Promoting Human Rights Values in Cuba’s Post-Castro Military

The paper is divided into four major parts: Historical Context; International Human Rights Law; U.S. Military Efforts to Promote Human Rights in the Post-Cold War Era; and Human Rights Training for the Post Castro Cuban Military. The first part provides the reader with background concerning Castro's Cuba in general and the use of the Cuban military as an instrument to maintain power. It also summarizes U.S. policy towards Cuba over the past forty years in order to help the reader appreciate the highly charged domestic political context in which possible United States-Cuba military-to-military contacts would take place. Although Americans, especially Cuban-Americans', agree on the goal, (i.e., removal of Castro and the establishment of a liberal democracy in Cuba), they are radically polarized concerning the strategy. The U.S. domestic politics of providing any kind of assistance to Cuba, even after Castro is gone, is guaranteed to be emotional. The second part of this paper provides the reader with a basic primer on international human rights law. The third part introduces the reader to the United States military's nation-building roles and missions, specifically pertaining to the promotion of human rights values by judge advocates in foreign militaries, in the post-cold war era. A successful case study for the promotion of human rights in the Peruvian military in 1993 is used to illustrate the potential use of U.S. judge advocates in a post-Castro Cuba. The fourth and final part of the paper specifically addresses the promotion of human rights in Cuba's post-Castro military. First, a brief discussion concerning the chances for the Cuban military to honestly seek a new direction following Castro's departure is presented. The paper will then offer seven specific recommendations to serve as a guide for the formulation of a plan to promote human rights values in the Cuban militar