Anglo-Cuban Diplomacy: The Economic and Political Links with Britain (1945–60)

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.8.1.0056
• Pages: 56-73
• Published date: 01 April 2016
• Date: 01 April 2016
• Author: Servando Valdés Sánchez
• Subject Matter: diplomacy,trade,agreement,market,foreign policy,exports,imports,bilateral relations,Cuba,Britain,United Kingdom

InternatIonal Journal of Cuban StudIeS 8.1 SprIng 2016

ACADEMIC ARTICLES

ANGLO-CUBAN DIPLOMACY: THE

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL LINKS WITH

BRITAIN (1945–60)

Servando Valdés Sánchez

University of Havana, Cuba

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.

Keywords: diplomacy, trade, agreement, market, foreign policy, exports, imports,

bilateral relations, Cuba, Britain, United Kingdom

Introduction

The relationship between the UK and Cuba is rarely seen through Cuban eyes.

True, Jorge Ibarra Guitart has studied the failed negotiations for an Anglo-

Cuban treaty in 1905 using documents from both the Cuban and British archives,

but nothing of substance has been done on later periods that comprehensively

includes a Cuban point of view.1 Robert Morley and Andrew Holt consider the

ANGLO-CUBAN DIPLOMACY 57

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relationship between Britain and Cuba principally in the context of Anglo-US

relations as the North Americans attempt to impose their trade embargo on their

European allies after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.2 More detailed anal-

ysis of particular events has been done by Chris Hull (arms sales 1958–59 and

buses 1963–64) as well as by Mark Phythian and Jonathan Jardine (fighter air-

craft 1959) but again in the context of Anglo-US relations.3 Meanwhile, Stephen

Wilkinson’s ‘Just How Special Is “Special”: Britain, Cuba, and US Relations

1958–2008 an Overview’ does what it says on the tin.4 Chris Hull’s excellent

book British Diplomacy and US Hegemony in Cuba, 1898–1964 is somewhat

broader in its approach than the title implies but relies almost entirely on British

diplomatic sources.5

There would seem a place, therefore, for a study of diplomatic relations

between Britain and Cuba that privileges the Cuban viewpoint. This article will

base itself on an examination of Cuban and British diplomatic archives, both

being readily available in the Archivo Nacional in Havana and the British

National Archive in Kew. For the UK had its own relationship with Cuba, sepa-

rate from any relationship with the US. They may have been political allies in the

Cold War, but they were commercial rivals when it came to trade relations. The

British firm Leyland beat the US-owned General Motors to supply buses to

Havana on three separate occasions, mainly due to the credit arrangements

offered by the British government.

The British government had been a strong supporter of the Batista regime,

supplying fighter aircraft to the dictatorship even after the US government had

instituted an arms embargo. The speed with which the British acclimatised them-

selves to the new revolutionary situation in 1959, despite their distaste for Fidel

Castro, highlights the contradictions between commerce and politics inherent in

diplomatic activity. By comparing the ambassadorial correspondence of both

Cuba and the UK, a more rounded picture of the diplomatic process emerges.

Historical Background

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the economic and political subordina-

tion which the US established over Cuba caused a readjustment of the traditional

commercial links with Europe. Thereafter, the previous European commercial

partners were placed in a subordinate position by the preferences which the

‘Treaties of Commercial Reciprocity’ accorded to US products entering the

Cuban market between 1902 and 1945.6

However, from the 1920s, the economic crisis and US protectionism for their

sugar market led the Cuban government to orientate their commercial policies

towards the restriction of output in order to attempt to stabilise sugar prices,7