Cuba, in history, had been the colony of Spain for 400 years. It
was used as a pawn and to serve the interests of Spain extensively. In the
1860s the Spaniards only made up about 8% of the population but controlled 90%
of wealth therefore over a while Cubans became nationalistic and
organized the October manifesto known as the declaration of
independence.
They launched a 10 years’ war against Spain to proclaim their freedom however they were ruthlessly crushed. It took them another 20 years to rebel again in 1895, with the lead of Jase Marti. The United States backed up the whole rebellion in the favor of Cuba. America has from history played a vital role in Spain and Cuban politics, Spanish American war was fought in the hope of seizing control of Cuba. After the war, Cuba had a puppet political system controlled by the United States through the plat amendment.
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Plat amendment was a "puppet amendment" which meant
that the United States would be in control of who would rule Cuba and would
have the opportunity to impose dictatorship in Cuba. In a sense, Cuba had
transferred from the Spanish empire to the American empire. Cuba has suffered
from awful series of dictatorships until the revolt of sargents1933,
where Fulgencio Batista, a Cuban nationalist garnered power,
abolished the puppet regime, and brought democratic organized Cuba. He was
president from 1940 till 1944. It's important to
note that while being a president, he had the support of the communist party of
all the progressive parties. The constitution of that time was spectacular as
it promoted democracy, freedom, and liberalism.
In 1944, after completing his term he went to
the USA, Florida to plan his next move. In 1952, he returned to
Cuba to regain power by running in elections but when he realized that he stood
no chance in winning the elections for the second time consequently, he imposed
a military coup that dissolved democracy in Cuba. It's significant to take into
notice that America backed up this new administration.
Another famous name in the Cuban revolt is Fidel Castro,
a child of an upper-class family who studied in Jesuit school
and became a lawyer. After becoming a lawyer, he felt as it was his duty as a
citizen of Cuba to make sure that no harm would come to democratic Cuba
therefore, in 1952 he decided to run for a legislature to
change the system from the inside however, on the other hand, Batista aligned
himself with the USA.
The new Batista who killed democracy align with the United
States and the American mafia which allowed American companies to buy up the
majority of Cuba's natural resources moreover under his rule the country became
a haven for organized crime syndicates. This disastrous situation angered the
young lawyer Fedel Castro as it was the opposite of what he
had planned for Cuba. He understood the fact that he could not change Cuba from
the inside therefore, he turned to revolutionary means.
On July 26, 1953, he led the first
revolutionary movement against Batista. He gathered 123 men
and stormed Moncada Barracks, in hopes of seizing ammunition
but this movement couldn’t succeed and most of the men were executed except Castro and
his brother Raul.
They escaped to Mexico with the help of the Jesuits. Fedel
and his brother along with Chejaguara, from Argentina, plotted
their next move against Batista in Mexico which took them two and a half years.
They made a comeback to Cuba on December 2nd, 1956 with 82
rebels on a massive wooden boat called The Grandma. Their boat
was unfortunately ambushed by Batista.
After the assault, only 22 rebels survive out of 82. Fedel again
was able to escape the assault to the Sierra Maestra Mountains. His
escape to the mountains proved lucky for him as he gained the support of locals
and peasants which led him to organize the Guerrilla Movement.
The rebels again regrouped with the increase of number from 22
to 300. In 1957 Fedel gained control over the mountains.
Batista on the other side was facing other problems such as Student
Revolutionary Directorate an anti-communist group.
Batista closed the University
of Havana which led to the attack of the student revolt[i]utionary
group on the palace in 1957. Castro was not the only cause of
the downfall of Batista, but it was the rebellion of many other groups, like
democratic and liberal, etc.
When Batista couldn't control the rebellion, he started to execute people in the street to hold power. Batista's actions turned the United States against him. In 1958 Batista launched an operationVerano against Fedel Castro which failed miserably. On August 21, 1958, Fedel launched his assault combined with other forces. It was then the battle of Santa Claire. In this battle, Fedel and other freedom fighters stood victorious and Batista fled to the Dominican Republic. People of Cuba joyfully welcomed Fedel Castro, Raol, and Chejaguara they marched down to Havana on January 1st, 1959. Castro afterward took over and anointed President Manuel Leo. It was during his era that it became clear that Cuba was not communist when he went to the United States and said,
“The world thinks that we are communist, I cannot say any more clearly that we are not communists.”
This article is produced by Zahra Anum, one of the contributors of the SOL Community.
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