Cuba and the United States BFFs History Cuba

Cuba and the United States BFFs

History �Cuba was the last Latin American country to achieve independence from Spain �Between 1868 and 1878 Cuba fought a war with Spain ending in a truce whose peace agreements Spain later ignored. (Ten Years War) �In 1898, the USA declared war on Spain and won. Spain ceded Cuba to the United States.

Independence � Cuba is officially declared an independent nation in 1902 with the election of Tomas Estrada Palma. � The US Platt Amendment places Cuba under the protection of the US government and gives the USA the right to intervene in Cuban Affairs. � The Platt Amendment promised the US would withdraw troops from Cuba provided seven promises were kept including “That the government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the government of Cuba”

�Between 1906 and 1934 when the Platt Amendment was rewritten, the USA intervened in Cuban sociopolitical crises at least four times. �In 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt also altered the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the USA had the right to intervene in Latin America in cases of "flagrant and chronic wrongdoing by a Latin American Nation

� It is not true that the United States feels any land hunger or entertains any projects as regards the other nations of the Western Hemisphere save such as are for their welfare. All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the United States. Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power. If every country washed by the Caribbean Sea would show the progress in stable and just civilization which with the aid of the Platt amendment Cuba has shown since our troops left the island, and which so many of the republics in both Americas are constantly and brilliantly showing, all question of interference by this Nation with their affairs would be at an end. � -Theodore Roosevelt: “State of the Union Address” December 6 th 1904

�In 1934, Franklin D. Roosevelt rewrote the Platt Amendment as the U. S. -Cuba Treaty of Relations �Four of the seven “promises” were revoked, leaving only the US’ right to maintain a military base at Guantanamo Bay. �This was part of Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbour” policy, which proposed nonintervention in Latin American affairs beyond “counsel”. The “Good Neighbour” policy would eventually be shelved in 1945 because of the Cold War.

�According to Samuel Farber, the US’s continuous presence in Cuban affairs lead to a kind of “fatalism” among the political and governing classes. �“The principal weakness of the Cuban capitalist class may have been its view of the US government as its political guarantor of last resort…. nothing could be done without US approval. ” (Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959

Jose Marti �Poet, journalist and statesman, born in Havana in 1853, criollo son of Spanish parents. �Became involved in the “Ten Years War” at age 15. �In 1870 was arrested and imprisoned for Treason against the Spanish crown. Served 6 months and then went into exile in Spain.

�Spent three years in Spain and then returned to the Americas, living in Guatemala and Mexico. Was able to return to Cuba in 1878 due to an amnesty law, but went back into exile shortly after. �From 1881 til shortly before his death Marti took up residence in New York. He founded the newspaper Patria and continued publishing articles in twenty Latin American newspapers.

� Marti’s time in New York was fruitful, he discovered the poetic work of Walt Whitman and honed his own lyrical style. Published several works of poetry including Versos de Cuba and Versos Sencillos. � Marti’s political philosophy is best defined as “Classical liberalism”. He was a strong proponent of enlightenment ideas, rationalism, secularism, personal liberty and civil rights. He opposed slavery which remained in practice in Cuba until 1867. His principal political ideal, however, was Cuban and Latin American Independence � His relationship to the United States was conflicted. On the one hand Marti saw the USA as epitomizing enlightenment ideals, on the other he was also extremely wary of the United States’ influence on Cuba. In “Nuestra America” he exhorts the Latin American Nations to present a United front against their northern neighbor. In the prologue to Versos Sencillos, he condemns the US’ designs on Cuba in strong language.

�“Y la agonía en que viví, hasta que pude confirmar la cautela y el brío de nuestros pueblos; y el horror y vergüenza en que me tuvo el temor legítimo de que pudiéramos los cubanos, con manos parricidas, ayudar el plan insensato de apartar a Cuba, para bien único de un nuevo amo disimulado” --Prologo de Versos Sencillos

Whose Marti? � Marti’s legacy remains contested territory between Cubans supportive of the Castro Revolution and those who fled into exile in Miami. � Fidel Castro considered Marti as his primary Revolutionary influence and often cited passages in his speeches where the poet expresses his criticism of the United States. � However the Cuban exiles frequently cite Marti’s desire for independence and his support of democracy. Marti, a contemporary of Marx, was also highly critical of revolutionary ideas.