Although Cuba is much smaller than most countries in South America, Mexico and the State of Florida, and its GNP for a population of 11 million is less than any of our poorest counties, the world have been astounded by the socio-political impact, that this otherwise insignificant nation, have exerted on the lives of millions in Africa, America and Asia.
Cuba, which lies 90 miles off the southern tip of the United States, remain unknown, poorly understood and wrapped into a host of myths and fairy tales. Legally, it is easier to travel 10,000 miles to India or China than to Cuba across the Florida straits.
The reason for this monumental disconnect, is the Cuban Revolution which started 50 years ago on Sunday July 26, 1953 and the limited understanding by many, of Latin America History 101.
Why did this happen and was a Revolution necessary?
Shortly after Christopher Columbus and his crooks landed in Cuba in 1492, they abused, maimed, imposed forced labor, raped and infected the natives with deadly diseases that were unknown in this hemisphere, which lead to their demise.
Then, they re-directed their attention to Africa, from where they forcibly removed millions of men, women and children in what remain as the largest human displacement in world history and was followed by 400 years of enslavement on these shores.
Many slaves conspired, rose-up, fought or ran away. Most were captured, tied to a ladder and beaten to death or burnt alive. In 1812 Cuba had its first organized slave uprising. In 1868, rich slave owners and other independent minded Cubans, freed their slaves, rose-up against the crown and fought a bitter and bloody war for 10 years, that succumbed to regionalism and racism.
General Antonio Maceo, the greatest son of Africa ever to live in that country and head of the Army of independence in eastern Cuba, proclaimed one of Cuba's most important historic document, 'The Protest of Baragua', in which they refused to surrender and vow to fight to the end. One year later, exhausted, without material support and the entire Spanish occupying army against them, he and his men were forced to migrate to Jamaica.
In 1895 and under the leadership of Jose Marti, the intellectual father of the Cuban nation, who studied carefully and removed the flaws that lead to failure in 1868, he put forward among other crucial unifying principles, the concept of : 'More than White, More than Black, More than Mulato, Say Cuban!'
By the end of 1897, the Spanish occupying forces were literally defeated, when the battleship USS Maine entered Havana harbor, where it later blew up in questionable circumstances, killing over 250 crew members and paving the way for the Spanish-American war.
This skirmish lasted less than 3 months and approximately 5000 US casualties, most of which was caused by malaria and yellow fever. The Cuban Army of Independence was not allowed to take part in the surrendering ceremony of the Spanish forces or in the Conference of Paris months later, in which the United States demanded and received from Spain Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam and for all purposes Cuba, in what Teddy Roosevelt described as Our Best Little Dirty War!
Occupation and corruption
of a society
Cuba remained occupied for the next four years by a segregated army under Gen. Teddy Roosevelt. Fearful of the fully integrated Cuban army with a large cadre of seasoned Afro-Cuban generals that led victorious battles against Spain most decorated generals, this institution was quickly dismantled and a rabid racism was re-introduced in Cuba, despite 70% of the Cuban army and 80% of its casualties were Afro-Cubans.
Blacks were not allowed in the Police force and no Black could rise above the rank of lieutenant in the newly created Rural Guard. Schools, jobs and neighborhoods were segregated. Political corruption, nepotism, prostitution, gambling and racketeering became the norm.
Fed-up with the prevailing conditions, Afro-Cubans organized in 1906, the first-ever all-black political party, 'The Independent Party of Color', whose ranks grew rapidly, sending shivers down the spines of those in power, who in turn, responded with a vicious scare tactics campaign, suggesting the creation in Cuba, of a Black Republic like Haiti.
In 1912, the US army intervened once again in Cuba, occupied numerous communities throughout eastern Cuba, relieving the Rural Guard from many posts and enabling them to organize a strike force that slaughtered over 6000 Afro-Cubans. Badly mutilated bodies were displayed in public parks or paraded on horse back through communities, sending a clear message to Blacks to conform or else!
Again in 1933, a broad base insurrection deposed another hand picked US despot who had governed with an iron fist, who created the largest political violence, killing and disappearance in the country's history. The outspoken leadership of this movement did not get the blessings of the US State Department, which was followed by a number of threats and unrest, until an obscure sergeant, Fulgencio Batista -our man in Havana- came to power in a coup d'etat and was rapidly anointed by the US government.
This period was followed by two pseudo-democratic governments that instantly allowed US enterprises to engulf all remaining infrastructure, industries, banking, commerce and turning Cuba into a US playground, plagued by drugs, prostitution and all other social ills.
This partial summary of Cuba's convulsive history, may help to explain why the movement that was started by Fidel Castro when he and another 164 men attacked on July 26, Cuba's second largest military garrison with over a thousand soldiers camped inside, in which most of his men were captured, murdered, imprisoned, released, migrated to Mexico, trained in guerrilla warfare, 82 of them returned to Cuba by sea, were strafed, ambushed and most were killed after landing in a swamp in eastern Cuba.
Weeks later and with the help of the peasantry, twelve survivors were able to regroup in the Sierra Maestra hills, where Fidel exclaimed: We Won!
Since, it has been a battle of epic proportions against Batista's well supplied army by the US Department of Defense. The victory of the Revolution in 1959, was quickly presented with even a greater set of military threats, invasions, sabotage, assassinations attempts, economic and biological warfare, embargo, isolation and all other imaginable means of overthrowing the government.
Yet, in the midst of this incredible adverse environment and a long list of mistakes that were made by a young, inexperienced and in many cases, illiterate leaders that were placed in crucial management positions in 1959, that government have been able to achieve social, cultural, educational, sports and scientific advancement, that far exceed not only the previous 500 years of our history, but also, have placed Cuba ahead of all Latin America countries while it rivals many social indexes in first world developed nations.
Additionally, even under such dire conditions, Cuba did not focus solely on itself. Over forty thousands Africans from across that continent have received mid level and higher education training, free of charge in all fields of knowledge.
Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia have similar experience, albeit less extensive.
Thousands of Cuban physicians have worked and continue to do so, in the most intricate rural areas in over 40 countries around the world saving the lives of millions. Teachers, construction professionals, sports instructors, cultural educators, engineers can be found everywhere, helping to improve the quality of lives of those less fortunate.
Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Angola independence and sovereignty is closely related to Cuba military intervention in Africa, at the cost of thousands of lives of its own people.
Can anyone assume that Cuba is a panacea, utopia or a perfect society? Far from it. On one hand, they have different social system that many of us do not understand and others who have visited for a week, become Cubanologists overnight and are ready to prescribe shock therapy for their ailing economy.
It is said that all roads leads to Rome. If mankind would simply be more tolerant, less imposing, less self-righteous, I can imagine what our world could be, if the billions of dollars that have been pitifully squandered in this senseless 40 year old US-CUBA strife, had been applied to heal some of the world terrifying maladies, even if we continued not speaking to each other. .
