Cuba first became a colony in 1511 when Don Diego Velazquez founded the first city. The Spaniards had sacrificed all the native Indians without even realizing it so were left with no other choice but to bring over African slaves to work for them. In 1762, the English realized how crucial of an island Cuba was to the Americas and attempted to hold the island, but were only successful for a year and returned it to Spain.
Cuba attempted to revolt against Spain many many times beginning in 1819 but only began to be somewhat triumphant in 1868 in a revolt that lasted 10 years and achieved them several deals: "Spain made some concessions. Slavery was abolished and some reforms were promised, (reforms that remained - as always - promises)" (RIUS 29). Later in 1895, Jose Marti (an exiled poet) led the most successful revolt, in which the U.S. took part of, primarily because they realized what a great source of sugar the island was, with the help of Maine, the battleship which later blew up resulting in the U.S. declaring war against Spain. The U.S. won and therefore proposed the Platt Amendment, which basically allowed them to take over Cuba without making it their formal colony. The following years, the U.S. repeatedly intervened and did as they pleased; "It's object? To put down strikes against the sugar mills...(American owned of course)" (RIUS 47). Eventually, the U.S. controlled everything in Cuba from banks, to mines, trains, cattle, tobacco, sugar, and most importantly the government.
Of course the Cubans were not content; they had revolted against Spain but were now stuck as American property. It was now time to revolt against the U.S. and in charge of this task was none other than Fidel Castro himself, at the time, a student. He got his friends killed and himself thrown into jail for 15 years. It was only in 1959 that his real revolt was successful, overthrowing then President Batista, even though everything was still controlled by the Americans. He was eventually named in charge of the government, and we can look at present day Cuba for any addtional information.
So, basically, Cuba has never really been a nation of its own; first dominated by the Spaniards, later by the Americans. Although many revolted, such as Marti and Castro, everything has always been controlled by the U.S. in one way or another, whether the Cubans wanted to be or not. Present day Cuba has been left with poor resources for themselves and are not as technologically advanced as they could be: "The so called 'importance' of the second television set, the latest model car or the latest style has been replaced by the collective and individual satisfaction of meaningful work benefiting everyone" (RIUS 153), all because the U.S. has taken all that, and more, away from them throughout the years.
Source: "Cuba for Beginners" by RIUS
1 comment:
Cuban colonization, is a great example used, it shows how the Americans wanted to expand its territory. By taking its land, natural resources, and slaves. I understand some of the history when in the 18th century, Spain controlled Cuba along with other nations. The explanation of the whole war won by the U.S. is a great example of colonization in Cuba, and its attempt to control and obtain its land, resulted in the coming to power of Fidel, who has made of the country a nationl dominated by the government.
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