US drilling Cuban oil

The Democratic Republic of Cuba and its revolutionary vanguard party, the Communist Party of Cuba, have been known for four decades of opposing American Capitalist policies. It has been a clear fact that the Castros still have a stronghold in the Democratic Republic since the revolution of the Cuban people in 1959. The hatred between the two countries is almost comparable to Cuba's "comrade" across the sea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The Cuban People are proud people with dignity. They will never let their old enemies from the Cold War dig oil wells in their backyards. From the flames and the bullets of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, to the Bays of Pigs Invasion and the Missile Crisis, both countries have always been in a state of war. Before I go on with my arguments, I would like to remind the readers and the opponent of the historical relations between the two countries:1. Bays of Pigs After the Cuban revolution of 1959, a force of 1,000 Cuban Exiles attempted to invade Cuba with the US’s support. Although President Harry Truman attempted to distance his country away from this incident, it proved one thing: the United States did not trust America, and because of this, Cuba decided to align itself towards the Soviet Union. 2. Cuban Missile Crisis Another well known incident, the Cuban Missile Crisis started when Fidel Castro attempted to obtain nuclear weapons from its Soviet Comrades. US U2 planes spotted the nuclear sites, and the United States blockaded the Gulf of Mexico, where the Soviet ships were approaching. More distrust between the US and Cuba was flared when the US did not invite Cuba to its negotiation tables. US-Cuban tensions were at the highest at this point. The relations between both countries highlight another fate of the newfound oil: Cuba wants its oil. Cuba is seeking energy dependence, not money, but another fate looms the United States: they want liberty and freedom, but why side up with the same party that attempted to obtain nuclear weapons? Why drill oil for a country that called capitalist America “filthy, gross and alienating”? Why drill oil for a country which ultrapatriotic President John F. Kennedy criticized for “threatening the tranquility of the American people”? These are questions that we must think about before going on about money and supply of energy. Firstly, I would like to respond to some of the opponent’s points.1. Environmental Environmentally, Cuba is a beautiful country. Cuba is home to a large number of species, many of them endangered. Looking for oil in Cuba would endanger not only animals, but the entire Cuban population as oil drilling pressures the tectonic plates to move, and this pressure would likely create earthquakes. An example of this phenomenon has been found in Indonesia, where a 6.5 Richter Earthquake’s epicenter was traced to an oil well. The opponent has also stated that “an oil spill in Florida” would severely damage the popular tourist locations, but I would like to state that there are already three foreign companies, many of them credible, who already own deep sea wells in Cuba. I would like to also state that two of them, Petronas and PdVSA, are state-owned companies. According to the Petronas Website, the company subscribes to OSRL. In 2011, the company also launched an oil spill preparedness work shop for oil spill managers from all over the world, and Petronas is a very capable company with preventing oil spills. Therefore, the threat of an “oil spill in Florida” would be severely limited by the fact that Petronas and other credible companies are drilling there, but also by the lack of commercial oil these wells produced. There are two other wells that remain unexplored, but these also lack the potential of being oil rich wells. Also, US technology does not necessarily reduces the likelihood of an oil spill happening. Another problem that oil companies in Cuba face is a simple but powerful problem; there simply isn’t any oil of enough quantity to provide a significant boost in Cuba. In May 29, 2013, the Russian Company Zarubezhneft has decided that it would give up on the search for oil. The other oil well, in shallow water, is only 300 miles away from Havana, which would make an oil spill a big environmental and economical tragedy. Unlike a deep sea oil leak, shallow water oil leaks would have diverse effects, as seen in the Montara Disaster; the first effect is economical, aka tourism would decline and fish caught would decrease, and as in the case of the Montara Incident, which affected 7,000 fishermen. The second affect is environmental; after the Montara oil spill, two species of bird and their health were immensely affected. The opponent states that US technology would reduce the likelihood of an oil spill, but US technology doesn’t eliminate the threat of an oil spill. It would be of the US’s best interest, therefore, to discourage any more oil exploration, as an oil spill would be disastrous towards the United States and Cuba. Political The opponent states that sending private companies to a resourceful communist styled country would help the current Cuban regime change and turn into a more democratic and liberal government. However, in other interventions, such as the one at Iraq, in which the United States intervened to protect US interests there or even the US’s Occupation of Cuba in 1900, there was no political liberty and democracy afterwards. US companies in Cuba would be affected by both government intervention and the uncertainty of actually finding oil there. Without any doubts, companies are there to make money, not to benefit the political status of that particular country anyhow. Also, the opponent has stated that “since the fall of the Berlin Wall, relations between communist countries and non-communists were liberalized”, but yet tensions between Cuba and the US are still high. The United States ending years of embargo against the communist government of Cuba would only threaten the United State’s tranquility, as by doing this, they are giving the Cuban Regime recognition as the true regime of the people, and would encourage communists elsewhere to rise. This would also face huge domestic opposition, as USA is renowned for being the world’s best Anti-Communist country. The opponent uses the “Cuban Model” as a name, but it literally means sending private US companies to other countries, and using the benefits of that country to benefit the US and only the US. It is against Cuba’s will to let American companies come and exploit the workers of Cuba; if Cuba wants to be a truly working-based state, then it must oppose such a move.We cannot set history aside; we can only learn from it. And history has taught us that man's need for wealth and energy to satisfy his senses will likely lead to disasters, especially from an enemy. Therefore, it would be of both country's best interest to not drill oil in Cuba, as the environment would be threatened and hopes of political reform would be shadowed because of the nature of US companies. Due to other problems, I am unable to post a full response today. I hope this would be adequate for the opponent to rebut on. Thank you.