Life in Contemporary Cuba by Georgia Kilpatrick updated by Liam R. O’Fallon Editor (1990): L. Curcio-Nagy Editor (1998): Valerie McGinley Marshall Associate Editor (1998): Laura Barbas Rhoden published by the Latin American Curriculum Resource Center The Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies Slide packet No. 8 1990; revised 1996, 1998 Tulane New Orleans, Lousiana Life in Contemporary Cuba Cuban History disappeared as coherent cultural group. Because of the decimation of the Indians and Several indigenous groups known gener- the need for labor, the African slave trade ally as the Arawak first inhabited Cuba. They became a fact of Cuban life. The Spanish originally migrated from South America to brought many Africans to Cuba, just as the Cuba and included the Ciboney and the English did to Jamaica, the French to Haiti, Guanahacabib tribes (3500 BC to 1200 CE). and the North Americans to the southern When the first Europeans arrived, the Tainos part of the United States. Cuba’s original inhabited the island (1100 to 1600 CE). It is timber, tobacco, and ranching industries the Taino name for the island - Cuba - that were joined by sugar production in the 16th survives today. and 17th centuries. Slaves provided virtually all of the labor for the sugar plantation. According to historical sources, on October 27, 1492, Christopher Columbus English forces captured Havana in 1762 landed on the southeastern part of the island and held it for eleven months, during which in what is today Holguin province. Cuba soon time some 700 merchant ships entered became an important stopover point for Havana to trade sugar, not only with Europe Spanish fleets as Spain sought to conquer but also with the thirteen North American many other territories in South America. By colonies. In contrast, the Spanish previously 1515 there were at least seven settlements had only 15 merchant ships a year enter on the island; these later became important Havana for trade. The English soon ceded commercial centers. Cuba back to Spain in exchange for trading rights. At the same time, the Haitian sugar The Spanish forced Native Americans to production collapsed when a successful provide them labor, and many died from Haitian independence movement outlawed harsh conditions and from diseases intro- slavery on that island. A wave of white duced by the Europeans. The indigenous French landowners migrated to Cuba, and population in 1512 was estimated to be Cuba became the Caribbean sugar king. 100,000, and by 1540 this figure had dropped to 40,000. A Taino chief, Hatuey, led By 1800 the sugar industry was the a failed rebellion against the Spanish. Chief foundation of the Cuban economy, and slaves Hatuey was captured and burned at the stake were the foundation of the sugar industry. for his participation in the revolt. The story Slaves cut, carried, and boiled cane products, is told that when Hatuey was facing his death and the 19th century saw more slaves im- the Spanish executioners asked him to em- ported than any other period of Cuban his- brace the Christian god so that he could go tory. The slave population, estimated be- to heaven. The chief asked if the Spanish tween 30,000 and 45,000 in 1774, jumped to went there, and when they replied in the 470,000 by 1860. Sporadic, isolated slave affirmative, he said he would be happier rebellions began in 1533 and continued until outside the gates. slavery was abolished in 1886. However, these rebellions never grew into a major Victims of cruelty, disease, overwork, revolt as in the case of Haiti. Legislation and culture shock, by 1570 the Tainos had passed in Spain in 1789 that intended to improve slave conditions was largely ignored. LIFE IN CONTEMPORARY CUBA 1 Growing resentment of Spanish rule over $30 million in Cuba and virtually controlled the colonies characterized the early 19th the island’s economy. century. In many areas this resentment eventually led to armed struggle between In 1895 the Maceo brothers, heroes of royal forces and pro-Independence colonists. the Ten Years’ War, and writer José Martí, led By 1826 all of Latin America had achieved a second independence movement . They independence except Cuba and Puerto Rico. landed on the southern tip of Oriente prov- Cuba’s wealthy plantation owners withheld ince in April and enlisted the help of a group support from Simón Bolívar, who led the of rebels the Spanish referred to as revolt that won independence for many of “Mambises.” This African word means “chil- Spain’s South American colonies. The reason dren of vultures.” The Mambises included for Cuban reluctance to realize independence landowners, blacks, workers, and peasants. was because these South American move- ments often led to the abolition of slavery in Martí wanted Cuba to be free from both the new nations. The extremely lucrative Spanish and U.S. control, saying, “To change Cuban sugar trade was dependent on slave masters is not to be free.” His dream for labor. The wealthy planters wanted to avoid Cuba was self-determination, respect for the any disruption in their economic situation dignity of all people, and truth and justice and any attempt to abolish slavery. These among all. He died in battle in 1895. planters also counted on the United States to help insulate Cuba from the abolitionist However, the battles raged on after movement popular in Europe. The United Martí’s death, and the U.S. observed with States was an important trading partner, great interest. Theodore Roosevelt, then buying 40% of Cuban sugar in 1848, and Secretary of the Navy, urged U.S. interven- slavery still thrived in the U.S. prior to 1860. tion, but President McKinley initially took a wait-and-watch policy. Anti-Spanish feelings In 1868 fighting broke out in Cuba in an were stirred up by the Hearst newspapers’ attempt both to reform the institution of reports of Spanish atrocities against Cubans, slavery and to gain nominal independence and rumors of danger to U.S. citizens led from Spain. This struggle became known as McKinley to send the battleship U.S.S. Maine the Ten Years’ War. By 1878 Spain had to Havana harbor. successfully defeated the pro-independence forces and regained effective control of the On February 15, 1898, the Maine myste- colony. The Ten Years’ War did not accom- riously exploded. There were several theo- plish the abolition of slavery, nor did it suc- ries about the explosion. Although at the ceed in achieving independence for the time Spain was blamed, some felt it was island. It did, however, greatly increase the actually done by the U.S. to force entry into animosity between many of the colonists and the war or by Cubans who sought the same the Spanish Crown. Slavery was eventually goal. McKinley offered to buy Cuba from abolished in 1886. Spain to avoid a confrontation, but Spain refused. The U.S. Congress declared war on After the Ten Years’ War, the Cuban Spain on April 25, 1898. economy became increasingly tied to U.S. investment. The U.S. business interests built Legends abound about San Juan Hill and railroads and large mills and created what Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, but in gen- were called “centrals” or self-contained eral the war was neither glorious nor glamor- sugar cities. By 1895 the U.S. had invested ous. Men died of malaria and yellow fever as 2 LIFE IN CONTEMPORARY CUBA well as in battle. Spain surrendered on July order to avoid total chaos. In the political 17, 1898, but it was a hollow victory for the upheaval that followed Machado’s departure, Cuban independence fighters. They were a young army officer named Fulgencio denied the right to attend the surrender Batista led a coup and instituted a five-man ceremony, and after the war the American ruling junta to govern until elections were flag, not the Cuban flag, flew over the island. held in 1933. From this time forward, The U.S. occupied the territory and Cubans Batista continued to be increasingly involved were asked to sign declarations renouncing in Cuban politics. the King of Spain, pledging allegiance to the United States, and recognizing U.S. su- In 1933 a progressive and nationalistic premacy until a stable government was government came to power. Ramón Grau’s established on the island. Congress passed administration instituted a series of reforms the Platt Amendment stating that the U.S. including an eight-hour workday and limits would “reserve and retain the right of inter- on land purchases by foreigners. It also vention for the preservation of Cuban inde- mandated that Cuban nationals own at least pendence and the maintenance of stable 50% of industry and commerce. However, government.” Under the Platt Amendment the period of political reformism under Grau the U.S. military intervened directly in Cuba was cut short by a U.S.-backed coup by in 1906-1909, 1912, and 1917. The will of Batista in 1934, and the years of Grau’s the U.S. government and private investors government became known as the “truncated virtually dictated Cuban policies in the years revolution.” following independence. Under Batista, the Platt Amendment was By the late 1920s, Cuba had a monocul- abrogated and replaced by a reciprocal trade ture economy, that is, the economy was agreement. As part of the broader policies of completely dependent upon the income Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbor received from a single product, sugar. Sugar Policy,” the U.S. stated that it would not production was fast becoming a highly intervene militarily in Cuba. Though Batista mechanized industry, and U.S.