U.S. POLICY TOWARD CUBA: FROM NEOCOLONY TO STATE OF SIEGE
by Jane Franklin
In 1898, Cubans, waging their Second War of Independence, were
close to driving out the colonists from Spain. The U.S. government
decided the fruit was ripe. Congress declared war against Spain,
ostensibly to help free Cuba. In U.S. history, this is known as
the Spanish-American War; the United States emerged with four new
ports--the Philippines and Guam in the Pacific and Puerto Rico and
Cuba in the Atlantic.
But Cuban history calls it the U.S. Intervention in Cuba's War
of Independence. U.S. troops occupied Cuba for four years. In
exchange for removal of the occupation army, Cuba attached the
Platt Amendment, a U.S. law, to their Constitution, granting
control of Cuba to the U.S. government. Cuba converted from a
colony of Spain to a neocolony of the United States.
Among its dictates, the Platt Amendment provided that the
United States could intervene militarily at any time and could
maintain ports on the island. This amendment was abrogated in 1934
except for the U.S. naval station at Guant namo, which remains.
U.S.-approved elections led to U.S.-approved repression. U.S.
troops occupied Cuba again from 1906 until 1909 and periodically
sent troops to help quell rebellion. In 1940 the Cuban people
created a new Constitution, along with hopes for a peaceful
transition to democracy.
BATISTA DICTATORSHIP AND REVOLUTION
In 1952, a young lawyer was running for Congress when General
Fulgencio Batista returned from Florida to stage a coup financed
and supported by the U.S. government. Batista suspended the
Constitution and canceled elections. That young man, Fidel Castro,
was not allowed to win or lose an election. The Helms-Burton Act,
signed into law by President Clinton in 1996, specifies that
neither Fidel Castro nor Raul Castro will be allowed to run in a
"free election" that would be certified by Washington.
So it's easy to comprehend why U.S. talk of "free elections" sounds hollow
to Cuban ears. Besides, the United States does not have a record
of supporting elections won by somebody not stamped with approval
in Washington; note Guatemala in 1954 and Chile in 1973.
Under Batista, about 85 percent of Cuba's trade was with the
United States. Foreigners, mainly from the United States, owned 75
percent of arable land; 90 percent of services like water,
electricity, phones; and 40 percent of the sugar industry. Super
exploitation and Batista's dictatorship incited the revolution, led
by Fidel Castro, that finally triumphed on January 1, 1959.
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~hbf/resist.htm