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Most analysts have concluded that President Donald Trump does not have an elaborated ideology,3 but rather that his character largely determines his decisions given his belief that he alone can fix what is wrong with the US government. This leads him towards being influenced by those advisors who reinforce his instincts. At the core is his belief that to restore US supremacy worldwide, American diplomacy needs to be forceful and aggressive. He is not an advocate of soft or smart power as used by the Obama administration.4 In addition, he tends to prefer advisors whom he regards as tough and assertive. As a result, this article examines President Trump's personality and instincts and the degree to which his current, as well as previous, advisors' ideologies have influenced him in order to evaluate trends in US foreign policy generally and more specifically with respect to Cuba.

El presente ensayo examina la actitud de la iglesia catolica como institucion en los comienzos de la revolucion de Castro y la evolucion de las relaciones iglesia-estado de 1956 a 1986. Asimismo, analiza los esfuerzos desplegados por los lideres de la iglesia desde finales de los 60 con el objeto de revitalizar a la iglesia a nivel interno y de acrecentar su influencia dentro de la sociedad cubana

Both before and after the 1959 revolution, the Catholic Church in Cuba deviated from the norm in Latin America. This is in large measure due to the unique historical and social experience of Cuba, as well as to the fact that the church remained until the early 1960s largely a missionary outpost of Spain. When the revolution occurred, the Catholic Church was frozen in a pre-Vatican II mold which was reinforced by an exodus of clergy, religious and laity. The economic and diplomatic embargo of Cuba further isolated the church from progressive trends within the international church. Thus, the ferment unleashed by Vatican II (1962–5) and the Latin American Bishops Conference at Medellín, Colombia (1968) had less impact than changes resulting from the Cuban Revolution. As a consequence, the Catholic Church in Cuba entered the 1970s with limited theological and pastoral resources to meet the challenge of a consolidated Marxist/Leninist revolution. As an institution, the Catholic Church in Cuba is, as it was in 1959, the weakest in all of Latin America.

In Cuba the Catholic church is institutionally the weakest of Latin America. It may also be the least innovative theologically. A preoccupation of the hierarchy is to attract youth to the church and religious life. While the course of studies at the Catholic seminaries has been revised to reflect changes emanating from Vatican II, progressive theological developments are not emphasized. The church does not have media access to make its presence felt. There is no Catholic press and education is limited to religious instruction on church premises

Unlike churches in the rest of Latin America, those in Cuba did not embark at the outset of the 1960s on a period of liberalization and innovation in theology, pastoral forms, lay participation and political strategies. Rather, the coming to power in 1959 of a revolutionary government and the initiation of substantial societal restructuring reinforced conservatism within the churches. Strong challenges to the legitimacy of the government by the churches from 1959 through 1961 were not effective due largely to institutional limitations and their identification as bulwarks of prerevolutionary structures. Hence, in spite of a marked increase in participation and contributions, the churches' counterrevolutionary stance had limited impact. Contributing to this was the exodus of many religious activists to the United States and Spain, and a turning in upon themselves by the churches which came to serve as refuges from change.

"This book is unique. It brings together experts from Cuba, the United States, and throughout the Americas to analyze Cuba-US relations since the December 17, 2014 announcements by President Raúl Castro and President Barak Obama that a process of normalization of relations would be inititated. Since then Cuba and the US have engaged in bilateral negotiations, as well as technical talks on a range of issues including migration, environmental protection, telecommunications, iterdicting human and drug trafficking, and trade, commerce, and banking, among other issues. This book evaluates the progress made to date and the challenges that currently face the negotiators. These include the US embargo of Cuba and the ban on travel by US citizens to the island, which require congressional action to eliminate. Cuba and the US both have monetary claims against each other that the authors analyze in terms of possible solutions. Impediments arising from domestic conditions in both countries are also examined. The book concludes with a study of the "spoilers" -- the factors and actors that could derail the process. This work is aimed at all those interested not only in Cuba-US relations, but also in how diplomacy can achieve what hard pressure did not."--Back cover