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Monument to U.S. troops at San Juan Hill, Santiago de Cuba. Like this soldier is doing to the pedestal beneath him, the U.S. would keep Cuba under its boot until 1959. |
The U.S. troops would not leave Cuba for some time. In 1901 the U.S. Congress approved the Platt Amendment, which was later incorporated into the Cuban constitution and which gave the U.S. the right to intervene in the economic and foreign affairs of the island. Cuba was also forced to give the U.S. an interminable lease to Guantánamo Bay for its Navy.
In the meantime, Cuba was officially a country with democratic elections, with an executive, judicial, and legislative branch of government, much like the United States. While the Cuban nationalists wanted to get rid of the Spanish so that Cuba would be for Cubans, they now found themselves under the thumb of another empire. As a consequence of the U.S. occupation, U.S. corporations and entrepreneurs such as the United Fruit Company, along with the remaining elite of Spanish blood, bought land and took over the principal economic activities of the island, forcing out much of the nationalist Cuban elite. Therefore, political power was closely tied to relations with the United States. Within a short time U.S. interests dominated the island. This was aided by the Treaty of Reciprocity (1903), which gave Cuban sugar growers 20% of the U.S. market, tax-free, in exchange for the tariff-free entry of U.S. goods into Cuba.
Politically, Cuba was run by a series of weak and corrupt administrations, and the first military intervention on behalf of U.S. financial interests occurred in 1906, when the Marines landed on the island. The government was returned to a Cuban administration in 1908, but the Marines landed again in 1912 to put down revolts initiated by Afro-Cubans fighting racial discrimination. The Marines landed again in 1917, and through the 1920s corruption plagued the political system.
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The historic source of Cuban political and economic power - the former U.S. Embassy compound in Havana. |
The sugar boom of the late 1910s busted in the 1920s, and U.S. banks and entrepreneurs purchased more and more sugar plantations and refineries from farmers that had tried to modernize by borrowing money. By the end of the decade, U.S. interests controlled half of the sugar industry, Cuba's most important source of income. Farmers that had once owned land now became wage laborers on the very fields they once owned, and others fled to the cities to find work. The end result was the creation of a larger group of poor laborers. Consequently, nationalism directed against the United States began to grow again, and new political organizations were born, such as the Communist Party. The Great Depression only deepened the poverty and political instability on the island.
General Gerardo Machado won the presidential election in 1924 and implemented some economic and political reforms before discarding these to consolidate his personal political power. He ran for re-election in 1928 unopposed, but protest was rampant across the entire political spectrum. To deal with the protest, Machado created a secret police force to intimidate, torture, and execute his enemies. However, Machado, pressured by internal protest and opposition by the Cuban military, as well as the United States, resigned in 1933.
Caricature of Batista in the Museum of the Revolution, Havana. |
Later that year the Cuban military, led by Fulgencio Batista, launched a coup against the U.S. appointed administration that was supported by student and other groups. Ramón Grau was installed by the student-military alliance, and he immediately implemented reforms that included a suspension of the Platt Amendment, land redistribution, and taxation of U.S. interests. However, Grau faced conflict from all sides as well, and Batista once again launched a coup, in 1934, with the support of the United States. While there were civilian administrations in the coming years, Batista ruled Cuba ruthlessly from behind the scenes, and the middle and upper classes, which were tied to U.S. interests, prospered once again, due in part to a reinvigoration of the sugar industry.
Batista ran officially for the presidency in 1940 and defeated Grau. He then implemented some reforms before retiring to the U.S. in 1944. As soon as Batista was gone, Cuba was ruled by Grau (1944 - 1948) and Carlos Prío (1948 - 1952) and corruption once again ruled the day. Those allied with the administrations received the spoils of the political and economic systems, and political violence soared as different groups competed for government favor. The rich became much richer and the poor became much poorer.
In 1947, a political reformer named Eddy Chibás established the Ortodoxo Party and began making frequent radio addresses in which he passionately denounced the government and called for social, political and economic reforms. During one of these address in 1951, the nationalist Chibás shot himself, and ten days later died. His successor as leader of the party was a young activist named Fidel Castro.
In 1952 Batista returned to run for president and when he realized that he did not have the support to win the office, he organized another coup before the election. At every point in the political system Batista was opposed, and Castro, university groups, and the Communist Party were the most ardent opposition forces. With no political options and an economy controlled by a few elites tied to Batista and the United States, there was only one option for political dissidents: violence.
