The Cuban Revolution

Résumé du document

Cuba occupies an important position in the Latin American history. It is not only an exception since it achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire decades after the other Latin American nations, but also because its autonomy was highly and closely controlled by its powerful neighbor: the United States of America. Cuba got rid of its Spanish bonds at the end of the nineteenth century. The Americans intervened at that time since as they considered that Cuba represented a strategic and economic interests for the US. The Cuban economy mainly relied on the sugar production.

Extraits

[...] In 1959, another revolution put an end to Batista's leadership. Between those two events, a strong presidential institution, a weak political party system and a rise of nationalism characterized the country and its politics. Different influences can account for those evolutions; however the role of the Cuban relationships to the United States and the sugar monoculture strongly conditioned them. Cuban monoculture also accounted for the rise and fall of national leaders. This activity, which represented eighty percent of the country's exports earnings[1], enabled the country to earn tremendous profits from the sugar exports but this activity also implies important drawbacks, which must be taken into account. [...]

[...] The Cuban economy mainly relied on the sugar production. The whole economy of the country was devoted to this very profitable monoculture, which explains why the Spaniards were so reluctant to lose their influence over this territory. During the twentieth century, Cuba encountered many coups and revolutions. Two of the most important ones occurred in 1933 and 1959. The first one provoked the resignation of Machado and the rise of a “revolutionary junta” mostly composed by military led by Fulgencio Batista and students gathered in the Student Directory. [...]

[...] economic and political interests were quite important in the country, the national leaders always had to position themselves towards their powerful neighbor. During that period, a Cuban government could fall if it attempted to take actions against American interests. For instance, after the revolution of 1933, Dr. Ramon Grau San Martin lost the support of the U.S. since he refused to pay back some loans Cuba owed to a bank in New York and violated the property of the Cuban- American Sugar Company. [...]

[...] Sugar industry causes other problems for Cuban society. Indeed, it usually hires workers for a short period, only a few months a year. Those workers may thus work four months for sugar mills or plantations and then be unemployed during the eight other months: “Cuba suffered from structural unemployment and underemployment. Most sugar workers were needed only during the harvest.”[3] This monoproduction represented a central issue for Cuban economy. However, diversification did not occur since land concentration was very high and the landowners often kept their lands available in case of a sugar price increase on the world markets. [...]

[...] The American interventionism did not prevent Cuban independence after the removal of the Spanish bonds; it only delayed it. Bibliography -Benjamin Keen, Keith Haynes, A History of Latin America, vol.2 Independence to the Present, 7th edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, New York -Jules R. Benjamin, The United States and the Origins of the Cuban Revolution, An Empire of Liberty in an Age of National Liberation, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey Benjamin Keen, Keith Haynes, A History of Latin America, vol.2 Independence to the Present, 7th edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, New York p.435 Benjamin Keen, Keith Haynes, A History of Latin America, vol.2 Independence to the Present, 7th edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, New York p.435 Benjamin Keen, Keith Haynes, A History of Latin America, vol.2 Independence to the Present, 7th edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, New York p.436 Benjamin Keen, Keith Haynes, A History of Latin America, vol.2 Independence to the Present, 7th edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, New York p.435 Jules R. [...]