Human Rights, Cuban Revolution and the Interamerican Cold War (1959-1963)

Abstract

The turbulent relationship between the Cuban revolutionary regime and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), both established in 1959, raises important questions about the appropriation of human rights in the Americas and the institutionalization of the new government. The continental dimension of the revolutionary triumph in Cuba included initial support for the defense of human rights and the Commission. However, accusations of violation of human rights and the way in which the IACHR opposed the revolutionary designs strained relations, which culminated in the breakup. The transnational analysis of this period was carried out in dialogue with the historiography on Human Rights, the Inter-American Cold War and the Cuban regime, drawing on sources from different archives in the Americas and considering the impasses on the sovereignty of National States, Inter-American relations, Liberal Democracy and Communism.