User:Lmolina100/Independence of cuba

CUBA INDEPENDENCE

Cuba was a Spanish colony until Spain's defeat in the Spanish-American War. The war originated in the Cuban struggle for independence but the United States had a bigger role than Spain. In the nineteenth century, many Americans believed in Manifest Destiny, an idea that it was the destiny of the United States to expand across all of North America. American newspaper publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst fueled American patriotism by reporting sensational stories about Spanish brutality in Cuba. The United States tried to purchase Cuba from Spain four times in the nineteenth century. Spain's empire in the Caribbean was crumbling and Spain might have agreed to sell Cuba if the Americans offered a more reasonable price. In 1898, American president William McKinley sent the United States battleship Maine to Cuba to protect American citizens. Angry crowds protested when the battleship arrived because they felt the Maine was a threatening gesture to Cuba. That night, the city was awakened by a blast that sank the Maine, killing more than 250 crewmen. The cause of the disaster was not uncovered. The Americans blamed underwater mines, while Spanish investigators insisted it was an internal explosion. The American people were outraged. The phrase, "Remember the Maine" became a battle cry encouraged by Pulitzer and Hearst. The people demanded war, and Congress agreed. The United States Congress declared that Cuba was an independent nation, and authorized President McKinley to use the military to force the Spanish from Spain. The resulting Spanish-American War was brief and one-sided. After the American victory, Spain granted independence to Cuba and gave the United States the colonies of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam in exchange for $20,000,000. The United States recognized Cuba as an independent nation, but would not agree to withdraw their forces unless the Cubans agreed to several conditions. The Platt Amendment was passed by the American Congress in 1901 and added to the Cuban constitution. It gave the United States the right to lease land for a naval base on Cuban territory, and gave the United States the right to intervene with military force should events on the island seem to be dangerous to American interests. The United States occupied Cuba from 1906 to 1909, and again in 1912. This angered many Cubans, who felt they were putting themselves under the control of a foreign power. After three years of American military rule, Cuba becomes independent in May 1902. From the start a close continuing relationship with the USA is expected and accepted. The terms of independence have included the Platt Amendment, which pledges the Cubans to continue the public health improvements started by the military government (such as the eradication of yellow fever) and allows the USA to intervene if there is a threat to Cuba's independence or good government. The Platt Amendment also arranges for the leasing of certain facilities to the US navy (the deepwater harbour of Guantánamo Bay remains to this day in American hands). The instability of Cuban political life, characterized by corruption and putsch, means that the USA intervenes to restore order on three separate occasions in the first quarter of the century. By the late 1920s the country is under the brutal control of its first outright dictator, Gerardo Machado. In 1933 a combination of events (a general strike, US pressure and above all loss of support in the army) forces Machado into exile. A man closely involved in the army's change of heart is the 32-year-old Fulgencio Batista. As yet he is only a sergeant, but the events of 1933 begin his long period of involvement in Cuban politics. Later in the same year Batista leads a coup which overthrows the provisional government of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (whose father proclaimed Cuban independence in 1868). By the end of the year Batista is army chief of staff. Batista contrives to rule through a succession of puppet presidents until 1940, when he is himself elected to the post. He withdraws at the end of his term, in 1944, and leaves Cuba. But he returns to seize power in 1952. The coup itself is bloodless, but Batista's corrupt and dictatorial regime soon provokes violent opposition. Prominent among his radical opponents is a young lawyer, Fidel Castro.