Fidel Castro was a mystery in 1961. At first it seemed like he was a hero. He and his followers had overthrown a ruthless dictator who had ruled Cuba without regard for its constitution or the rights of its people. Castro spoke about returning land to the people,restoring human rights. He called for universal health care and a better education for everyone in his country. He talked about liberty and justice for all. How could we not admire him?
Castro would surprise us all here in America. In his first speech after the overthrow of the government, he spoke out against the United States. He said, "This time, fortunately for Cuba, the revolution will achieve its true objective. It will not be like 1898, when the Americans came and made themselves masters of the country."
This confused a lot of Americans. Haven't we always been the leaders of the free world? Didn't we support the cause of freedom all over the planet? Why was Fidel Castro so angry at us, and why was he making friends with the Russians?
After taking over the country, Castro's government began to confiscate corporations owned by foreigners, and a lot of those businesses were American. He threw out the American gangsters who ran the nightclubs and casinos, and controlled the prostitution trade.
President Eisenhower was confused. He didn't understand what was going on in Cuba.
He would state: " Here is a country that, you would believe on the basis of our history, would be one of our friends.....You would think they would want good relationships. I don't know exactly what the difficulty is."
If our president couldn't figure it out, then how could anyone in America understand?
Fidel Castro wanted to make Cuba an island of Communism. Evil, godless Communism right on our doorstep, and no one could figure out why.
No one could figure out why because the reasons had all been forgotten, and those who knew why weren't telling. What had happened, and what was Castro talking about? What was it about the year of 1898 that bothered him so?
Well, you see, in 1898 America went to war with Spain. We wanted control of Cuba. Cuban revolutionaries were beginning to gain control over their country from their Spanish rulers, and they were talking about social reforms, especially land redistribution. A lot of that land was owned by American businessmen, and they didn't want their apple cart pushed over. The battleship Maine blew up in the harbor of Havana, and it was believed the Spanish were responsible. President McKinley was determined to go to war with Spain on the pretext of restoring freedom to the Cuban people, but what he and his supporters truly wanted was control of the island for business and military reasons. True freedom in Cuba, with Cubans actually running their own country was no longer an option. This is not, of course, what the Cubans were told. The Cubans were afraid that if the Americans intervened that they would be absorbed by the United States; that they would have no control over their own country.
There were people in America that did not want us to get involved in the affairs of others, and public sentiment was against sending our troops to help people who didn't want our assistance.
So an amendment was proposed by Senator Henry Teller of Colorado. His amendment would declare that " the people of the island of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free and independent." The amendment ended with a solemn pledge. We pledged that after helping the Cuban people get rid of their Spanish rulers, we, the United States would "leave the government and control of the island to its people."
We did not keep our promise to the Cuban people. As soon as the short little war was over, we denied the Cubans everything. Americans took full credit for winning the war. We denounced the Cubans as ineffective and incompetent, despite the fact that they were close to throwing out the Spanish on their own. The Teller Amendment was called unwise and ill-advised, and that the Cuban people were not capable of ruling on their own. Now Cuba was in American hands, occupied by American troops, ruled by American laws.
In 1900 the Platt Amendment was formulated. This Amendment would give the United States military bases in Cuba. It would give us the right to veto any treaty between Cuba and any other country. It allowed the Cubans the right to govern themselves as long as the United States approved of any decision they made. The Cubans "accepted" this amendment, and the American occupation was over.
From then on Cuba would be controlled by dictators propped up by American business interests and American guns. In 1959 it all came to an end when Castro and his army defeated the American-supported dictator, Fulgencio Batista.
Fidel Castro would stand before the world and proclaim Cuba to be free, once and for all. He would declare that Cuba was now rid of American influence, and the Cuban people would choose their own destiny. He would blame the United States for all its troubles, and he told us to keep out of Cuba's affairs once and for all.
And we just couldn't understand why now, could we?
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