Republic of Cuba República de Cuba | |||||||||||||
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1902–1906 [1] 1909–1959 | |||||||||||||
Anthem: La Bayamesa "The Bayamo Song" | |||||||||||||
Status | Sovereign state (1902–1906), (1909–1959) U.S. military occupation (1906–1909) | ||||||||||||
Capital and largest city | Havana | ||||||||||||
Official languages | Spanish | ||||||||||||
Religion | Catholic Church | ||||||||||||
Demonym(s) | Cuban | ||||||||||||
Government |
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President | |||||||||||||
• 1902–1906 (first) | Tomás E. Palma | ||||||||||||
• 1952–1959 | Fulgencio Batista | ||||||||||||
• 1959 (last) | Carlos Piedra | ||||||||||||
Vice President | |||||||||||||
• 1902-1905 (first) | Luis Estévez y Romero | ||||||||||||
• 1955-1959 (last) | Rafael Guas Inclán | ||||||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||||||
• 1940–1942 (first) | Carlos S. Zayas | ||||||||||||
• 1959 (last) | José M. Cardona | ||||||||||||
Legislature | Congress | ||||||||||||
• Upper chamber | Senate | ||||||||||||
• Lower chamber | House of Representatives | ||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||
12 June 1901 | |||||||||||||
20 May 1902 | |||||||||||||
17 February 1903 | |||||||||||||
1906–1909 | |||||||||||||
29 May 1934 | |||||||||||||
10 October 1940 | |||||||||||||
24 October 1945 | |||||||||||||
10 March 1952 | |||||||||||||
1 January 1959 | |||||||||||||
16 April 1961 | |||||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||||
• Total | 110,860 km2 (42,800 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
• Water (%) | 0.94 | ||||||||||||
Currency | Peso ( CUP ) | ||||||||||||
Time zone | UTC−5 (CST) | ||||||||||||
UTC−4 (CDT) | |||||||||||||
Drives on | right | ||||||||||||
Calling code | +53 | ||||||||||||
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History of Cuba |
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Governorate of Cuba (1511–1519) |
Viceroyalty of New Spain (1535–1821) |
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Captaincy General of Cuba (1607–1898) |
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US Military Government (1898–1902) |
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Republic of Cuba (1902–1959) |
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Republic of Cuba (1959–) |
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Timeline |
Topical |
Cubaportal |
The Republic of Cuba, covering the historical period in Cuban history between 1902 and 1959, was an island country comprised the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud (since 1925) and several minor archipelagos. It was located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. The period began in 1902 following the end of its first U.S. military occupation years after Cuba declared independence in 1898 from the Spanish Empire. This era included various changing governments and US military occupations, and ended with the outbreak of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. During this period, the United States exerted great influence on Cuban politics, notably through the Platt Amendment. [7] [8] [9] [10]
The governments of Cuba between independence from Spain and the Revolution have been regarded as client state of the United States. [11] From 1902 to 1934 Cuban and United States law included the Platt Amendment, which guaranteed the US right to intervene in Cuba and placed restrictions on Cuban foreign relations. [12] In 1934, Cuba and the United States signed the Treaty of Relations in which Cuba was obligated to give preferential treatment of its economy to the United States, in exchange the United States gave Cuba a guaranteed 22 percent share of the US sugar market that later was amended to a 49 percent share in 1949. [13]
The country continued to use the 1940 Constitution until the new constitution was promulgated in 1976.
After the Spanish–American War, Spain and the United States signed the 1898 Treaty of Paris, by which Spain ceded Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam to the United States for the sum of $20 million (equivalent to $730 million in 2023). [14] With the end of United States Military Government (USMG) jurisdiction, Cuba gained formal independence on 20 May 1902, as the Republic of Cuba. [15] Under Cuba's new constitution, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, the U.S. leased the Guantánamo Bay naval base from Cuba.
Following political purging and a corrupt and rigged election in 1906, the first president, Tomás Estrada Palma, faced an armed revolt by veterans of the war. [16] As in the independence war, Afro-Cubans were overrepresented in the insurgent army of 1906. For them, the August Revolution revived hopes for a 'rightful share' in Cuba's government. On 16 August 1906, fearing the government ready to smash the plot, former Liberation Army general Pino Guerra raised the banner of revolt. Immediately, Palma arrested every Liberal politician within reach; the remainder went underground. In an effort to avert intervention, Roosevelt sent two emissaries to Havana to seek a compromise between government and opposition. Regarding such neutrality as a censure of his government, Estrada Palma resigned and made his entire cabinet resign too, leaving the Republic without a government and forcing the United States to take control of the island. Roosevelt immediately proclaimed that the USA had been compelled to intervene in Cuba and that their only purpose was to create the necessary conditions for a peaceful election. [17]
In 1909, home-rule government was restored when José Miguel Gómez was inaugurated as Cuba's second president, while the U.S. continued intervening in Cuban affairs. In the War of 1912, the Partido Independiente de Color attempted to establish a separate black republic in Oriente Province, [18] but was suppressed by the Cuban National Army under General Monteagudo, with considerable bloodshed.
Sugar production played an important role in Cuban politics and economics. In the 1910s, during and after World War I, a shortage in the world sugar supply fueled an economic boom in Cuba, marked by prosperity and the conversion of more and more farmland to sugar cultivation. Prices peaked and then crashed in 1920, ruining the country financially and allowing foreign investors to gain more power than they already had. This economic turbulence was called "the Dance of the Millions". [19] [20]
In 1924, Gerardo Machado was elected president. During his administration, tourism increased markedly, and American-owned hotels and restaurants were built to accommodate the influx of tourists. The tourist boom led to increases in gambling and prostitution in Cuba. [21] Machado initially enjoyed support from much of the public and from all the country's major political parties. However, his popularity declined steadily. In 1928 he held an election which was to give him another term, this one of six years, despite his promise to serve only for one term; Machado was the only candidate.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 led to precipitous drops in the price of sugar, political unrest, and repression. [22] Protesting students, known as the Generation of 1930, and a clandestine terrorist organization known as the ABC, turned to violence in opposition to the increasingly unpopular Machado. [22]
US ambassador Sumner Welles arrived in May 1933 and began a diplomatic campaign which involved "mediation" with opposition groups in including the ABC. This campaign significantly weakened Machado's government and, backed with the threat of military intervention, set the stage for a regime change. [23]
A general strike (in which the Popular Socialist Party sided with Machado), [24] uprisings among sugar workers, and an army revolt forced Machado into exile in August 1933. He was replaced by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada, son of Cuban patriot Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and former ambassador to the US. [22]
In September 1933, the Sergeants' Revolt, led by Sergeant Fulgencio Batista, overthrew Céspedes. [25] General Alberto Herrera served briefly as president ( 12–13 August) followed by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada from 13 August until 5 September 1933. A five-member executive committee (the Pentarchy of 1933) was chosen to head a provisional government. [26] They were ousted by a student-led organization, the Student Directory, which appointed Ramon Grau San Martin as provisional president and passed various reforms during the ensuing One Hundred Days Government. [26] Grau resigned in 1934, after which Batista dominated Cuban politics for the next 25 years, at first through a series of puppet-presidents. [25] The period from 1933 to 1937 was a time of "virtually unremitting social and political warfare". [27]
A new constitution was adopted in 1940, which engineered radical progressive ideas, including the right to labor and health care. [28] Batista was elected president in the same year, holding the post until 1944. [29] He is so far the only non-white Cuban to win the nation's highest political office. [30] [31] [32] His government carried out major social reforms. Several members of the Cuban Communist Party held office under his administration. [33] Cuban armed forces were not greatly involved in combat during World War II, although president Batista suggested a joint U.S.-Latin American assault on Francoist Spain to overthrow its authoritarian regime. [34]
Batista adhered to the 1940 constitution's structures preventing his re-election. [35] Ramón Grau San Martin was the winner of the next election, in 1944. [29] Grau further corroded the base of the already teetering legitimacy of the Cuban political system, in particular by undermining the deeply flawed, though not entirely ineffectual, Congress and Supreme Court. [36] Carlos Prío Socarrás, a protégé of Grau, became president in 1948. [29]
Before presidential election in 1952, Batista staged a coup. [37] Back in power and receiving financial, military and logistical support from the United States government, Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He outlawed the Cuban Communist Party in 1952. [38] He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans. Eventually it reached the point where most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land. As such, Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships with both the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts. To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also using his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions. These murders mounted in 1957, as socialism became more influential. Many people were killed, with estimates ranging from hundreds to about 20,000 people killed. Cuba had Latin America's highest per capita consumption rates of meat, vegetables, cereals, automobiles, telephones and radios, though about one third of the population was considered poor and enjoyed relatively little of this consumption. [39]
While Cuba had the highest ratio of hospital beds to population in Latin America, around 80% of these beds were located in the city of Havana, there was only one rural hospital and it was equipped with only 10 beds. [40] In 1951 the World Bank reported that between 80 and 90% of children in rural areas suffered from some form of intestinal parasites, in 1956 about 13% of the rural population had a history of typhoid and 14% at one point had tuberculosis. [41] A study conducted in 1959 by public health authorities found that throughout the country around 72% of the population was afflicted with parasitism and in the rural areas this percentage was as high as 86.54%. [40] Only 11% of farm worker families drank milk, and rural infant mortality stood at 100 per 1000 live births. [42] Only 1 in 4 peasants were able to afford regularly eating meat, eggs and fish and chronic unemployment was at 25%. [43] Cuba was a very unequal society with a mere 8% of landowners owning approximately 75% of the land, and while one-fifth of the population took in 58% of the national income, the bottom fifth got 2% of it, the lowest rates for the bottom 20% in the world then and even now. [44]
Cuba was also under a lot of influence from the United States to the point where the US controlled 80% of Cuba's trade. [44] In 1959 around 40% of Cuban sugar land, almost all the cattle ranches, 90% of mines and 80% of the utilities were owned by American firms. [45]
In 1958, Cuba was a relatively well-advanced country by Latin American standards, and in some cases by world standards. [46] On the other hand, Cuba was affected by perhaps the largest labor union privileges in Latin America, including bans on dismissals and mechanization. They were obtained in large measure "at the cost of the unemployed and the peasants", leading to disparities. [47] Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba extended economic regulations enormously, causing economic problems. [30] [48] Unemployment became a problem as graduates entering the workforce could not find jobs. [30] The middle class, which was comparable to that of the United States, became increasingly dissatisfied with unemployment and political persecution. The labor unions supported Batista until the very end. [30] [31] Batista stayed in power until he was forced into exile in December 1958 during the Cuban Revolution. [37]
Between 1915 and 1930, Havana hosted more tourists than any other location in the Caribbean. [49] The influx was due in large part to Cuba's proximity to the United States, where restrictive prohibition on alcohol and other pastimes stood in stark contrast to the island's traditionally relaxed attitude to leisure pursuits. Such tourism became Cuba's third largest source of foreign currency, behind the two dominant industries of sugar and tobacco. Cuban drinks such as the daiquiri and mojito became common in the United States during this time, after Prohibition was repealed.
A combination of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the end of prohibition, and World War II severely dampened Cuba's tourist industry, and it wasn't until the 1950s that numbers began to return to the island in any significant force. During this period, American organized crime came to dominate the leisure and tourist industries, a modus operandi outlined at the infamous Havana Conference of 1946. By the mid-1950s Havana became one of the main markets and the favourite route for the narcotics trade to the United States. Despite this, tourist numbers grew steadily at a rate of 8% a year and Havana became known as "the Latin Las Vegas". [49] [50]
The sugar industry was one of the largest industries in the country and had been for centuries. [51] [52]
Cuba in 1950 was the first country in Latin America to broadcast television. Eight years later the first color television broadcasting was done and it was one of the first countries in the world to do color broadcasts. Television in Cuba grew dramatically in the 1950s and by the late 1950s it had the 9th highest number of TV sets out of any country in the world and the 4th highest number of TV channels out of any country. [53]
Cuba had close relations with the United States during this period. [54]
Cuba was involved in World War 1 committing 10,000 soldiers to be used in Europe [55] along with declaring war being on the side of the Allied Powers. [56] The most meaningful impact on Cuba that World War 1 had was on its sugar trade as much of the world's European supply was cut off with demand exploding along with profits from the industry. [57] Cuba later ended up signing the Treaty of Versailles. Cuba was a member of the League of Nations and later on its successor, the United Nations (UN). During World War II, Cuba declared war on the Axis. [54]
After Fidel Castro came to power, Cuba has remained in the UN. [54]
The island of Cuba was inhabited by various Native American cultures prior to the arrival of the explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492. After his arrival, Spain conquered Cuba and appointed Spanish governors to rule in Havana. The administrators in Cuba were subject to the Viceroy of New Spain and the local authorities in Hispaniola. In 1762–63, Havana was briefly occupied by Britain, before being returned to Spain in exchange for Florida. A series of rebellions between 1868 and 1898, led by General Máximo Gómez, failed to end Spanish rule and claimed the lives of 49,000 Cuban guerrillas and 126,000 Spanish soldiers. However, the Spanish–American War resulted in a Spanish withdrawal from the island in 1898, and following three and a half years of subsequent US military rule, Cuba gained formal independence in 1902.
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as a military dictator from 1952 until his overthrow in the Cuban Revolution in 1959.
The Cuban Revolution was the military and political overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship, which had reigned as the government of Cuba between 1952 and 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, which saw Batista topple the nascent Cuban democracy and consolidate power. Among those opposing the coup was Fidel Castro, then a novice attorney who attempted to contest the coup through Cuba's judiciary. Once these efforts proved fruitless, Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led an armed attack on the Cuban military's Moncada Barracks on 26 July 1953.
Gerardo Machado y Morales was a general of the Cuban War of Independence and President of Cuba from 1925 to 1933.
This article gives an overview of liberalism in Cuba. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.
Eduardo René Chibás Ribas was a Cuban politician who used radio to broadcast his political views to the public. He primarily denounced corruption and gangsterism rampant during the governments of Ramón Grau and Carlos Prío which preceded the Batista era. He believed corruption was the most important problem Cuba faced.
Ramón Grau San Martín was a Cuban physician who served as President of Cuba from 1933 to 1934 and from 1944 to 1948. He was the last president born during Spanish rule. He is sometimes called Raymond Grau San Martin in English.
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba, Isla de la Juventud, and 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola, and north of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital. Cuba is the third-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with about 10 million inhabitants. It is the largest country in the Caribbean by area.
Modern diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States are cold, stemming from historic conflict and divergent political ideologies. The two nations restored diplomatic relations on July 20, 2015, after relations had been severed in 1961 during the Cold War. The U.S. has maintained a comprehensive trade embargo against Cuba since 1958. The embargo includes restrictions on all commercial, economic, and financial activity, making it illegal for U.S. corporations to do business with Cuba.
The Cuban Revolution was the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's regime by the 26th of July Movement and the establishment of a new Cuban government led by Fidel Castro in 1959.
The Cuban–American Treaty of Relations took effect on June 9, 1934. It abrogated the Treaty of Relations of 1903.
Polita Grau was the First Lady of Cuba, a Cuban political prisoner, and the "godmother" of Operation Peter Pan, also known as Operación Pedro Pan, a program to help children leave Cuba. Operation Peter Pan involved the Roman Catholic Church and Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh from 1960 to 1962, which were involved in encouraging Cuban parents to send their children to live with U.S families to rescue them from Communism.
Cuba has suffered from widespread and rampant corruption since the establishment of the Republic of Cuba in 1902. The book Corruption in Cuba states that public ownership resulted in "a lack of identifiable ownership and widespread misuse and theft of state resources... when given opportunity, few citizens hesitate to steal from the government." Furthermore, the complex relationship between governmental and economic institutions makes them especially "prone to corruption."
The early life of Cuban dictator and politician Fidel Castro spans the first 26 years of his life, from 1926 to 1952. Born in Birán, Oriente Province, Castro was the illegitimate son of Ángel Castro y Argiz, a wealthy farmer and landowner, and his mistress Lina Ruz González. First educated by a tutor in Santiago de Cuba, Fidel Castro then attended two boarding schools before being sent to El Colegio de Belén, a school run by Jesuits in Havana. In 1945 he began studying law at the University of Havana, where he first became politically conscious, becoming a staunch anti-imperialist and critic of United States involvement in the Caribbean. Involved in student politics, he was affiliated to Eduardo Chibás and his Partido Ortodoxo, achieving publicity as a vocal critic of the pro-U.S. administration of President Ramón Grau and his Partido Auténtico.
The Directorio Estudiantil Universitario (DEU) was founded in 1927 by University of Havana students against the backdrop of a power grab by President Gerardo Machado consisting of constitutional reforms designed to prolong his presidential term by two years, and to promote his reelection to an additional term of six years. In the period between pushing for these reforms and their adoption by the corrupt Constitutional Assembly, a strong opposition composed chiefly of university students formed against this "Machadato".
The Cuban Revolution of 1933, also called the Sergeants' Revolt, was a coup d'etat that occurred in Cuba in September 1933. It began as a revolt of sergeants and enlisted men in the military, who soon allied with student activists in the Directorio Estudiantil Universitario.
The ABC was a Cuban political organization founded in 1931 in opposition to the government of Gerardo Machado. It used a hierarchy of clandestine cells, in which each member would oversee a cell on the next level. The first cell was labeled A; the next tier B; then C, and so forth.
The consolidation of the Cuban Revolution is a period in Cuban history typically defined as starting in the aftermath of the revolution in 1959 and ending in the first congress of the Communist Party of Cuba 1975, which signified the final political solidification of the Cuban revolutionaries' new government. The period encompasses early domestic reforms, human rights violations continuing under the new regime, growing international tensions, and politically climaxed with the failure of the 1970 sugar harvest.
Sergio Carbó was a prominent Conservative journalist and leader of the Cuban Revolutionary party.
José Miguel Irisarri y Gamio was a lawyer and a member of the Pentarchy of 1933.
Two elections later, in 1917, U.S. Marines returned to Cuba to quell a revolution and restore the President. That same year, Cuba, following the United States, declared war on Germany and committed 10,000 men to the disposal of the U.S. military in Europe.