How US Joint Ventures are Playing a Political Role in US-Cuban Relations

Abstract

With a primary focus on the US-Cuban tourism industry, this paper seeks to determine how economic interests served to thaw relations between the US and Cuba by analyzing the influence of corporate lobbying, specifically how joint ventures in Cuba have influenced the US and Cuban governments’ decision making. For the US, both internal and external influences played a large role in the recent decision to develop a rapprochement strategy toward Cuba. This research seeks to analyze those influences through the lens of shifting bilateral relations.