ABSTRACT
This chapter takes on aspects of the conflict, examining their “illogical” or paradoxical nodes. It attempts an alternative focus that goes beyond the “discord” between “two stubborn actors” trapped in their respective intransigencies. Although the economic embargo remains in place, as do the enemies of rapprochement, the inertia has been broken and the two governments are working by mutual agreement to widen the crack that has appeared in the wall, moving in the direction of normalization. The chapter seeks to understand the conflict in its greater political complexity. It discusses indeed Democrat Obama, in his second term, understanding that Cuba posed no threat to US security, who took the initiative to change the framework for US policy toward Cuba. Between 1959 and 1990, the United States accused Cuba of acting as a Soviet proxy and exporting the Revolution to Latin America and Africa.
