Crosscurrents: Continuity and change in United States-Cuba policy

By the end of the Cold War, the White House had abandoned its efforts to destroy the socialist dictatorship of Fidel Castro. Nevertheless, its efforts, which began in 1960, established a legacy of coercion in U.S. policy toward the Castro regime. That tradition has persisted in the post-Cold War and nurtured a pervasive political faction in Congress and the executive bureaucracy which continues to work toward fomenting Castro's ouster. "Crosscurrents" is an examination of five dramatic events in U.S.-Cuban relations which demonstrate that, although the advocates and tactics of U.S.-Cuba policy have changed since 1960, the objective of overthrowing Castro remains the same. For thirty-seven years, such a policy has yielded negligible results and instead has ended in crises at the expense of U.S. interests. The continuation of a coercive U.S.-Cuba policy in 1996 promises to yield similar results.