2015 Barack Obama - Normalizing relations with Cuba

On December 10, 1898 Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris and in accordance with the treaty, Spain renounced all rights to Cuba. And in, 1902 Cuba was granted formal independence.    Cuba was independent, but in 1926, U.S. companies owned 60% of the Cuban sugar industry and imported 95% of the total Cuban crop.   America had a huge vested interest in Cuba.  This relationship flourished in  the 1930s, under the rule of Flugencio Batista, when the Untied States and Cuba signed the Treaty of Relations.   Then, in the late 1950's armed conflict broke out between Fidel Castro and the Batista government.   The U.S in 1958, prevented sales of rifles to Batista's forces and put victory into the hands of the rebels.   President Eisenhower recognized the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro, but relations deteriorated rapidly.    Compare 1959 when Castro visited the U.S. touring Washington monuments and visiting with Vice President Richard Nixon, to 1960 when Eisenhower imposed trade restrictions on everything except food and medical supplies.   This was in response to Castro's government seizing private land and nationalized hundreds of private companies, many of which were U.S. Corporations.  The 1960's were a time of further turmoil, with CIA's botched attempt to overthrow Castro in the Bay of Pigs, and the Cuban Missile crisis when Soviet Union missile basis were discovered in Cuba. The U.S. embargo rules stayed in placed for the next 50 years and were strengthened in the 1990's after Cuba shot down two U.S. civilian airplanes.   Then, in 2015 President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro jointly announced that their two governments would launch the process of normalizing relations for the first time since 1961.  Along with this announcement, President Obama used the opportunity in his 2015 state of the union address to urge  congress to rollback the embargo.     

"In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date. When what you're doing doesn't work for 50 years, it's time to try something new. [Laughter] And our shift in Cuba policy has the potential to end a legacy of mistrust in our hemisphere. It removes a phony excuse for restrictions in Cuba. It stands up for democratic values and extends the hand of friendship to the Cuban people. And this year, Congress should begin the work of ending the embargo."

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=108031
http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1891359,00.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba%E2%80%93United_States_relations
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http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2015_15/970061/150409-nixon-castro-jhc-1508_b7ed685c07ac2301dca4ef013d12ba2a.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg