Cuba Declaration Of Independence

The Cuban Revolution was touchy topic for the United States and Cuba. America’s alienation of Cuba didn’t help when communism from the USSR was brewing over the revolution. When the revolution gained Castro as its leader, the worry and hatred from the United States was unbearable, especially when the Soviet Union landed in Cuba to interest Castro in its aid. The US’s fear of communism, Fidel Castro, and aid from the Soviet Union was significant because it changed the US’s political role in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution.

Cuban history, like many other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean which have experienced colonial subjugation and imperial interference, is highlighted by tumultuous rebellions. Ever since the revolt of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes in 1868, who took up arms with his slaves to liberate Cuba from Spain’s colonial grasp, the existence of insurrectionists and adamant government opposition in Cuba has flourished. Social revolution and a strong will and practice of nationalism has indelibly characterized Cuban history. Nevertheless, the outcomes of particular movements and struggles for social justice have consistently frustrated revolutionary and radical leaders. Government regimes throughout

The once powerful Spanish Empire was hanging onto a thread as Cuba and Puerto Rico were their last two major colonies. Tension between the Cuban people and the Spaniards had been building since the beginning of Spanish reign over the island in 1492. One of the leading issues was the “impact of increased taxation and an international economic crisis” (LOC). Spain was exploiting Cuba for its sugar plantations and treating the locals very poorly. This poor treatment and taxation by Spain would lead to the “Ten Years' War” (LOC), from 1868 to 1878, in which the Cubans

During the 1950’s, Cuba was on the brink of revolution. The nation, which had suffered numerous corrupt and oppressive governmental regimes, fell victim to yet another when Fulgencio Batista seized power under a military coup in March of 1952. A cry for a just Cuba, that was economically, politically, and socially free continued to echo throughout the island. In 1959, a group of radical revolutionaries, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, overthrew the Batista dictatorship and put in place the political and social structures that exist in Cuba to this day.

After it became officially globally acknowledged that Cuba was in fact a communist state and was being led through a dictatorship run by Castro, it did not take long before powerful enemies and essential allies were formed. The act of seizing all foreign land with none or very little compensation was received with great hostility amongst those who lost in their property through this process, and probably the reaction that had the biggest impact on Cuba’s economy was that of the US. Castro’s communistic policies did not of course help calm this resentment and also took part in leading to the establishment of trade embargos with Cuba from the US. This meant that Cuba would now lose a very valuable buyer of their precious sugar, [5] but they did however gain another one, a powerful nation that shared quite similar Marxist ideals and were quick to form an alliance with the Cubans, the USSR.

During the Cold War, relations between Cuba and the United States were icy. Cuba was allied with the USSR, America’s enemy, and was well within their sphere of influence. With events like the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis happening on their soil, Cuba was at the center of the Cold War. Between ideological differences and their alliance with Russia, Cuba became an enemy of America as well. It took the efforts of ten American presidents, six Popes, and countless other actors, but Cuba and America are finally in the process of normalizing relations. There is still work to be done, but the path is clear and the time is right. However, one cannot simply ignore the last fifty years. In that time, millions of lives were affected by the lack of social, economic, and political ties between the U.S. and Cuba. In this paper, I will analyze the last fifty years of U.S. - Cuban relations by looking at the involved actors, their means, and their values and interests through the lenses of two paradigms, realism and constructivism.

In the article, “Why Do We Still Have an Embargo of Cuba?” Patrick Haney explores the history of the embargo and the different factors which have maintained and tightened its restrictions over the past fifty years. The embargo consists of a ban on trade and commercial activity, a ban on travel, a policy on how Cuban exiles can enter the U.S., and media broadcasting to the island. These once-executive orders now codified into law by the Helms-Burton Act, have become a politically charged topic which wins and loses elections, spawned influential interest groups, and powerful political action committees.

Before the Spanish the US had no political reasons of interest to become engaged in conflict within the Caribbean region. To draw attention to their campaigns, US politicians, like Albert J. Beveridge, began to declare that it was America’s God given right to go to Cuba and take control; although this was not the

Although the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor was the impetus the United States needed to enter open war with Spain, it would be nearsighted to say that this was America’s first attempt at “helping” our Cuban neighbors. The Ostend Manifesto is a prime example of an attempt at bringing Cuba into our fold. Southerners in the 1850’s would have been elated if Cuba were to join our ranks, for the island plantations would undoubtedly bolster the pro-slavery cause. However, the 1890’s brought about different motives for the conflict with Spain, and they were more than just one Caribbean isle; in the end, America did not even end up annexing the entirety of Cuba (we did reserve the right to set up a government and leased

When it comes to the topic of the Spanish-American War of 1898, most Americans may believe humanitarian aspects influenced the United States’ role in Cuba. In a way, the public thought America would be “freeing” Cuba from the atrocities the Spaniards had laid upon them. One source about the reconcentration camps outlines what the Cubans faced, “Four hundred and sixty women and children thrown on the ground, heaped pell-mell as animals, some in a dying condition, others sick and others dead…” Sources such as these portrayed aspects of “yellow journalism” which exaggerated stories and influenced the emotions of the American public. Where the people’s argument ends, is whether or not freeing Cuba from Spanish rule was the sole reason behind American

In the __Spanish-American War__, the U.S. easily defeated the decrepit Spanish forces in 114 days. A U.S. official called the conflict ~'A Splendid Little War.~' With this victory, the United States now gained control of former Spanish colonies in the Caribbean, including Cuba. Though the __Teller Amendment of 1898__ proclaimed the U.S. would not seek to annex and control Cuba after the war, government and military leaders doubted Cubans could manage their own affairs in ~'America's backyard.~' General William Shafter, for instance, proclaimed Cubans are ~'no more fit for self-government than gun-powder is for hell.~' Cuba declared its independence on January 1, 1899, but U.S. soldiers remained for the next two

Similar to other Caribbean islands during the 20th century Cuba was undergoing a significant nationalist and labor union movement clamoring for the improvement of the lives of wage-earning laborers and independence from their colonial powers. Cuba had served as a colony of Spain, however the first Cuban War of Independence in 1895 and subsequent Spanish-American War in 1898 finally forced Spain to relinquish all sovereignty of Cuba and instead give it to the United States where Cuba would serve as a colony of the United States. Under the new form of 20th century colonialism under the rule of the United States which had wage-earning workers laboring for large United States based corporations that would continue to exploit the workers and keep

The second half of the 19th Century bore witness to an explosion of imperial and colonial movement by western nations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The rapid growth of countries’ colonial possessions spurred intense competition between nations for more land, labor, and resources. The responses of the colonized native peoples in these diverse lands varied from voluntary compliance to bloody rebellions against their foreign oppressors. One of the most fascinating case studies to examine in this turbulent time period was the Spanish imperial presence in Cuba, and the shifts in the Cuban response as the nature and policies of the Spanish rule changed as well. To fully explore the Cuban relationship with western colonization, it was critical

In this paper, the question of why did Cuban slavery collapse in the nineteenth century will be answered. In 1820s, some Spanish colonies rebelled and finally gain the independence, while Cuban was still loyal to the Spanish. It is partly because Cuba depends on Spain for trade and the need for continuous protection from pirates and slave rebellions. Although, at that period of time, they were unhappy about Spanish rules, they were more afraid of the rising power of United States. During that time, Cuba continuously conveys sugar, coffee and tobacco to Europe and American. And to do so, the economy of Cuba needs slaves, since slavery was the economic foundation for the farming and mining

Once the Spanish had gained an abundance of wealth from the conquest of the Aztecs and the Inca empires, they turned their land into major settlements and trade. Agricultural development increased to produce sugar. Cuba was open to unrestricted free trade, including but not limited to the escalation of Cuban slave trade. When Britain ended slavery in their West Indies colonies in the 1830s, their production in sugar declined rapidly. This resulted to Cuba’s escalation in the manufacture of sugar and slave use. The African slave trade was fundamental to the sugar economy and the fear of rebellion from slaves kept any separatist movements from breaking out until the 1860s. It wasn’t until the Ten Year’s War that there was any development in the abolition of slavery. Cubra Libre, the republic in arms, had declared that the slavery system be abolished in the areas that they controlled. To be free meant that they had to fight in the rebellion as well. Spain then passed a law in 1871 that gave freedom to children born to slave mothers in order to avoid a declination of population. There was also abolitionist pressure from outer powers after the end of the United States Civil War in 1865. Their emancipation and pressure from British abolitionists had forcefully made it impossible for Cuba to