presentado por el Banco Nacional de Cuba, Departamento de Investigaciones Económicas, a la Segunda Reunión de Técnicos de los Bancos Centrales del Continente Americano , Santiago de Chile, diciembre 1949, p. 191.
The Truslow Mission was named after Francis A. Truslow, president of the New York Curb Exchange, who headed a group of experts from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) which produced a study of the Cuban economy with proposals for the development perspectives of the island. Banco Internacional de Reconstrucción y Fomento. Informe sobre Cuba de la Misión Truslow , TIII, Edición en español, Banco Nacional de Cuba.
‘El Momento Económico y Financiero’, en Cuba Económica y Financiera , diciembre 1956, p. 5.
Zanetti, Los cautivos de la reciprocidad , pp. 164–65; Fondo Ministerio de Estado, Convenio Cuba-Inglaterra , Expediente 324, Legajo 17, Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba.
Prensa Libre , 8 de diciembre de 1957, pp. 2 y 7.
Fondo Ejército, Sección 3, Signatura 24/3.9/1.1/1–373, 14 mayo 1952–29 de diciembre de1958, Archivo del Instituto de Historia de Cuba.
Note by the Board of Trade on the Text of the Exchange the Notes , 30 December 1958, TNA, FO 371/139454, AK 1151/1.
Fondo Ministerio de Estado, Convenio Cuba-Inglaterra , Expediente 324, Legajo 17, Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba.
Note by the Board of Trade on the Text of the Exchange of Notes , 30 December 1958, TNA, FO 371/139454, AK1151-1.
Isabel Allende, ‘Las relaciones Cuba-Unión Europea a cincuenta años del triunfo de la Revolución cubana’, en Revista Política Internacional , No. 11, julio-diciembre 2008.
Many of the Measures by the Batista Regime with Regard to Foreign Trade May Be Done Away with , 22 January 1959, TNA, FO 371/139455, AK1152-3.
Meeting with Cuban Ambassador to Discuss Various Subjects. Trade and Economic Affairs Generally , 25 March 1959, TNA, FO 371/139455, AK1152-11.
Fondo Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Informe del Agregado comercial Juan T , O'Naghten al embajador Sergio Rojas Santamarina, Expediente 329, Legajo 17, Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba.
Fondo Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Expediente 382, Legajo 22, Archivo Nacional de la República de Cuba.
The (x) signifies that the source consulted did not show the figures for this item. Nevertheless, there were exports in this area, at least in the first half of 1958. Therefore, exports which should have been categorised under this rubric were included under ‘other exports’.
Fondo Cuba-Inglaterra, Nota confidencial No18 del embajador Sergio Rojas Santamarina , al Dr. Raúl Roa, ministro de Estado, Archivo del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores.
Hoy , 20 de junio de 1959, pp. 2 y 7.
The Board of Trade complained that Rawson did not consult them before offering the £100 million to the Cuban government and at first showed a certain scepticism to his project. Visit of Sir Stanley Rawson to Cuba , 6 March 1959, TNA, FO 371/139455, AK 1152/9.
Information of Present Situation as Regard E.C.G.D. Cover for Various Projects; Leyland's Bus Contract , 18 August 1959, TNA, FO 371/139455, AK1152-14.
Ibid.
To these ends, the Compañía Anglo-Cubana de Tractores SA was set up to sell David Brown tractors, with dealerships throughout Cuba Revolución, 15 de junio de 1959, p. 29.
In 1960, the Board of Trade authorised an increase in the tobacco quota to $1,500,000.
Visit to United Kingdom of Two Cuban Ministers , 31 July 1959, TNA, FO 371/139456, AK 1153/8.
Among other contacts, Canet met representatives of Livesey & Henderson, consulting engineers who offered to act as consultants for projects concerned with civil engineering, public works, metallurgy, chemicals and synthetics.
In reality, from the first days of January 1959, the United States supported a plan by the dictator of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, to create a ‘foreign legion’ to be used against Cuba and other revolutionary movements in Latin America. Andrés Zaldívar, Una fascinante historia. La conspiración trujillista (La Habana, Cuba: Editorial Capitán San Luis, 2009).
Revolución , 14 de septiembre de 1959, pp. 1–2.
Report of the Conversation between Minister of State, Board of Trade and Cuban Ambassador , 25 February 1960, TNA, FO 371/148260, AK 1152/3.
Minutes by Mr. Parsons, Difficulties of British Firms in Cuba: Including Shell , 5 May 1960, TNA, FO371/148260 AK 1152/5.
Export Credits Guaranties Department Liabilities in Cuba and Altitude towards Giving Further , 7 July 1959, TNA, FO 371/148260, AK 1152/10.
When assessing the probable US reaction, diplomatic circles considered that the supply of goods and services to expropriated companies would stir profound official resentment, while also taking into account that if Britain did not supply them, Cuba could find them elsewhere. Supply of Goods to Expropriated United States Firms by British Firms: Possible United States Reaction, 16 August 1960, TNA, FO 371/148260, AK 1152/20.
Revolución , 2 de abril de 1964, pp. 3 y 7.
Use of Section 2 Cover for Certain Transactions with Cuba: Export Credits Guarantee Department Comments , 8 October 1960, TNA, FO 371/148262, AK 1152/42.
Minute of McKenzie, United States Trade Embargo on Cuba: Possible Effect on Anglo/Cuban Trade . Problem experienced by Bowmaker (PLANT) LTD, 27 October 1960, TNA, FO 371/148264, AK 1154/1.
In October 2014, an official delegation from the British Foreign Office visited Cuba. As a result of these exchanges, two memorandums of understanding were signed on matters of sport and tourism as well as on the promotion of trade and investment.