Cuba and the U.S. empire: a chronological history

456 Pages·2016·5.082 MB·English

by  CUBA.;Franklin, Jane

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JAnE FRAnklin is An inTERnATiOnAlly AcclAimEd HisTORiAn
who has been an activist for peace and justice since 1960. she is
the author of Cuban Foreign Relations: A Chronology, 1959–1982
(center for cuban studies, 1984), Cuba and the United States: A
Chronological History (Ocean Press, 1992; 1997), Cuba-Estados
Unidos: Cronología de una historia (ciencias sociales: Havana
2015), and co-author of Vietnam and America: A Documented
History (Grove/Atlantic, 1984; 1995). Her chronology of the
history of Panama is in The U.S. Invasion of Panama (south End
Press, 1991). For more than two decades, she was an editor and
contributing editor for “cuba Update,” the magazine of the
center for cuban studies in new york. in addition to dozens
of articles in “cuba Update,” she has published in The Nation,
Films in Review, The Progressive, Z Magazine, Covert Action,
The Paris Magazine, Lies of Our Times, Resist, and widely on
the internet, where her essays are regularly carried by ZNet and
Progreso Weekly (in both English and spanish). Her work has
been translated into French, italian, German, and spanish. she
has lectured extensively about U.s. imperialism, especially in
relation to cuba, Vietnam, nicaragua, El salvador, and Panama.
she appears frequently on national and international radio and
TV as a commentator about U.s.-cuba relations. some of her
work, including dozens of her essays, is accessible at http://www.
janefranklin.info.
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cuba and the U.s. Empire
A Chronological History
JAnE FRAnklin
mOnTHly REViEW PREss
New York
copyright © 2016 by Jane Franklin
All Rights Reserved
sections of this book were previously published as Cuba and the United States:
A Chronological History by Ocean Press (1997).
library of congress cataloging-in-Publication data:
names: Franklin, Jane, 1934– author.
Title: cuba and the U.s. empire : a chronological history / Jane Franklin.
description: new york : monthly Review Press, 2016. | “sections of this book
were previously published as cuba and the United states: A chronological
History by Ocean Press (1997)” | includes index.
identifiers: lccn 2015045631| isBn 9781583676066 (hardcover) | isBn
9781583676059 (pbk.)
subjects: lcsH: cuba—Foreign relations—United states—chronology. |
United states—Foreign relations—cuba—chronology. | cuba—Foreign
relations—1492–1990—chronology.
classification: lcc E183.8.c9 F725 2016 | ddc 327.7291073—dc23
lc record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015045631
Typeset in Garamond Pro
monthly Review Press
146 West 29th street, suite 6W
new york, new york 10001
monthlyreview.org
5 4 3 2 1
cOnTEnT s

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Foreword by noam chomsky. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Author’s note on method and sources. . . . . . . . . . xi

Background to Revolution 1492–2015. . . . . . . . . . 1
A “new World” 1492–1800. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
U.s. Policy Takes shape 1801–1865. . . . . . . . . . 2
The First Wars of independence 1868–1898. . . . . 5
U.s. intervention 1898–1925. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Era of machado and Batista 1925–1951 . . . . 12
dictatorship and Revolution 1952–1958. . . . . . . 15
The year 1959. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The year 1960. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
The year 1961. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
The year 1962. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
The year 1963. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The year 1964. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
The year 1965. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
The year 1966. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
The year 1967. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
The year 1968. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The year 1969. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The year 1970. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
The year 1971. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The year 1972. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
The year 1973. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
The year 1974. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
The year 1975. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
The year 1976. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
The year 1977. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
The year 1978. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
The year 1979. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
The year 1980. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
The year 1981. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
The year 1982. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
The year 1983. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
The year 1984. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
The year 1985. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
The year 1986. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
The year 1987. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
The year 1988. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
The year 1989. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
The year 1990. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
The year 1991. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
The year 1992. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
The year 1993. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
The year 1994. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
The year 1995. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
cuba and the United states in the 21st century. . 383
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
AcknOWlEdGmEnT s
ia m grateful to sandra levinson, executive director of the center for
cuban studies, for originally initiating the idea of this book. Jerry
nickel, the center’s librarian, was an extraordinary resource. irving
kessler provided reams of information along with his astute observa-
tions and encouraging friendship. The late Frank scofi sent materials
from varied sources and was a special friend. Bob Guild and michael
krinsky provided information about travel regulations and legal cases.
members of the U.s. state department, congress, and the cuban
mission to the United nations furnished original documents and
detailed information.
karen Franklin and Robert Franklin read most of the twenti-
eth century manuscript and made numerous insightful suggestions.
Gretchen Franklin furnished information about several legal cases. in
the decades since then, they have developed families who are inter-
twined with everything i do.
i am profoundly grateful to many political activists and scholars in
the United states, cuba, and other countries for their encouragement
at every step of the way.
my deepest appreciation is for my life companion, Bruce Franklin.
He has read everything along the way and offered his inimitably per-
ceptive ideas. But, more than that, he is a wonderful husband, provid-
ing constant care and understanding as part of my daily life during all
the years since we were married in 1956.
FOREWORd
Jane Franklin’s book, Cuba and the U.S. Empire: A Chronological
History, is an incomparable resource on cuba-U.s. relations from
the earliest days, focusing on the period since liberation in 1959—
and the same, incidentally, is true of Franklin’s regular publications
and postings, uniquely significant and followed eagerly by all who are
interested in these topics. As the subtitle of the book indicates, it is a
chronology embedded within a history, in fact, a uniquely important
historical account of cuba-U.s. relations since the 18th century, the
most accessible, useful, and insightful one that i know of. it is also an
indispensable reference book for journalists, historians, activists, and
even tourists throughout the Anglophone world. The book is extremely
valuable as a sophisticated analysis of how and why cuba-U.s. history
has evolved through various phases but always with a central theme.
Franklin’s insights illuminate the complex dialectic between U.s. impe-
rialism and the cuban struggle for true independence as no other work
does, to my knowledge.
For years, many people—myself included—have been sorely miss-
ing an updated edition of the classic 1997 edition, Cuba and the United
States: A Chronological History. What we needed is an analysis and sum-
mary of the key events and issues that take the story into the present
period. Franklin’s new final chapter, “cuba and the United states in
the 21st century,” does precisely that. This analytic essay brings the
history up to date through the change in U.s.-cuba relations that was
announced by both cuba and the United states on december 17, 2014.
Foreword ix
Cuba and the U.S. Empire puts this information and analysis in
the hands of the people who need to be made aware of the history of
cuba’s determination to maintain its independence and sovereignty
despite Washington’s imperial efforts to destroy the cuban Revolution.
—noam chomsky