User:Make2018/sandbox

US Investment in Cuba

The United States, since the beginning to the 19th century had been interested in acquiring Cuba as a territory. Many politicians like Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams believed that Cuba could be a great economic resource for the United States in addition to believing that it was a natural for Cuba to be controlled by the United States because of its proximity. After the U.S. helped Cuba win its' independence from Spain after the Spanish-American War, the United States began to invest politically and economically in Cuba. By pressuring the Cuban government to include the Platt Amendment in their new constitution, the United States was granted the authority to intervene in Cuba whenever the U.S. government saw fit. This power allowed for businessmen from the United States to have a lot of power in Cuba and in many ways allowed them to manipulate the political system to their advantage. The United States invested more money in Cuba than any other country in Latin America. This was because of the great economic profits that business men in the United States were able to gain by doing business in Cuba This allowed companies owned by business men in the U.S. to own vast amounts of land and other forms of capital. In 1956, U.S. owned companies controlled " 90 percent of the telephone and electric services, about 50 percent in public service railways, and roughly 40 percent in raw sugar production" according to a report published by the  Department of Commerce.

1) How much was invested?

2) What sectors?

3) Which sectors were most effected?

4) Process of Nationalization


 * Structural question: Are you envisioning this as a free-standing article (something like Economic History of Spain ), or an expansion of the main article Economy of Cuba or Foreign Investment in China - a subsection of the Economy of China page?

Katherine.Holt (talk) 18:18, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

One other place to consider would be as an expansion of the Cuba-United States Relations page. Katherine.Holt (talk) 18:24, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

Cuban Telephone Company part of ITT Cuban American Telephone Company part of AT&T

Shell, Texaco

http://www.telephonecollectors.org/pictures/?id=283217834 http://merrick.library.miami.edu/cdm/ref/collection/cubanphotos/id/2409  — Preceding unsigned comment added

Prior to the Cuban Revolution, Cuba ranked fifth in the hemisphere in per capita income, third in life expectancy, second in per capita ownership of automobiles and telephones, first in the number of television sets per inhabitant.[17] Its income per capita in 1929 was reportedly 41% of the US, thus higher than in Mississippi and South Carolina.[18]

Its proximity to the United States made it a familiar holiday destination for wealthy Americans. Their visits for gambling, horse racing and golfing[19] made tourism an important economic sector. The use of Cuba as a tourist destination by Americans was a huge part of their economy but led to rampant amounts of prostitution a practice that was cracked down upon during the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959.   Tourism magazine Cabaret Quarterly described Havana as "a mistress of pleasure, the lush and opulent goddess of delights." According to Perez, "Havana was then what Las Vegas has become." T'he dictator Fulgencio Bautista had plans to line the Malecon, Havana’s famous walkway by the water with hotels and casinos to attract even more tourists. Today hotel Riviera is the only hotel that was built before the revolutionary government took control.'