The United States and Cuba, 1901-1962

The United States and Cuba (1901-1962)

In 1898, Cuba obtained its independence from Spain by the Treaty of Paris.
After the Spanish- American War, the island came under control of the United
States military who occupied the island up until 1901. That year the United
States government passed a law called the Platt Amendment which
determined relations between the United States and Cuba for more than
three decades. Under the provisions of the Platt Amendment, Cuba was
a. forbidden to negotiate any treaty with foreign powers or b. borrow money from
any country if it could not repay the debt. c. The U.S. also had the right to
intervene in Cuba to preserve law and order and uphold electoral
government. d. The U.S. was also given the right to set up military bases on
Cuban soil and build a naval base at Guantanamo in Eastern Cuba.
The victory over Spain also gave the United States the islands of the
Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. The United States took
full control of Cuba and restored order. A. Money was poured into Cuba which
helped to repair the damage of the war and B. organizing new projects such as
schools, roads, bridges, and hospitals.C. Havana was transformed into a more
modern city and the harbor was deepened. D. They also provided food for the
Cubans and E. took action to eradicate yellow fever. F. Health and sanitation
services in general were improved. In 1902, the United States withdrew its
military from Cuba and a new government was established. Cuba was
declared a republic and held its first presidential election and a pro-American
President by the name of Estrada Palma assumed the office of President.
Gradually, U.S. business interests dominated the Cuban economy. For the
first part of the 20th century, the island’s revenues continued to be based
mainly on sugar. Cuban tourism also developed in the 1920s and a tourism
industry based on gambling and prostitution flourished. When the U.S.
government outlawed alcohol between 1919 and 1933, through a policy
called Prohibition, Havana became an even more popular destination for
Americans. This however contributed to the anti-American sentiments among
Cubans. Although money flowed into Cuba the prosperity was one-sided. The
island was turned into a giant plantation and the vast majority of its citizens
became servants to American big business. Sugar prices increased
tremendously during the early 20th century resulting in what became known
as the ‘’Dance of the Millions’’, but the greater part of the millions went to
top Cuban families. Only four out of 100 Cubans could afford to eat regularly
and in the rural areas 75% of the dwellings were huts made from palm trees,
with only 50% having toilets, 15% having inside water and less than 10%
having electricity. One third of the work force was poor and depended on
seasonal employment on the sugar estates to earn money. In addition, most
of the businesses were controlled by foreigners who owned about threequarters
of the island’s arable land.

The U.S., Fulgencia Batista and Fidel Castro

Against the background of these events, nearly all of the Cuban
administrations were run by corrupt leaders. One such leader was Fulgencio
Batista who came to power in 1933 and was responsible for one of the most
ruthless dictatorships in Cuba. Under his leadership, he forged an early
alliance with the United States. Under his leadership, his administration built
schools and houses all over the island. But while Cuba developed and
showed signs of prosperity, rural Cuba was very underdeveloped. Corruption
also continued and in 1944 after losing the election, Batista left Cuba and
went to live in Florida.
In 1953, through a coup d’etat Batista regained power and set up a
dictatorship with the support of the United States Government. Many of the
American dollars that were pumped into Cuba by tourists, gamblers and
investors never reached the masses. The rural population continued to live in
dire poverty while politicians lived lavishly on their collected fortunes. Batista
kept himself in power by (1)  subverting the political process using the military to
get support through threats and  (2) even by assassinating his opponents. (3) Order
was kept by brutal repression, (4)  the press was censored and (4)  anyone who
dared oppose his regime was either executed, imprisoned or exiled.
On January 1st, 1959, the Batista regime was overthrown in a coup led by a
young lawyer named Fidel Castro. This young lawyer was one of the many
who willing to see Cuba become politically free from United States
domination. Immediately after, Castro became the leader of Cuba he began
implementing social reforms and putting his radical schemes for agriculture
into action. Land reform was carried out via the National Institute of Agrarian
Reform (INRA). Large plantations including American holdings were divided
and plots were distributed among the landless. The Cuban revolutionaries
believed that one of the reasons for the hardships they experienced was
because of the land being in the hands of the large estate owners or
latifundistas– the small group of rich corporations and individuals. Castro also
nationalized many service industries such as telephones, railways and oil
refineries- a large percentage of which were American owned.
In order to carry out his social reforms, Castro turned to the communist
states of the world, the USSR and her allies for assistance. All of them were
state owned and run by state planning organizations. The USSR granted
Cuba a loan of $100 million to be used to buy goods from the USSR which
helped Castro to launch his industrialization plans. They were to include
petroleum, iron, steel, aluminium products, chemicals, and fertilizers. The
money was also used to buy machinery for factories which were set up by
Soviet technicians.
Cuba’s plans for industrialization and her dealings with the USSR angered the
U.S. government which resulted in an economic war between the two
countries. In 1961, Congress canceled the purchase of Cuban sugar at
preferential rates which could have ruined Cuba. However, the USSR came to
Cuba’s aid by agreeing to purchase nearly all the Cuban sugar crop. From
then on, Cuba and the United States carried on an economic war. American
citizens were prohibited from travelling to Cuba which stopped the island’s
income. The United States also placed an embargo on all trade with Cuba
except in food drugs.
There were many Cubans who did not like what was going on and as a result
left Cuba for places like Central America and Florida. Many Cubans and
American citizens who would have lost their property were resentful of
Castro and his actions and thus gathered in Florida and plan to coup to
overthrow the revolution. With the support of President John F. Kennedy and
the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 1, 500 Cuban exiles
invaded Cuba in 1961 in what became known as the ‘’Bay of Pigs’’ invasion
in an attempt to overthrow Castro and his revolutionary forces. The Bay of
Pigs invasion was however a failure. Castro’s forces were warned of the
planned attack and were therefore well prepared. Three hundred of the
invaders were killed while the other 1200 were taken as prisoners.
The Bay of Pigs Invasion only served to strengthen Cuba’s ties with the
USSR. By the end of 1961, Castro declared himself a fully-fledged communist
and Cuba became the first communist nation in the Western hemisphere. In
October 1962, the world almost came to a nuclear war when the United
States discovered through satellite photographs that the Soviet Government
was building missile launch sites in Cuba. These nuclear missiles represented
a threat to the United States for the simple fact that they could have reached
any chosen target in the United States and thus doubled the number of U.S.
cities and military bases which could be destroyed by the USSR. When the
United States found about the base, the two countries stood for days on the
brink of open war, but the Russian stepped down when the Premier
Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles and close the base. This later
became known as the ‘’Cuban Missile Crisis’’ and helped prevent the Cold
War between the world’s two super-powers from becoming a nuclear conflict,
with a ‘’hotline’’ between the U.S. and the USSR leaders, as well as other
measures being installed after the incident.

Thus by 1962 Castro had abandoned his first policy of returning Cuba to a
system of democratic government. Two factors were responsible for Castro
adopting the Communist model. One was the attempts by the United States
to destroy his revolutionary movement, which forced him to turn to the USSR
for aid and protection. The other was the development of his plans for state-controlled
industrialization in which he had turn to the USSR for guidance on
planning and for help in starting up the industries.
In 1962, the United States forced the Organization of American States (OAS)
to expel Cuba from that body, and to have a policy of hemispheric exclusion
towards Cuba from then on.