Text | Nian Chu
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Introduction:
The 1959 revolution changed the trajectory of Cuba's role on the world stage, but it also froze the Cuban people in time. The Cuban Revolution not only replaced one authoritarian regime with another, but also stifled its social, cultural and economic progress.
Argument: The 1959 revolution changed the trajectory of Cuba's role on the world stage
Humans have long wondered if we are alone in the universe. For the ancient Greek philosophers, this became a zero-sum debate. Until Fidel Castro's death in 2016, the island nation of Cuba was caught in a time loop of fraud, corruption, and repression that prevented the Cuban people from enjoying the technological advances of the 21st century.
The 1959 revolution changed the trajectory of Cuba's role on the world stage, but it also froze the Cuban people in time. With so many changes happening so quickly – the implementation of socialist governments, the establishment of social services, and the consequences of the economic sanctions imposed by the United States – in retrospect, Cuba's social and cultural freeze can be seen as a coping mechanism to subvert the country's turbulent revolution.
What were the main causes of the Cuban Revolution?
On December 2, 1956, young Fidel Castro, his brothers Raul, Che Guevara, and 79 other Cuban exiles disembarked from the 43-foot yacht Granma. They were three days late, 15 miles from their target location, but their arrival on the Cuban coast at the right time was the right place to mark a pivotal moment in the Cuban Revolution.
After decades of economic exploitation that led to social unrest in Cuba, this group of revolutionaries attacked the power of the presidency in order to change the way the country governs.
In the first half of the 20th century, the leaders of the Caribbean islands seized power in very different ways. In Cuba, from governor to president to dictator, there are as many twists and turns in the list of leaders as there are revolutions that change the trajectory of the state's role in the world.
Fulgencio Batista gained dictatorial power
Fulgencio Batista, a military leader turned dictator, used popular support to justify his dictatorship. In 1933, he led other officers in a revolt against then-President Gerardo Machado, along with students and labor leaders.
Batista then worked closely with the U.S. ambassador, using his influence to replace interim President Ramón Grau San Martín.
Batista's presidency oversaw the ratification of a new constitution that seeks to establish a set of rules to guide Cuba, emphasizing government intervention in economic and social affairs.
He legalized the Cuban Communist Party and incorporated them into his government. When he ran for re-election in 1952, Batista realized that his support had waned and a legitimate election was unlikely.
He staged a bloodless coup d'état, codified Cuba's corruption, and set a precedent for dictatorship. His new era in power has opened up bigger gambling venues for Cuba and invited foreign investors to pour money into the country's most exploitative industries. After widespread opposition to his rule, Batista would continue to revoke Cubans' right to strike and suspend some civil liberties.
The United States intervenes in Cuba
After the Spanish-American War of 1898, the United States formally established ties with Cuba through the Pratt Amendment, which asserted Cuban independence but allowed for U.S. military intervention. To that end, the United States has established an outpost at the Guantánamo Bay naval base. As a result, Cuba's northern neighbors gained a presence on the island, making U.S. military interventions in 1906 and 1917 easily coordinated.
The economic interest of the United States in Cuban sugar exports has also prompted many businesses and individuals to invest in Cuba's infrastructure and plantations to benefit from the island nation's most lucrative products.
Proponents of the revolution saw American influence as an attempt to extend imperialist power to Cuba. If the bloody overthrow of the Republic's dictatorship meant less U.S. intervention, many rebellious Cubans were willing to pay the price.
Fidel Castro sowed the seeds of popular resistance
Days before Batista seized the government, Fidel Castro had been running for a seat in the Cuban Congress, eager to use his experience as a lawyer to benefit the Cuban people. When the opportunity to serve the people slipped away, Castro made the transition from reformism to revolutionism.
On July 26, 1953, Castro led a group of rebels into the Moncada barracks, hoping to capture enough weapons to bring down the Batista regime. The attempt failed. Those who stormed the barracks were either arrested or executed, thus preventing the revolution from proceeding. The Castro brothers and Che Guevara initially fled to the Sierra Maestra but were later arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Although the campaign failed, it made Fidel Castro an enthusiastic rebel in the Cuban consciousness, willing to sacrifice everything for the revolution. July 26 would become the namesake day of the guerrilla movement revived in 1959, which would succeed in overthrowing Batista's regime. Castro named the campaign in honor of his comrades who died in Moncada.
When did the Cuban Revolution begin?
Christopher Columbus's first voyage in 1492 saw him land first in the Bahamas and then on the northern coast of Cuba a few weeks later. Within decades, the Spaniards established colonial rule across the island, enslaved indigenous peoples and trafficked hundreds of thousands of Africans to work on sugar cane plantations.
Cuba was Spain's largest slave colony in the Americas. It is estimated that 800,000 people were taken to the Middle Passage to provide slave labor.
In the 19th century, Spain lost control of most of its colonies in the Americas, but still controlled Cuba and Puerto Rico. As its neighbors gained independence, Cuba saw its lands and people being economically exploited by the Spanish hegemon and American corporations looking to profit from its abundant natural resources.
In total, the Cubans waged three wars against the Spaniards to ensure their independence, first the Ten-Year War from 1868 to 1878, the Lakita War in 1879, and finally the Cuban War of Independence, which ended in 1898.
The intervention of the United States, in this final conflict, became known as the Spanish-American War, which overthrew Spain's imperial status and transferred power in Cuba to the United States. Decades of fighting culminated in independence from Spain, but Cuba was far from independent of outside influences.
From 1899 to 1902, the Interim Governor administered Cuba through the military administration of the United States Government. This period saw the rise of Cuban-born people to government positions and gave the island nation time to draft a constitution to establish a new republic.
Cuba was an independent republic until the 1956 revolution, but it suffered under leaders who made the country feel unfree.
The July 26 movement arrives
When Castro returned to Cuba with the July 26 movement, his troops moved inland from the coast, where government planes scanned the expected arrival of revolutionaries. Fidel Castro, along with his brothers Raul and Che Guevara, led his team to use guerrilla tactics on the island's highlands. For two years, fighting plagued the countryside as armed rebels took over Batista's army. As Castro's army gradually captured the town and replaced the government, their mission was successful.
The Batista government fell
It wasn't until August 1958 that Batista's forces attacked the July 26 Movement after the revolutionaries stormed Cuba. The situation began to turn towards the end of the year, as the rebels abandoned their defensive strategy in favor of a more offensive one.
Fighting at Giza, Aguajaí, and Santa Clara consolidated the gains of the rebels and prompted a panicked Batista to flee to the Dominican Republic in early 1959.
How did the revolution affect Cuba?
It is estimated that only about 2,000 people died during the revolution, although the resulting chaos and instability affected tens of thousands of people across Cuba. In contrast, the Batista regime saw 1,577 Cubans executed for dissenting and widely condemned for carrying out tortured massacres.
While the revolution aimed to rid Cuba of these dictatorial abuses, the Fidel Castro government also committed heinous acts of violence, torture and ill-treatment. Castro implemented the communist regime, executing soldiers and policemen who fought on behalf of the previous government. According to the Cuban archives, 9,397 Cubans were listed as victims of the Castro regime. From death squads to "extrajudicial assassinations", Cuban men, women and children have died at the hands of a Government established to protect the same people.
In 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy imposed sanctions on Cuba, banning trade, travel, and exchanges between the country and what is actually the rest of the world.
The sanctions were issued after the second "red scare" - the US government saw the communist regime as a threat to the economic stability of the Americas and considered Cuba's relations with the Soviet Union - especially military cooperation in the establishment of Cuban missiles in the crisis of 1962 - alarm bells sounded. Human rights abuses that continued into the 21st century provided another justification for the U.S. government to sanction the island.
Political transformation in contemporary Cuba
Protesters march in Florida in solidarity with the 2021 Cuban protests. In April 2021, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Havana against a communist regime that had violated the human rights of its people for decades.
Inflation is soaring, COVID-19 vaccines are in short supply, and people are suffering in extreme poverty every day, while state-owned enterprises thrive by building expensive hotels and profiting from illegal activities.
Today, communism is under attack in Cuba, and people all over the world are standing up against oppressive governments.
Conclusion:
The Cuban Revolution not only replaced one authoritarian regime with another, but also stifled its social, cultural and economic progress. The communist government prevented Cuba from escaping the patterns of corruption and violence that inspired the revolutionary needs in the first place.
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