Cuban Political Development
Alice Coulter
Christopher Colombus first landed on Cuba in 1492 and claimed the island for Spain, thereby beginning Cuba’s long history of external occupation. During four centuries of colonial exploitation and the introduction of European diseases, indigenous islanders were gradually wiped out and slaves brought in from Africa to replace them in the mining and agricultural industries. Spanish dominance of the island was only briefly interrupted during the 1760s when the British captured Havana, though Cuba was soon restored to the Spaniards in a direct exchange for Florida.
In 1823 US President Monroe issued a declaration that any interference from a European country in Latin America would be viewed as an attack on the US itself, which has assumed the right to protect the entire continent. The Monroe Doctrine would later have a major significance on US-Cuba policy, however by this time many of Spain’s colonies in the region had already attained independence, only Cuba and Costa Rica remained.
The US (with British backing) resisted external attempts to liberate Cuba (most notably by a Colombian-Mexican alliance), with the North American country preferring the continuation of slavery to armed up-rising so close to its borders. The US threats worked and no external liberation attempts were made.
On 10 October 1868 landowner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes gave the "Grito de Yara" (cry of freedom), proclaiming Cuban independence, promoting the liberation of slaves and sparking the Ten Year War. With many of the emancipated slaves incorporated into the rebel army, the rebel movement advanced, particularly under the celebrated skill of rebel leader Antonio Maceo.
The organisational inadequacy of the rebel movement, together with unequal access to arms (the US only supplied weapons to Spain), resulted in a stalemate in 1878, known as the Pact of Zanjón. This treaty freed slaves who had fought on both sides of the war but did not abolish slavery (although it was later abolished for economic reasons in 1886) or provide independence for Cuba.
The second war of independence began in 1895 when José Martí united some of the surviving veterans of the Ten Year War, including Antonio Maceo, Máximo Gómez, and Calixto García. Learning from previous attempts, Martí organised the rebel movement into a comprehensive force, including a civilian sector to take control of the government in the event of victory. Martí felt that the push for Cuban independence from Spain was urgently required to pre-empt US annexation of the island.
On his first expedition into the battlefield, Martí was killed but rather than dampen the spirit of the rebellion, Martí’s death provoked new waves of patriotism and actually spurred the rebel’s cause.
The rebels, or Mambises, were numerically no match for the Spaniards. Despite this, and the loss of the charismatic rebel leader, Antonio Maceo, in 1896, the rebel forces were on the point of victory when the US intervened in January 1898. At this time Spain was facing two wars, one in Cuba and another in the Philippines (also claiming independence from Spain). In this weakened position Spain began talks with the US who had already demonstrated their desire to annex Cuba. Cuban rebels made it clear to US officials that they would accept nothing less than complete withdrawal of Spanish authority in Cuba.
Notwithstanding these talks and the near defeat of the Spaniards, US forces, hyped up by domestic news propaganda, decided to enter the war against Spain to ensure influence in a post-independent Cuban regime. US involvement lasted only three months, until August 1898, by which time Spain had capitulated and accepted the peace terms of the US, specifically control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. (Although Cuba was officially granted independence in the peace treaty).
On 1 January 1899, a provisional US military government was formally placed in charge of Cuba. This military regime provided security and stability for the subsequent influx of US investors in the region, but failed to provide domestic small landholders with the necessary means to improve production, or even repair the devastation caused by the wars. As a result, many of the major Cuban industries, once owned by the Spanish, moved into the hands of US citizens.
US moves to annex Cuba were met with general opposition. In an effort to clarify US policy towards Cuba, US President McKinley commissioned the Platt Amendment ultimately defining Cuba as a pseudo-colony. The Platt Amendment, attached to the US-inspired Cuban constitution, limited Cuban sovereignty and legalised US military intervention in the island. Cuban leaders were forced to accept the conditions of the amendment as the only method of securing the removal of the provisional military government. In 1903 a Permanent Treaty was signed that gave the US responsibility for Cuban internal security and formalised US access to Guantanamo Bay in the western tip of the island.
In 1924 Gerardo Machado was elected president of Cuba and received both political and financial support from the US. He was also popular domestically, with plans to expand the agricultural economic base of the country and promote social development projects throughout Cuba. However, Machado’s rule soon degenerated into dictatorship, extending presidential terms to six years and declaring himself the only legal candidate in the forthcoming elections. Yet, rising political frustration, coupled with the devastating effects of the 1929 Wall Street Crash led to his eventual capitulation to demands for his resignation.
The succeeding president, Carlos M Céspedes, was himself ousted from the post by the "Revolt of the Sergeants", an uprising led by Fulgencio Batista. Following the uprising, a revolutionary government was set in place under the leadership of Ramón Grau San Martín and Antonio Guiteras. This government introduced many legislative changes, including nullifying the Platt Amendment, emancipating women, and granting peasants the right to the land they toiled. The US government became concerned with the radical nature of these changes so close to their shores.
In 1934, with the support of the US government, Batista became the self-appointed chief of the Cuban Armed Forces, and subsequently forced the resignation of the Grau-Guiteras government, installing in its place a succession of puppet presidents.[Carlos Mendieta (1934-35), José A. Barnet (1935-36), Miguel Mariano Gómez (1936) and Federuco Laredo Brú (1936-40)].
A new constitution for Cuba was established in 1940 granting improved individual and social rights, including a minimum wage and the prohibition of latifundias (large plantations). 1940 also saw the election of Batista himself to the role of President of Cuba.
In 1944 Ramón Grau San Martín was re-elected President, only to be replaced in the following 1948 elections by Carlos Prío Socarrás. Batista once again put himself forward as a presidential candidate for the 1952 elections, but it soon became clear that he was only a distant third in the running. A recently graduated law student, Fidel Castro, was also running in these elections for a place in Congress as a candidate for the Orthodox party.
On 10 March 1952 Fulgencio Batista executed a bloodless coup, cancelling the forthcoming elections and suspending the 1940 Constitution. A few days later, the self-installed Batista government was officially recognised by Washington.
Disillusioned with the corrupt political system, Fidel Castro led a revolt attacking the Moncada army barracks near Santiago de Cuba in 1953. The attack failed. Castro was arrested and many of his fellow rebels were tortured and killed.
In 1955 several of the imprisoned rebels, including Castro, were granted political amnesty and fled to Mexico to regroup. During this time in Mexico, Castro became acquainted with a young Argentine doctor, Che Guevarra, who agreed to join the rebels as their official physician. In December 1956 the group of 82 men attempted an illicit return to Cuba on a boat named "Granma", but were beset by technical and communication difficulties. On landing at the province of Oriente, Castro’s rebels were surprised by Batista’s men. Many were killed, but Fidel and Raul Castro, together with Che Guevarra and a few others, managed to escape to the Sierra Maestra.
After many small scale attacks on various Batista strongholds, Castro’s rebel forces finally took Havana on 1 January 1959. Batista and several of his closest allies immediately fled the country. Manuel Urrutia and Jose Miró Cardona were installed as President and Prime Minister respectively and their first political act was to reinstate the 1940 Constitution. On 16 February 1959, Fidel Castro replaced Cardona as Prime Minister and the revolutionary government pursued land reforms and increased contact with the Soviet regime. Factions within both Cuba and the US became concerned about the increasing influence of communism within the new government.
"The future, reform or revolution, would be determined by the position the United States would adopt, not by Fidel's desires. I personally wasn't concerned about the U.S. reaction because I already knew it would be one of outrage, but I was worried about the pro-Soviet backlash that would take place in Cuba and the possibility that Fidel would ally himself totally with the Soviet Union if there was a break with the United States. Many of us saw the perils built into the Soviet bureaucratic structure, which blends so easily with the militarism and caudillismo of a man like Fidel Castro".[1]
In contrast to the above acknowledgement that a US display of outrage to Cuba’s growing communist tendencies could push Cuba further towards the USSR, the US stopped purchasing sugar from Cuba, the country’s main source of income. The Soviet Union and Cuba organised a trade agreement under which Cuba would provide the USSR with sugar in return for crude oil and petroleum products for a fixed period of five years. In response US-owned oil refineries on the island refused to refine the Soviet Oil. Castro then nationalised several of the major oil refineries, including Texaco, Esso and Shell. Subsequent tit-for-tat retaliations between the US, Cuba and the USSR resulted in the nationalisation of most of Cuba’s previously foreign-owned industries, and the imposition of a US economic embargo against Cuba.
On 17 April 1961 Cuban exiles from America launched an attack on Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, but were overwhelmingly defeated by the Cuban army after only three days. US President John F. Kennedy denied US involvement, but it is commonly accepted that the CIA provided training and backup for the operation.[2]
Shortly after this failed attack, US reconnaissance aircraft spotted Soviet intermediate-range missile sites being constructed on Cuban soil sparking the so-called "Cuban Missile Crisis" of October 1962. US President Kennedy demanded that the missiles be removed and imposed a naval blockade on the island. USSR President Kruschev agreed provided that US missiles were removed from Turkey.
Throughout the 1970s political relations between Cuba and the US appeared to be improving. However, on 5 November 1975 the newly inaugurated government of Angola requested Cuban aid to repel a South African invasion. Subsequent Cuban involvement in the region led US President Ford to prohibit any increased diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Castro’s key role in Cuba is evident by 1976 when he is elected to the position of President of the State Council, which, according to a new constitution, consolidated the roles of President and Prime Minister. In addition to this dominance of the political sphere, Castro was and still is Commander in Chief of the Cuban Armed Forces.
US-Cuban relations began to cool again in 1977 when, at the request of the Ethiopian government, Castro sent soldiers to Ethiopia to repel a Somali invasion of the country. As a result the US administration once again stated that there could be no thawing of relations while Cuba had troops in Africa.
Despite apparently conciliatory moves from Castro, and the introduction of farmers’ markets in Cuba, the 1981 election of President Ronald Reagan marked the beginning of an intensification of the US embargo against Cuba. By the late 1980s the continuation of this hardening line against Cuba was dramatically in contrast to the declining relevance of Cuba as a strategic Soviet outpost, particularly in light of such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent withdrawal of Soviet economic subsidies to the country.
In 1990 the Mack Amendment prohibited trade with Cuba, including for US companies based outside the US, and proposed sanctions or cessation of aid for third countries that traded with Cuba. In 1992 the Cuban Democracy Act (also known as the Torricelli Law) was passed prohibiting foreign-based subsidiaries of US companies from trading with Cuba, allowing only private firms to deliver food and medicine to Cuba. Many complained that this went against international agreements certifying that food and medicine could not be used as weapons in international conflicts. In the UN resolutions were passed signifying the growing international dissatisfaction with US policy towards Cuba. President Bush signed the act into law with advisors claiming that these measures would bring down the Cuban regime in a matter of weeks.[3]
Increased activity by American-Cuban exiles, leafleting Cuba from the air, led Castro to warn the US that future unauthorised planes would be shot down. On 4 February 1996, Cuban MiGs shot down two planes belonging to the anti-Castro "Brothers to the Rescue" organisation, killing four people.
In response to domestic uproar (particularly in Miami), President Clinton signed the Cuban Liberty and Democracy Solidarity Act (also known as the Helms-Burton Act) into law on 12 March 1996, penalising foreign countries doing business with Cuba, permitting US nationals to file lawsuits against international companies making a profit on property confiscated by the Cuban government, and denying such investors entry into the US. The act also formalised the embargo, stating that it will remain until democratic elections are held in Havana, excluding nominations for either Raul or Fidel Castro.
On 25 November 1999 Elian Gonzalez was rescued off the coast of Miami from a capsized boat in which his mother and step-father had drowned whilst trying to escape to the US. Elian was eventually returned to his father in Cuba on 28 June 2000 after American-Cubans intensely lobbied the government to keep the boy in the US. The event marked a low point of US domestic support for the pro-embargo groups, as many considered distasteful the zeal of the anti-Castro American-Cubans in separating a boy from his natural father, and the extent to which the exile community would go to demonise Castro’s Cuba.
Throughout the late 1990s, European countries called for the end of the US embargo against Cuba, claiming that Title III of the Helms-Burton Act contravened international law. The anti-embargo position is increasingly heard from within the US, including Pentagon officials, yet Title II of the Helms-Burton Law states that nothing short of an act of Congress is required to reverse the embargo.
[1] Carlos Franqui, Family Portrait with Fidel (New York: Random House, 1984) p. 65.
[2] Peter Kornbluh (ed.) "The Ultrasensitive Bay of Pigs: Newly released Portions of Taylor Commission Report Provide Critical New Details on Operation Zapata," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing book No. 29 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB29/index.html
[3]Representative Robert Torricelli assured policy makers that this legislation would lead to Castro’s ouster within weeks. See Wayne Smith, "Cuba: Problems with Current US Policy" Foreign Policy in Focus 2(8) (Jan 1997).
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