The 1989 revolutions and restructuring the space of the Cuban cause

Résumé 0

Mainly borne by politicized Cubans living in the United States, the “Cuban cause” has long suffered from a low degree of legitimacy at the international level, because it was perceived as a part of US foreign policy. Starting in 1989 however, the interpretation of the revolutions in eastern Europe made by some of these activists internationalized the cause, as transnational coalitions were formed with former dissidents in central Europe. The intent was to gain legitimacy and benefit from this expert advice in order to overthrow the island’s Communist government. This strategy boosted the “transnationalization” of the cause in several social and political “spaces”, bilateral and multilateral, in Europe and the Americas. Nonetheless, the success of this extension of expertise made the cause less consistent and more fragmented.