Pamela Oliver Sociology 220 Lecture NotesCuba and Puerto RicoCuba. It and Puerto Rico last surviving Spanish colonies by mid-1800s. US close tradingpartner of Cuba. 1868-1878 Ten Years’ War for independence from Spain. 1878 pact, Spainagreed to reforms, but slavery not actually ended until 1886. Some Cubans moved to Floridaand NYC at this time. War of 1895, another independence movement, led by Cubans living inUS, including José Martí and Paulina Pedroso, an Afro Cuban. Bitter war. 1898, more liberalSpanish government is tired of war. riot in Havana 1898, McKinley sends battleship Maine toCuba as a warning to Spain. The battleship exploded and sank in the harbor; later investigationdetermined it was probably an accident, but most US-ians believed it had been sunk by Spain. US recognizes Cuban independence, declares war on Spain. Battle in Cuba, win; US easilyinvades Puerto Rico, wins; Pacific fleet attacks in Philippines, defeats Spain there. 10-week war. Result is independence for Cuba, US gains Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, Philippines, Guam,Wake, gives Spain $20 million. Cuba occupied by US army until 1901. Cuba independent butUS in Platt Amendment insists that its constitution give special rights to US, including right tohave naval bases on the island; Guantánamo Bay. 1902, US flag lowered, Cuba formallyindependent, but as a protectorate of the United States. Periodic governmental instability, UStroops sent to quell revolts, protect US businesses in Cuba. Cuba operates as a US protectorate through the 1950s. Tourism, vice, sugar, cigars. Corrupt, manipulative politicians. A small number enriched, while the general population hadthe highest poverty levels in Latin America; a general "insensitivity" to Afro-Cubans. Foreigninterests controlled the economy, owning about 75 percent of the arable land, 90 percent of theessential services, and 40 percent of the sugar production.January 1, 1959. Fidel Castro seizes power in after a guerrilla war backed by the US. But then Castro declares he is communist, US becomes enemy. 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco. 1963missile crisis. With backing from Russia, Cuba makes major advances in the health and well-being of the general population, while not successfully developing the economy and continuing amore repressive government style. Small businesses nationalized, etc. Try to "exportrevolution" to Latin America. Define selves as "Afro-Latin American people" and supportrevolts in Africa. Upper class, educated (largely white) Cubans flee Cuba into US. Oppose Castro. USblockades Cuba, blockade still in effect. Cubans in US virulently anti-Castro, dominate USpolicy to Cuba. Successive waves of immigration to US, later immigrants poorer and darker. Little Havana in Florida. Transformation of Florida. 2/3 vote Republican. By 1986, Miani was645 Hispanic, 42% Cuban. Both hostility to and accommodation to Spanish by Anglos.Source: Encyclopedia BritannicaThe Republic of Cuba, 1902-58.A republican administration that began on May 20, 1902, under Tomás Estrada Palma faceddifficulties over U.S. influence. Estrada Palma tried to retain power in the 1905 and 1906elections, which were contested by the Liberals, leading to rebellion and a second U.S.occupation on Sept. 29, 1906. U.S. secretary of war William Howard Taft failed to resolve thedispute, and Estrada Palma resigned. For the United States Charles Magoon administered aprovisional government of Cuban civilians under the Cuban flag and constitution. An advisorylaw commission revised electoral procedures, and on Jan. 28, 1909, Magoon handed over thegovernment to the Liberal president, José Miguel Gómez. Meanwhile, Cuba's economy grewsteadily, as sugar prices rose continually until the 1920s. The Gómez administration (1909-13) set a pattern of graft, corruption, maladministration, fiscalirresponsibility, and social insensitivity--especially toward Afro-Cubans--that characterizedCuban politics until 1959. The Afro-Cubans, led by Evaristo Estenoz and Pedro Ivonet,organized to secure better jobs and more political patronage and to protest a ban of politicalassociations based on colour and race. In 1912 government troops put down largedemonstrations in Oriente. The pattern of corruption was followed by Mario García Menocal(1913-21), Alfredo Zayas (1921-25), Gerardo Machado (1925-33), Fulgencio Batista (throughpuppets 1934-39 and himself 1940-44 and 1952-59), Ramón Grau San Martín (1944-48), andCarlos Prío Socarrás (1948-52). Machado and Batista, who overthrew Machado in 1933 withU.S. support, were the most notorious, holding power through manipulation, troops, andassassins. The income from sugar was augmented by vigorous tourism based on hotels, casinos, andbrothels; Havana became especially attractive during the years of U.S. Prohibition (1919-33).Yet the prosperity of the 1920s, '40s, and '50s enriched only a few Cubans. For the majority,poverty (especially in the countryside) and lack of public services were appalling: with anational per capita income of $353 in 1958--among the highest in Latin America--unemploymentand underemployment were rife, and the average rural worker earned $91 per year.Puerto Rico. US unwilling to give independence to PR: excuse was no history of self-rule; alsostrategic gateway. Foraker Act 1900 let PR elect lower house of representatives, but upperhouse appointed by US president, all laws subject to US congress review. Jones Act 1917 saysPR can have US citizenship, most accept except militant independents. Both houses elected, butgovernor and other key officials still appointed by US president. Most Puerto Ricans lived inpoverty under governors who cared little about their development. US administrators tried to getthem to abandon Spanish, speak English, become culturally US. Few did, felt oppressed. 1950 Public Law 600, commonwealth. Self-governing country, elect own officials, fly own flag. PRs remain US citizens, subject to draft, but no federal income taxes. 1952, PR adopts ownconstitution. PR Independence movement: PIP, independentistas. estadistas unidos, PNP (NewProgressive Party), want to become a state. PPD, popular democratic party, supportscommonwealth status. Many PR move to mainland in 1950s-1960s. encounter racism.Dominican Republic. Share Santo Domingo with Haiti. After Haitian independence 1803, ruledby Haiti for a while, eventually independent. Dictator Rafael Trujillo 1930-1961; ran country
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