US Intervention to Cubas Struggle for Independence - Essay Example

US Intervention to Cuba’s Struggle for Independence: Humanitarian or Imperialist due US Intervention to Cuba’s Struggle for Independence: Humanitarian or Imperialist In history, United States and Cuba have maintained a not very good relationship, characterized by an embargo prohibiting free interaction between business partners from the two states. Efforts to unionize the two states proof unsuccessful. As matter of fact, US intervention during Cuba’s rebellion to Spanish rule is the only known collaboration between the two nations. For that reason, the motive behind USA’s support to eliminate Spanish rule becomes debatable. As a colony, the rich land of Cuba and other Latin American regions were being exploited by Europeans. Though eliminating Europeans would improve the welfare of Cubans, a fact that makes US intervention appear as humanitarian in nature, there are several evidences that revealed US intention to acquire control over Cuba. US intervention aimed at eliminating the major threat, Spain, hence making it more imperialist. To start with, the growth of enmity between US and Spain over Cuba is traced tohave originated back in 1897. Under the leadership of William McKinley, US attempted to buy Cuba from Spain at gross price of $300 million (Lock-Pullan, 2006). Upon rejection, war between Spain and US arose. It was a coincidence that at the same time Cuba was fighting for its independence. Therefore, attributing US fight as a humanitarian act lacks contradicts the course of actions that preceded the war. Notably, the name American intervention was set by Cubans who saw the intervention as an aid towards their independence. US government believed in the rule of nature that if a fruit abandoned itself from the parent tree, the only option it has was to land on the ground. Having established strong economic background and trade relationships with Cuba, US officials were certain that if Cuba, (a non-stable state) cuts links with Spain, then it will definitely fall into their hands. The events that followed after the intervention showed the imperialistic nature of the intervention as Cuba and US have maintain an eternal conflict. The combined effort of Cuba and US forced Spain but this did not render Cuba independent. Upon Spanish exit, US hurriedly signed a treaty of Paris to take control over Cuba. As matter of fact, the intervention led to an exchange of power from Spain to US and Cuba was to remain colonized. Under the Platt amendment of 1898, US not only protected Cuba but also intervened on its internal affairs. Characterized by fertile land, Cuba aided the industrial growth of US by supplying raw materials. US became the largest importer of Cuban tobacco. Similar to the colonialism systems, US maintained a close eye on Cuba’s operation, with the aim of maintaining its control over the rich Caribbean highland. Estrada Palma, the first president of Cuba noticed the US ill-motives and chose to resign rather than compromise with them. Upon his election, in 1906, a conflict arose majorly motivated by the opposition’s conflict opinion. US suggested that the election be nullified, which to Palma implied that US officials tried to prove that Cuba could not carry out an effective election independently. Fortunately, Palma’s resignation saw US take control over Cuba again. The fact that Joseph Miguel Gomez, the founder of rebellion that led to Palma resignation is a US ally suggests that US motives to own still existed even after independence. Notably, Gomez, won election supervised by US officials in 1909. No proof that the election was rigged. However, Gomez turned out to be corrupt in the long run. US involvement in Cuban republic after the intervention was not all evil but also constituted several aspects of development projects. Modernization of Cuban infrastructure was purely done by US forces in the first decade of 20th century. US forces are actively involved during the 1912 crisis following the Blacks protest against discrimination. However, in addition to facilitating trade between the two nations, some key development projects purely aimed at increasing US power over, the Guantanamo Bay US naval base being a perfect example. The camouflaged imperial relationship between Cuba and US continued up to 1950’s when Fidel Castro, the proclaimed US greatest Cuban enemy popped out. Though the relationship had been declining, none of the previous leaders had fully opposed. Batista’s regime made US revise tariff and quotas in favor of Cuba as well as restrain from intervening on internal affairs. US responded by withdrawing their military support in 1958 a situation that gave way to Castro’s power (García Luis, 2008). With the friendship between US and Batista declining, Castrol allied himself to US, he visited the vice president after getting into power. It’s worth noting that the US arms embargo weakened Batista’s defense against Castro’s guerrilla army. The events that followed after Castro came into power revealed US hidden agenda. Castro was a communist and hence with a humanitarian mind, US should have supported him. In contrary us became bitter on Castro’s actions, Eisenhower increased restrictions on Cuban exports to US to reduce them following Castro’s heavy tax on imports which was aimed at increasing government revenue to provide services to Cubans. Castro was a hard nut and instead of retrieving, collaborated with USSR an action that drove US administration into nuts. US tried to eliminate Castro by any means possible including CIA attempt to overthrow him, exploding seashells, shoes sprayed with chemicals, operation mongoose (Castillo and Schweitzer, 2001). The underlying reason for these hatred was the fact Castro‘s communist leadership deprived US their control over Cuba. In accordance with the above, US intervention proves to be purely imperial with no aspect of humanitarianism. At first, Cuba allied US following the fact that they shared an enemy and so did the rest of Latin American nations. The capitalist rule of US supports its ill motives to these nations. In capitalism increased inequality gap is necessary for development and since US is a developed economy, advancement in its economy requires that it humiliates smaller economies making them poorer. Latin economies fall victim. Pre-attempts to purchase Cuba, support of corrupt leaders as well as the severe opposition to Castro portray US as a neocolonialist rather than humanitarian supporter. President Obama, advocated for change, probably after US has realized that Cuba is independent and not ready be controlled. Bibliography BBC, (2012). Timeline: US-Cuba relations - BBC News. [online] BBC News. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-12159943 [Accessed 23 Apr. 2015]. Castillo, S. and Schweitzer, I. (2001). The literatures of colonial America. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers. Castro, F., Miranda Bravo, O. and Ricardo Luis, R. (2011). Guantánamo. Melbourne: Ocean Press. García Luis, J. (2008). Cuban revolution reader. Melbourne: Ocean Press. Lock-Pullan, R. (2006). US intervention policy and army innovation. London: Routledge. Merrill, D. and Paterson, T. (2006). Major problems in American foreign relations. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Suddath, C. (2009). Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. [online] TIME.com. Available at: http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1891359,00.html [Accessed 23 Apr. 2015]. Read More