Except the US still has a number of trade embargoes in place with Cuba, so while they could ask for help it's possible the people they ask would be legally bound to say no. Lifting decades old sanctions that hurt both Cuba and the US (in hundreds of millions of dollars in lost export trade) would be something the US could, and should, do.
A trade embargo with a country on grounds of it being ideologically different falls under "interfering unnecessarily" in my opinion.
The Revolution was not marxist until 1961, two years after Castro came into power, and after the USA began being openly hostile to it.
People there were literally dying of hunger, the redistribution of land succeeded in feeding them.
But of course seizing the land owned by a corporation is a violation of Human Rights, whereas underpaying workers to the point they die of starvation is just business. /s
That sort of hand waving does a disservice to history. Initially the embargo was enacted because Cuba nationalized industries without providing fair compensation (a).
It's true that the embargoes have been more ideological since then, but the ideology is that fairly basic human rights (life, liberty, free speech) should be respected (b).
All that being said, the Castros are pretty entrenched. Maybe healthier interaction with Cuba would promote human rights faster. But you don't have to make straw man assertions to make that point.
a) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_...
b) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Cuba#Political...
Basically Eisenhower shot himself in the foot by first rebuffing early advances by Castro that sent Castro head first into the arms of the Soviets, and then it just got worse from that.
It had nothing to do with ideology on either side, but with money and power.
I believe Castro was also pretty Marxist well before 1959. That would have constrained what any politician in the US could have done.
Especially the "if they ask for help". Castro toured the US and asked for help after the revolution. The US administration slammed the door in his face. So he went to the Soviets, who welcomed him with open arms.
This is almost entirely fiction, although I'm sure this is the common political narrative. Cuba is a small island in the middle of the Caribbean cut-off from it's biggest and most developed trading partner, which would have been what 70-90%+ of the economy?
But yes of - course the arch-villain fidel castro and those damn commies.
This is the modern narrative for revolutions in Latin/South America? "Middle Class", really? Because well fed people providing for their families decided to take up arms? Or because the well-fed were a tiny minority, and the rest lived in poverty under the economic oppression of former colonialists?
China is only doing well because it liberalized so much so quickly and more or less run a capitalist market economy.
Bay of Pigs was a busted op; there is long term blowback from those.
Might be worth gaining a little perspective on the Caribbean in general - James Michener's "Caribbean" is quite good , an easy and entertaining read and sketches out the basic historical framework. We don't think of the historical significance of any of the climes which were once Spanish holdings enough in English speaking cultures, IMO.
Of particular interest is the effect of the uprising in Haiti, which we still feel today.
Also, I am somewhat surprised Canada didn't jump on trade with Cuba - ten years ago, vacations there were advertised in Montreal. The Canadian embassy in Cuba never closed nor did the Cuban embassy in Canada.
Edit: I'm not arguing Castro is not bad, but as far as dictators goes he is probably a lesser evil; as it stands US Foreign policy has done nothing to displace Castro* but a great deal to oppress the Cuban populace.
*(although we did displace a number of democratically elected governments in other Latin American nations) -
It's not actually tiny. A little larger in area and population than Michigan. Only 7 US states are larger or more populous.
For a more international comparison it's about the same size as Bulgaria but has a lot more people.
Relativistically and logistically speaking, it's a tiny amount of land to cover with internet.
Um, nothing? I don't mean this from a sense of "who cares?" but more from a sense of "let Cubans figure out what works for them". If they ask for help, provide it. But don't go interfering unnecessarily where interference is not particularly asked for.
I suspect that the world would be a much different place if we'd followed that dictum in the first place.