SERGIO GUERRA VILABOY holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Leipzig. He is head of the History Department at the University of Havana and is executive secretary of the Association of Latin America and Caribbean Historians. He is also on the editorial boards of several magazines, including Tzintzun and Ulúa (Mexico), Investigación y Desarrollo (Colombia), Kó-Eyú Latinoamericano (Venezuela) and Contexto Latinoamericano (published by Ocean Sur); he has given talks at a number of universities; and has written several books, including Paraguay: de la independencia a la dominación imperialista (1991), Los artesanos en la revolución latinoamericana (2000), El dilema de la independencia (2000), Cinco siglos de historiografía latinoamericana (2003), Historia de la Revolución Cubana (2005), Breve historia de América Latina (2006) and Ernesto Che Guevara (2007).
OSCAR LOYOLA VEGA holds a Ph.D. in history and was deputy dean of the School of Philosophy and History at the University of Havana between 1993 and 1997 and presided over its Doctoral Commission. He has given talks at universities in a number of countries and co-authored several books, including La Guerra de los Diez Años (1989), Cuba y su historia (1999) and Historia de Cuba 1492-1898. Formación y liberación de la nación (2001).
Cover design by Runa Kamijo
Copyright © 2010 Sergio Guerra Vilaboy and Oscar Loyola Vega
Copyright © 2010 Ocean Press
Translated by Mary Todd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978-0-9872283-4-5 (e-book)
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2010920611
First edition 2010
Second printing 2012
Third printing 2013
Fourth printing 2014
PUBLISHED BY OCEAN PRESS
PO Box 1015, North Melbourne, Victoria 3051, Australia
E-mail: [email protected]
OCEAN PRESS TRADE DISTRIBUTORS
United States: Consortium Book Sales and Distribution
Tel: 1-800-283-3572 www.cbsd.com
Canada: Publisher Group Canada
Tel: 1-800-663-5714 E-mail: [email protected]
Australia and New Zealand: Palgrave Macmillan
Tel: 1-300-135 113 E-mail: [email protected]
UK and Europe: Turnaround Publisher Services
Tel: (44) 020-8829 3000 E-mail: [email protected]
Cuba and Latin America: Ocean Sur
E-mail: [email protected]
| www.oceanbooks.com.au[email protected] |
Contents
1. From the Original Inhabitants to Slave Plantations
The Cuban Archipelago and the Indigenous Population
The Criollo Economy and Society
Emergence and Evolution of the Plantation System
Reform, Annexation and Slavery
The Period Between the Wars
The War of 1895
3. Republic and Sovereignty
The First Period of US Intervention
From Tomás Estrada Palma to Gerardo Machado
An Absolutely Necessary Decade
4. Prelude to and Beginning of the Revolution
The Struggle over the Constitution
The Authentic Party in Power
The Batista Dictatorship and the Insurrectional Struggle
5. The Revolutionary Government
The Transition to Socialism
Creating a Socialist State
The Search for a Cuban Model of Socialism
6. From Institutionalization to the Special Period
The Institutionalization of the Revolution
Rectification
The Special Period
The Battle of Ideas
Bibliography
From the Original Inhabitants to Slave Plantations
“The fairest island human eyes have yet beheld… It is certain that where there is such marvellous scenery, there must be much more from which profit can be made.”
—Christopher Columbus, October 24, 1492
The Cuban Archipelago and the Indigenous Population
Christopher Columbus reached the northern coast of eastern Cuba on October 27, 1492. The Cuban archipelago, consisting of one large island, several smaller ones and hundreds of islets, amazed the Spaniards. They found Cuba a very pleasant sight, with its great