History of Cuba

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History of Cuba
Governorate of Cuba (1511–1519)
Viceroyalty of New Spain (1535–1821)
Siege of Havana (1762)
Captaincy General of Cuba (1607–1898)
Lopez Expedition (1850–1851) Ten Years' War (1868–1878) Little War (1879–1880) Cuban War of Independence (1895–1898) Treaty of Paris (1898)
US Military Government (1898–1902)
Platt Amendment (1901)
Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)
Cuban Pacification (1906–1909) Negro Rebellion (1912) Sugar Intervention (1917–1922) 1952 Cuban coup d'état Cuban Revolution (1953–1959) United States embargo against Cuba (1958–)
Republic of Cuba (1959–)
Cuban exodus (1959–) Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961) Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) Intervention in Angola (1975–1991) Special Period (1991–2000) Cuban thaw (2015–2017)
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The island of

In the years following its independence, the

subsidies

.

With the

Domestic economic reforms are also beginning to tackle existing economic problems which arose in the aftermath of the special period (i.e. the introduction of the dual currency system).

Pre-Columbian (to 1500)

cassava bread

Cuba's earliest known human inhabitants inhabited the island in the 4th millennium BC.^[16] The oldest known Cuban archeological site, Levisa, dates from approximately 3100 BC.^[17] A wider distribution of sites date from after 2000 BC, most notably represented by the Cayo Redondo and Guayabo Blanco cultures of western Cuba. These neolithic cultures used ground stone and shell tools and ornaments, including the dagger-like gladiolitos.^[18] The Cayo Redondo and Guayabo Blanco cultures lived a subsistence lifestyle based on fishing, hunting and collecting wild plants.^[18]

The indigenous

Spanish conquest

watercolor

painting of Havana Bay, c. 1639

Christopher Columbus, on his first Spanish-sponsored voyage to the Americas in 1492, sailed south from what is now the Bahamas to explore the northeast coast of Cuba and the northern coast of Hispaniola. Columbus, who was searching for a route to India, believed the island to be a peninsula of the Asian mainland.^[20][21] Columbus arrived at Cuba on October 27, 1492, and he landed on October 28, 1492, at Puerto de Nipe.^[22][23]

During a second voyage in 1494, Columbus passed along the south coast, landing at various inlets including what was to become

. The current city was founded in 1519.

Clergyman Bartolomé de las Casas observed a number of massacres initiated by the invaders, notably the massacre near Camagüey of the inhabitants of Caonao. According to his account, some three thousand villagers had traveled to Manzanillo to greet the Spanish with food, and were "without provocation, butchered".^[26] The surviving indigenous groups fled to the mountains or the small surrounding islands before being captured and forced into reservations. One such reservation was Guanabacoa, today a suburb of Havana.^[27]

In 1513, Ferdinand II of Aragon issued a decree establishing the encomienda land settlement system that was to be incorporated throughout the Spanish Americas. Velázquez, who had become Governor of Cuba, was given the task of apportioning the land and the indigenous peoples to groups throughout the new colony. The scheme was not a success, however, as the natives either succumbed to diseases brought from Spain such as measles and smallpox, or simply refused to work, preferring to move into the mountains.^[22] Desperate for labor for the new agricultural settlements, the Conquistadors sought slaves from surrounding islands and the continental mainland. Velazquez's lieutenant Hernán Cortés launched the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in Cuba, sailing from Santiago to the Yucatán Peninsula.^[28] However, these new arrivals also dispersed into the wilderness or died of disease.^[22]

Despite the difficult relations between the natives and the new Europeans, some cooperation was in evidence. The Spanish were shown by the natives how to nurture tobacco and consume it as cigars. There were also many unions between the largely male Spanish colonists and indigenous women. Modern studies have revealed traces of DNA that renders physical traits similar to Amazonian tribes in individuals throughout Cuba,^[29] although the native population was largely destroyed as a culture and civilization after 1550. Under the Spanish New Laws of 1552, indigenous Cuban were freed from encomienda, and seven towns for indigenous peoples were set up. There are indigenous descendant Cuban (Taíno) families in several places, mostly in eastern Cuba. The local indigenous population also left their mark on the language, with some 400 Taíno terms and place-names surviving to the present day. For example, Cuba and Havana were derived from Classic Taíno, and indigenous words such as tobacco, hurricane and canoe were transferred to English.^[27]

Colonial period

El Morro

in Havana, built in 1589

The Spanish established

to conduct it on Spain's behalf, and ordered regulations on trade with Cuba. The resultant stagnation of economic growth was particularly pronounced in Cuba because of its great strategic importance in the Caribbean, and the stranglehold that Spain kept on it as a result. Colonial Cuba was a frequent target of

Nearly a century later, the British Royal Navy launched another invasion, capturing Guantánamo Bay in 1741 during the War of Jenkins' Ear. Admiral Edward Vernon saw his 4,000 occupying troops capitulate to raids by Spanish troops, and more critically, an epidemic, forcing him to withdraw his fleet to British Jamaica.^[34] In the War of the Austrian Succession, the British carried out unsuccessful attacks against Santiago de Cuba in 1741 and again in 1748. Additionally, a skirmish between British and Spanish naval squadrons occurred near Havana in 1748.^[34]

The

In the 19th century, Cuba became the most important world producer of sugar, thanks to the expansion of slavery and a relentless focus on improving sugar technology. Use of modern refining techniques was especially important because the British Slave Trade Act 1807 abolished the slave trade in the British Empire. The British government set about trying to eliminate the transatlantic slave trade. Under British diplomatic pressure, in 1817 Spain agreed to abolish the slave trade from 1820 in exchange for a payment from London. Cubans rushed to import further slaves in the time legally left to them. Over 100,000 new slaves were imported from Africa between 1816 and 1820.^[31] In spite of the new restrictions a large-scale illegal slave trade continued to flourish in the following years.^[37] Many Cubans were torn between desire for the profits generated by sugar and a repugnance for slavery. By the end of the 19th century, slavery was abolished.

When Spain opened the Cuban trade ports, it quickly became a popular place. Cubans began to use water mills, enclosed furnaces, and steam engines to produce higher-quality sugar at a much more efficient pace. The boom in Cuba's sugar industry in the 19th century made it necessary for the country to improve its transportation infrastructure. Many new roads were built, and old roads were quickly repaired. Railroads were built relatively early, easing the collection and transportation of perishable sugar cane. By 1860, Cuba was devoted to growing sugar, having to import all other necessary goods. Cuba was particularly dependent on the

Reformism, annexation, and independence (1800–1898)

In the early 19th century, three major political currents took shape in Cuba: reformism, annexation and independence. Spontaneous and isolated actions added a current of abolitionism. The 1776 Declaration of Independence by the Thirteen Colonies and the successes of the French Revolution of 1789 influenced early Cuban liberation movements, as did the successful revolt of black slaves in Haiti in 1791. One of the first of such movements in Cuba, headed by the free black Nicolás Morales, aimed at gaining equality between "mulatto and whites" and at the abolition of sales taxes and other fiscal burdens. Morales' plot was discovered in 1795 in Bayamo, and the conspirators were jailed.

Reform, autonomy and separatist movements

As a result of the political upheavals caused by the

, a free-black carpenter. He and others were executed.

The Spanish Constitution of 1812, and the legislation passed by the Cortes of Cádiz after it was set up in 1808, instituted a number of liberal political and commercial policies, which were welcomed in Cuba but also curtailed a number of older liberties. Between 1810 and 1814 the island elected six representatives to the Cortes, in addition to forming a locally elected Provincial Deputation.^[40] Nevertheless, the liberal regime and the Constitution proved ephemeral: Ferdinand VII suppressed them when he returned to the throne in 1814. By the end of the 1810s, some Cubans were inspired by the successes of Simón Bolívar in South America. Numerous secret-societies emerged, most notably the "Soles y Rayos de Bolívar ^[es]", founded in 1821 and led by José Francisco Lemus. It aimed to establish the free Republic of Cubanacán, and it had branches in five districts of the island.

In 1823 the society's leaders were arrested and condemned to exile. In the same year, King Ferdinand VII abolished constitutional rule in Spain yet again. As a result, the national militia of Cuba, established by the Constitution and a potential instrument for liberal agitation, was dissolved, a permanent executive military commission under the orders of the governor was created, newspapers were closed, elected provincial representatives were removed and other liberties suppressed.

This suppression, and the success of independence movements in the former Spanish colonies on the North American mainland, led to a notable rise of Cuban

Between 1810 and 1826, 20,000 royalist refugees from the Latin American Revolutions arrived in Cuba. They were joined by others who left Florida when Spain ceded it to the United States in 1819. These influxes strengthened loyalist pro-Spanish sentiments.^[42]

Antislavery and independence movements

In 1826 the first armed uprising for independence took place in

The 1830s saw a surge of activity from the reformist movement, whose main leader, José Antonio Saco, stood out for his criticism of Spanish despotism and of the slave trade. Nevertheless, Cubans remained deprived of the right to send representatives to the Spanish parliament, and Madrid stepped up repression.

Under British diplomatic pressure, the Spanish government had pledged to abolish slavery.^{[citation needed]} In this context, Black revolts in Cuba increased, and were put down with mass executions. One of the most significant was the Conspiración de la Escalera (Ladder Conspiracy) in 1843–1844. The Ladder Conspiracy involved free Black persons and enslaved, as well as white intellectuals and professionals. It is estimated that 300 Black and mixed-race persons died from torture, 78 were executed, over 600 were imprisoned and over 400 expelled from the island.^[44][45] José Antonio Saco, one of Cuba's most prominent thinkers, was expelled.^[46]

Following the 1868–1878 rebellion of the Ten Years' War, all slavery was abolished by 1886. Slave traders looked for others sources of cheap labour, such as Chinese colonists and Indians from Yucatán. Another feature of the population was the number of Spanish-born colonists, known as peninsulares, who were mostly adult males; they constituted between ten and twenty per cent of the population between the middle of the 19th century and the great depression of the 1930s.

Possibility of annexation by the United States

Black unrest and attempts by the Spanish metropolis to abolish slavery motivated many Creoles to advocate Cuba's annexation by the United States, where slavery was still legal. Other Cubans supported the idea due to their desire for American-style economic development and democratic freedom. In 1805, President Thomas Jefferson considered annexing Cuba for strategic reasons, sending agents to the island to negotiate with Captain General Someruelos.

In April 1823, U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams discussed the rules of political gravitation: "if an apple severed by its native tree cannot choose but fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly disjoined from its own unnatural connection with Spain, and incapable of self-support, can gravitate only towards the North American Union which by the same law of nature, cannot cast her off its bosom".^[47] He furthermore warned that "the transfer of Cuba to Great Britain would be an event unpropitious to the interest of this Union".^[48] Adams voiced concern that a country outside of North America would attempt to occupy Cuba.^[49]

On 2 December 1823, U.S. President James Monroe specifically addressed Cuba and other European colonies in his proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine. Cuba, located just 94 miles (151 km) from Key West, Florida, was of interest to the doctrine's founders, as they warned European forces to leave "America for the Americans".^[50]

The most outstanding attempts in support of annexation were made by the Venezuelan filibuster General Narciso López, who prepared four expeditions to Cuba in the US. The first two, in 1848 and 1849, failed before departure due to U.S. opposition. The third, made up of some 600 men, managed to land in Cuba and take the central city of Cárdenas, but failed eventually due to a lack of popular support. López's fourth expedition landed in Pinar del Río province with around 400 men in August 1851; the invaders were defeated by Spanish troops and López was executed.

Struggle for independence

In the 1860s, Cuba had two more liberal-minded governors, Serrano and Dulce, who encouraged the creation of a Reformist Party, despite the fact that political parties were forbidden. But they were followed by a reactionary governor, Francisco Lersundi, who suppressed all liberties granted by the previous governors and maintained a pro-slavery regime.^[51] On 10 October 1868, the landowner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes declared Cuban independence and freedom for his slaves. This began the Ten Years' War from 1868 to 1878. The Dominican Restoration War (1863–65) brought to Cuba an unemployed mass of former Dominicans who had served with the Spanish Army in the Dominican Republic before being evacuated to Cuba.^[52] Some of these former soldiers joined the new Revolutionary Army and provided its initial training and leadership.^[52][53]

With reinforcements and guidance from the Dominicans, the Cuban rebels defeated Spanish detachments, cut railway lines, and gained dominance over vast sections of the eastern portion of the island.^[54] The Spanish government used the Voluntary Corps to commit harsh acts against the Cuban rebels, and the Spanish atrocities fuelled the growth of insurgent forces; however, they failed to export the revolution to the west. On 11 May 1873, Ignacio Agramonte was killed by a stray bullet; Céspedes was killed on 27 February 1874. In 1875, Máximo Gómez began an invasion of Las Villas west of a fortified military line, or trocha, bisecting the island.^{[citation needed]} The trocha was built between 1869 and 1872; the Spanish erected it to prevent Gómez to move westward from Oriente province.^[55] It was the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the Americas.^[56]

Gómez was controversial in his calls to burn sugar plantations to harass the Spanish occupiers. After the American admiral

of 1879–80.

Conflicts in the late 19th century (1886–1900)

Background

During the time of the so-called "Rewarding Truce", which encompassed the 17 years from the end of the Ten Years' War in 1878, fundamental changes took place in Cuban society. With the abolition of slavery in October 1886, former slaves joined the ranks of farmers and urban working class. Most wealthy Cubans lost their rural properties, and many of them joined the urban middle class. The number of sugar mills dropped and efficiency increased, with only companies and the most powerful plantation owners owning them. The numbers of campesinos and tenant farmers rose considerably. Furthermore, American capital began flowing into Cuba, mostly into the sugar and tobacco businesses and mining. By 1895, these investments totalled $50 million. Although Cuba remained Spanish politically, economically it became increasingly dependent on the United States.^[57]

These changes also entailed the rise of labour movements. The first Cuban labour organization, the Cigar Makers Guild, was created in 1878, followed by the Central Board of Artisans in 1879, and many more across the island.^[58] Abroad, a new trend of aggressive American influence emerged. Secretary of State James G. Blaine placed particular importance on the control of Cuba: "If ever ceasing to be Spanish, Cuba must necessarily become American and not fall under any other European domination".^[59]

Martí's Insurrection and the start of the war

After his second deportation to Spain in 1878, the pro-independence Cuban activist José Martí moved to the United States in 1881, where he began mobilizing the support of the Cuban exile community in Florida.^[60] He sought a revolution and Cuban independence from Spain, but also lobbied to oppose U.S. annexation of Cuba. Propaganda efforts by the Cuban Junta continued for years and intensified starting in 1895.^[61][62]

After deliberations with patriotic clubs across the United States, the Antilles and Latin America, the Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Cuban Revolutionary Party) was officially proclaimed on 10 April 1892, with the purpose of gaining independence for both Cuba and Puerto Rico. Martí was elected delegate, the highest party position. In Foner's words, "Martí's impatience to start the revolution for independence was affected by his growing fear that the United States would succeed in annexing Cuba before the revolution could liberate the island from Spain".^[63]

On 25 December 1894, three ships set sail for Cuba from Fernandina Beach, Florida, loaded with armed men and supplies. Two of the ships were seized by U.S. authorities in early January, but the proceedings went ahead. The insurrection began on 24 February 1895, with uprisings across the island. The uprisings in the central part of the island, such as Ibarra, Jagüey Grande and Aguada, suffered from poor co-ordination and failed; the leaders were captured, some of them deported and some executed. In the province of Havana the insurrection was discovered before it got off and the leaders detained. Thus, the insurgents further west in Pinar del Río were ordered to wait.

Martí, on his way to Cuba, gave the Proclamation of Montecristi in Santo Domingo, outlining the policy for Cuba's war of independence: the war was to be waged by blacks and whites alike; participation of all blacks was crucial for victory; Spaniards who did not object to the war effort should be spared, private rural properties should not be damaged; and the revolution should bring new economic life to Cuba.^[59][64]

On 1 and 11 April 1895, the main rebel leaders landed on two expeditions in Oriente: Major Antonio Maceo and 22 members near Baracoa and Martí, Máximo Gómez and four other members in Playitas. Around that time, Spanish forces in Cuba numbered about 80,000, including 60,000 Spanish and Cuban volunteers. The latter were a locally enlisted force that took care of most of the guard and police duties on the island. By December, 98,412 regular troops had been sent to the island and the number of volunteers had increased to 63,000 men. By the end of 1897, there were 240,000 regulars and 60,000 irregulars on the island. The revolutionaries were far outnumbered.^[59]

The rebels came to be nicknamed "Mambis" after a black Spanish officer, Juan Ethninius Mamby, who joined the Dominicans in the fight for independence in 1846.^[65][66] When the Ten Years' War broke out in 1868, some of the same soldiers were assigned to Cuba, importing what had by then become a derogatory Spanish slur. The Cubans adopted the name with pride.^[67]

After the Ten Years' War, possession of weapons by private individuals was prohibited in Cuba. Thus, one of the most serious and persistent problems for the rebels was a shortage of suitable weapons. This lack of arms forced them to utilise

Escalation of the war

Columbia (the American people) reaches out to help oppressed Cuba in 1897 while Uncle Sam (the U.S. government) is blind to the crisis and will not use its powerful guns to help. Judge magazine

, 6 February 1897.

Martí was killed on 19 May 1895, but

.

After a period of consolidation in the three eastern provinces, the liberation armies headed for Camagüey and then for

were placed at the locations most likely to be attacked.

For the rebels, it was essential to bring the war to the western provinces of Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Río, where the island's government and wealth was located.[59] In a successful cavalry campaign, overcoming the trochas, the rebels invaded every province. Surrounding all the larger cities and well-fortified towns, they arrived at the westernmost tip of the island on 22 January 1896.^[70][71]

concentration camps.^[72][discuss

]

Unable to defeat the rebels with conventional military tactics,

Since the early 1880s, Spain had also been suppressing an independence movement in the Philippines, which was intensifying; Spain was thus now fighting two wars, which placed a heavy burden on its economy. In secret negotiations in 1896, Spain turned down the United States' offers to buy Cuba.

Maceo was killed on 7 December 1896.^[76] As the war continued, the major obstacle to Cuban success was weapons supply. Although weapons and funding came from within the United States, the supply operation violated American laws, which were enforced by the U.S. Coast Guard; of 71 resupply missions, only 27 got through.^[77]

In 1897, the liberation army maintained a privileged position in Camagüey and Oriente, where the Spanish only controlled a few cities. Spanish liberal leader Praxedes Sagasta admitted in May 1897: "After having sent 200,000 men and shed so much blood, we don't own more land on the island than what our soldiers are stepping on".^[78] The rebel force of 3,000 defeated the Spanish in various encounters, such as the battle of La Reforma and the surrender of Las Tunas on 30 August, and the Spaniards were kept on the defensive.

As stipulated at the Jimaguayú Assembly two years earlier, a second Constituent Assembly met in La Yaya, Camagüey, on 10 October 1897. The newly adopted constitution decreed that a military command be subordinated to civilian rule. The government was confirmed, naming Bartolomé Masó as president and Domingo Méndez Capote as vice president. Thereafter, Madrid decided to change its policy toward Cuba, replacing Weyler, drawing up a colonial constitution for Cuba and Puerto Rico, and installing a new government in Havana. But with half the country out of its control, and the other half in arms, the new government was powerless and rejected by the rebels.

USS Maine incident

USS Maine

, photographed in 1898

The Cuban struggle for independence had captured the North American imagination for years and newspapers had been agitating for intervention with sensational stories of Spanish atrocities. Americans came to believe that Cuba's battle with Spain resembled the United States's Revolutionary War. North American public opinion was very much in favor of intervening for the Cubans.^[79]

In January 1898, a riot by Cuban-Spanish loyalists against the new autonomous government broke out in Havana, leading to the destruction of the printing presses of four local newspapers which published articles critical of the Spanish Army. The U.S. Consul-General cabled Washington, fearing for the lives of Americans living in Havana. In response, the battleship USS Maine was sent to Havana. On 15 February 1898, the Maine was destroyed by an explosion, killing 268 crewmembers. The cause of the explosion has not been clearly established, but the incident focused American attention on Cuba, and President William McKinley and his supporters could not stop Congress from declaring war to "liberate" Cuba. In an attempt to appease the United States, the colonial government ended the forced relocation policy and offered negotiations with the independence fighters. However, the truce was rejected by the rebels and the concessions proved too late. Madrid asked other European powers for help; they refused.

On 11 April 1898, McKinley asked Congress for authority to send

The amendment disclaimed any intention on the part of the United States to exercise jurisdiction or control over Cuba for other than pacification reasons. War was declared on 20/21 April 1898.

Cuban Theatre of the Spanish–American War

Hostilities started hours after the declaration of war when a U.S. contingent under Admiral

, on 3 July 1898, was the largest naval engagement during the Spanish–American War, and resulted in the destruction of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron.

Resistance in Santiago consolidated around Fort Canosa,[81] while major battles between Spaniards and Americans took place at Las Guasimas on 24 June, and at El Caney and San Juan Hill on 1 July,^[82] after which the American advance ground to a halt. Spanish troops successfully defended Fort Canosa, allowing them to stabilize their line and bar the entry to Santiago. The Americans and Cubans began a siege of the city,^[83] which surrendered on 16 July after the defeat of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron. Thus, Oriente fell under the control of Americans and the Cubans, but U.S. General Nelson A. Miles would not allow Cuban troops to enter Santiago, claiming that he wanted to prevent clashes between Cubans and Spaniards. Cuban General Calixto García, head of the mambi forces in the Eastern department, ordered his troops to hold their areas and resigned, writing a letter of protest to General Shafter.^[80]

After losing the Philippines and Puerto Rico, which had also been invaded by the United States, Spain sued for peace on 17 July 1898.^[84] On 12 August, the U.S. and Spain signed a protocol of peace, in which Spain agreed to relinquish Cuba.^[85] On 10 December 1898, the U.S. and Spain signed the formal Treaty of Paris, recognizing continuing U. S. military occupation.^[86] Although the Cubans had participated in the liberation efforts, the United States prevented Cuba from sending representatives to the Paris peace talks or signing the treaty, which set no time limit for U.S. occupation and excluded the Isle of Pines from Cuba.^[87] Although the U.S. president had no objection to Cuba's eventual independence, U.S. General William R. Shafter refused to allow Cuban General Calixto García and his rebel forces to participate in the surrender ceremonies in Santiago de Cuba.

U.S. occupation (1898–1902)

After the last Spanish troops left the island in December 1898, the government of Cuba was temporarily handed over to the United States on 1 January 1899. The first governor was General John R. Brooke. Unlike Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, the United States did not annex Cuba because of the restrictions imposed in the Teller Amendment.^[88]

Political changes

The U.S. administration was undecided on Cuba's future status. Once it had been pried away from the Spaniards it was to be assured that it moved and remained in the U.S. sphere. How this was to be achieved was a matter of intense discussion and annexation was an option. Brooke set up a civilian government, placed U.S. governors in seven newly created departments, and named civilian governors for the provinces as well as mayors and representatives for the municipalities. Many Spanish colonial government officials were kept in their posts. The population were ordered to disarm and, ignoring the Mambi Army, Brooke created the Rural Guard and municipal police corps at the service of the occupation forces. Cuba's judicial powers and courts remained legally based on the codes of the Spanish government. Tomás Estrada Palma, Martí's successor as delegate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, dissolved the party a few days after the signing of the Paris Treaty. The revolutionary Assembly of Representatives was also dissolved.^[89]

Economic changes

Before the United States officially took over the government, it had already begun cutting tariffs on American goods entering Cuba, without granting the same rights to Cuban goods going to the United States.^[90] Government payments had to be made in U.S. dollars.^[87] The Foraker Amendment prohibited the U.S. occupation government from granting privileges and concessions to American investors, to appease anti-imperialists during the occupational period. Despite this, the Cuban economy was soon dominated by American capital.^[90] By 1905 nearly 10% of Cuba's land area belonged to Americans. By 1902, American companies controlled 80% of Cuba's ore exports and owned most of the sugar and cigarette factories.^[91]

Immediately after the war, there were several serious barriers for foreign businesses attempting to operate in Cuba. The Joint Resolution of 1898, the Teller Amendment, and the Foraker Amendment threatened foreign investment. Eventually, Cornelius Van Horne of the Cuba Company, an early railroad company in Cuba, found a loophole in "revocable permits" justified by preexisting Spanish legislation that effectively allowed railroads to be built in Cuba. General Leonard Wood, the governor of Cuba and a noted annexationist, used this loophole to grant hundreds of franchises, permits, and other concessions to American businesses.^[92]

Once the legal barriers were overcome, American investments transformed the Cuban economy. Within two years of entering Cuba, the Cuba Company built a 350-mile railroad connecting the eastern port of Santiago to the existing railways in central Cuba. The company was the largest single foreign investment in Cuba for the first two decades of the twentieth century. By the 1910s it was the largest company in the country.^[93] The improved infrastructure allowed the sugar cane industry to spread to the previously underdeveloped eastern part of the country. As many small Cuban sugar cane producers were crippled with debt and damages from the war, American companies were able to quickly and cheaply take over the industry. At the same time, new productive units called centrales could grind up to 2,000 tons of cane a day making large-scale operations most profitable.^[94] The large fixed cost of these centrales made them almost exclusively accessible to American companies with large capital stocks. Furthermore, the centrales required a large, steady flow of cane to remain profitable, which led to further consolidation. Cuban cane farmers who had formerly been landowners became tenants on company land. By 1902, 40% of the country's sugar production was controlled by Americans.^[95]

With American corporate interests firmly rooted in Cuba, the U.S. tariff system was adjusted accordingly to strengthen trade between the nations. The Reciprocity Treaty of 1903 lowered the U.S. tariff on Cuban sugar by 20%. This gave Cuban sugar a competitive edge in the American marketplace. At the same time, it granted equal or greater concessions on most items imported from the United States. Cuban imports of American goods went from $17 million in the five years before the war, to $38 million in 1905, and eventually to over $200 million in 1918. Likewise, Cuban exports to the United States reached $86 million in 1905 and rose to nearly $300 million in 1918.^[96]

Elections and independence

Popular demands for a Constituent Assembly soon emerged.^[87] In December 1899, the U.S. War Secretary assured the Cuban populace that the occupation was temporary, that municipal and general elections would be held, that a Constituent Assembly would be set up, and that sovereignty would be handed to Cubans. Brooke was replaced by General Leonard Wood to oversee the transition. Parties were created, including the Cuban National Party, the Federal Republican Party of Las Villas, the Republican Party of Havana and the Democratic Union Party.

for mayors, treasurers and attorneys of the country's 110 municipalities took place on 16 June 1900, but balloting was limited to literate Cubans older than 21 and with properties worth more than $250. Only members of the dissolved Liberation Army were exempt from these conditions. Thus, the number of about 418,000 male citizens over 21 was reduced to about 151,000. The same elections were held one year later, again for a one-year-term.

Elections for 31 delegates to a Constituent Assembly were held on 15 September 1900 with the same balloting restrictions. In all three elections, pro-independence candidates won overwhelming majorities.^[97] The Constitution was drawn up from November 1900 to February 1901 and then passed by the Assembly. It established a republican form of government, proclaimed internationally recognized individual rights and liberties, freedom of religion, separation between church and state, and described the composition, structure and functions of state powers.

On 2 March 1901, the U.S. Congress passed the

, which defined the terms of Cuban-U.S. relations until 1934. The amendment provided for a number of rules heavily infringing on Cuba's sovereignty:

• That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty with any foreign power which will impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner permit any foreign power to obtain control over any portion of the island.
• That Cuba would contract no
  foreign debt
  without guarantees that the interest could be served from ordinary revenues.
• That Cuba consent that the United States may intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, to protect life, property, and individual liberty, and to discharging the obligations imposed by the treaty of Paris.
• That the Cuban claim to the Isle of Pines (now called Isla de la Juventud) was not acknowledged and to be determined by treaty.
• That Cuba commit to providing the United States "lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points to be agreed upon".

On 6 April 1901, the Constituent Assembly rejected the Platt Amendment by a vote of 24 to 2. The United States demanded that this amendment be approved fully and without changes by the Constituent Assembly as an appendix to the new constitution. US Secretary of War Elihu Root told Governor Wood to convey to the Cuban delegates that “they never can have any further government in Cuba, except the intervening Government of the United States, until they have [approved the Platt Amendment].” On 12 June, 1901, after heated debate, the Constituent Assembly approved the appendix by a margin of four votes. Wood later admitted privately to US President Roosevelt: "Little or no independence had been left to Cuba with the Platt Amendment and the only thing appropriate was to seek annexation".^[97][98]

In the presidential elections of 31 December 1901, Tomás Estrada Palma, an American still living in the United States, was the only candidate. His adversary, General Bartolomé Masó, withdrew his candidacy in protest against U.S. favoritism and the manipulation of the political machine by Palma's followers. Palma was elected to be the Republic's first President.

Early 20th century (1902–1959)

The U.S. occupation officially ended when Palma took office on 20 May 1902.^[99] Havana and Varadero soon became popular tourist resorts. Though some efforts were made to ease Cuba's ethnic tensions through government policies, racism and informal discrimination towards blacks and mestizos remained widespread.^[100]

as Cuban territory was left undefined until 1925, when the United States finally recognized Cuban sovereignty over the island. Palma governed successfully for his four-year term; yet when he tried to extend his time in office, a revolt ensued.

The

in November 1908, Cuba was deemed stable enough to allow a withdrawal of American troops, which was completed in February 1909.

For three decades, the country was led by former

Under the Liberal Gómez the participation of Afro-Cubans in the political process was curtailed when the Partido Independiente de Color was outlawed and bloodily suppressed in 1912, as American troops reentered the country to protect the sugar plantations.^[104] Under Gómez's successor, Mario Menocal of the Conservative Party, income from sugar rose steeply.^[105] Menocal's reelection in 1916 was met with armed revolt by Gómez and other Liberals (the so-called "Chambelona War"), prompting the United States to send in Marines. Gómez was defeated and captured and the rebellion was snuffed out.^[106]

attacks. A draft law was instituted, and 25,000 Cuban troops raised, but the war ended before they could be sent into action.

Post-World War I

President Gerardo Machado was elected by popular vote in 1925, but he was constitutionally barred from reelection. Machado, determined to modernize Cuba, set in motion several massive civil works projects such as the Central Highway, but at the end of his constitutional term he held on to power. The United States decided not to interfere militarily. In the late 1920s and early 1930s a number of Cuban action groups staged a series of uprisings that either failed or did not affect the capital.

The

.

To this end, throughout the autumn of 1933, the government decreed a dramatic series of reforms. The Platt Amendment was unilaterally abrogated, and all the political parties of the Machadato were dissolved. The Provisional Government granted autonomy to the University of Havana, women obtained the right to vote, the eight-hour day was decreed, a minimum wage was established for cane-cutters, and compulsory arbitration was promoted. The government created a Ministry of Labour, and a law was passed establishing that 50 per cent of all workers in agriculture, commerce and industry had to be Cuban citizens. The Grau regime set agrarian reform as a priority, promising peasants legal title to their lands. The Provisional Government survived until January 1934, when it was overthrown by an anti-government coalition of right-wing civilian and military elements. Led by a young mestizo sergeant, Fulgencio Batista, this movement was supported by the United States.^[108]

1940 Constitution and the Batista era

Rise of Batista

In 1940, Cuba conducted

The constitution denied Batista the possibility of running consecutively in the 1944 election.

Rather than endorsing Batista's hand-picked successor Carlos Zayas, the Cuban people elected Ramón Grau San Martín in 1944. Grau made a deal with

Grau's presidency was followed by that of Carlos Prío Socarrás, whose government was tainted by increasing corruption and violent incidents among political factions. Eduardo Chibás – the leader of the Partido Ortodoxo (Orthodox Party), a nationalist group – was widely expected to win in 1952 on an anticorruption platform. However, Chibás committed suicide before he could run, and the opposition was left without a unifying leader.^[115] Batista seized power in an almost bloodless coup. President Prío was forced to leave Cuba. Due to the corruption of the previous two administrations, the general public reaction to the coup was somewhat accepting at first. However, Batista soon encountered stiff opposition when he temporarily suspended balloting and the 1940 constitution, and attempted to rule by decree. Nonetheless, elections were held in 1954 and Batista was re-elected under disputed circumstances.^[116]

Economic expansion and stagnation

Although corruption was rife under Batista, Cuba did flourish economically. Wages rose significantly;^[117] according to the International Labour Organization, the average industrial salary in Cuba was the world's eighth-highest in 1958, and the average agricultural wage was higher than in developed nations such as Denmark and France.^[117][118] Although a third of the population still lived in poverty (according to Batista's government), Cuba was one of the five most developed countries in Latin America by the end of the Batista era,^[119] with 56% of the population living in cities.^[120]

In the 1950s, Cuba's

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