ABSTRACT
Cuba is a large island 78 nml from the US coast. As a result of the Spanish-American War, Cuba gained independence in 1898 but was effectively an American protectorate until 1933. The legal justification for this status was the Platt Amendment, which authorised the USA to safeguard Cuban independence, but the underlying intention was to protect US economic interests. The Cuban missile crisis, which ended with Soviet agreement to withdraw the missiles 13 days later, is still regarded by many analysts as the nearest the Cold War approached to nuclear war. Meanwhile, US hostility continues, if in a somewhat muted form. In 1992 President George Bush had tightened the economic embargo and the result was the large-scale exodus of Cuban boat.
