Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)

2023-01-13T02:15:34Z

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{{short description|Historical period in Cuba from 1902 to 1959
}}
{{Use dmy dates}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name = {{lang|es|República de Cuba}}
| conventional_long_name = Republic of Cuba
| status = [[Sovereign state]] (1902–1904) [[Protectorate#United States' protectorates and protected states|U.S. protectorate]] (1904–1906) U.S. [[military occupation]] (1906–1909) U.S. protectorate (1909–1934) Sovereign state (1934–1959)
| era =
| life_span = 1902–1906<ref>Between 1906 and 1909, Cuba was under American occupation</ref> 1909–1959
| event_pre = [[Platt Amendment]]
| date_pre = 2 March 1901
| event_start = {{nowrap|[[1902 Constitution of Cuba|Constitution adopted]]}}
| date_start = 20 May 1902
| event1 = [[Cuban–American Treaty of Relations (1903)|Treaty of Relations]]
| date_event1 = 17 February 1903
| event2 = [[Provisional Government of Cuba|US Occupation]]
| date_event2 = 1906–1909
| event3 = [[Cuban–American Treaty of Relations (1934)|Treaty of Relations]]
| date_event3 = 29 May 1934
| event4 = [[1940 Constitution of Cuba|1940 Constitution]]
| date_event4 = 10 October 1940
| event5 = [[Charter of the United Nations|Admitted]] to the [[United Nations|UN]]
| date_event5 = 24 October 1945
| event6 = [[1952 Cuban coup d'état|1952 coup d'état]]
| date_event6 = 10 March 1952
| event_end = [[Cuban Revolution]]
| date_end = 1 January 1959
| event_post = [[Political career of Fidel Castro|Socialist state]]
| date_post = 16 April 1961
| p1 = United States Military Government in Cuba{{!}}'''1902:''' {{nowrap|US Military}} Government
| flag_p1 = US flag 45 stars.svg
| p2 = Provisional Government of Cuba{{!}}'''1909:''' {{nowrap|US Provisional}} Government
| flag_p2 = US flag 46 stars.svg
| s1 = Provisional Government of Cuba{{!}}'''1906:''' {{nowrap|US Provisional}} Government
| flag_s1 = US flag 45 stars.svg
| s2 = Political career of Fidel Castro{{!}}'''1959:''' Socialist State of Cuba
| flag_s2 = Flag of Cuba.svg
| image_flag = Flag of Cuba (sky blue).svg
| flag = Flag of Cuba
| image_coat = Coat of arms of Cuba.svg
| image_map = CUB orthographic.svg
| capital = [[Havana]]
| largest_city = capital
| national_anthem = ''[[La Bayamesa]]'' "The Bayamo Song" {{center|[[File:United States Navy Band - La Bayamesa.ogg]]}}
| official_languages = [[Cuban Spanish|Spanish]]
| religion = [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]]
| government_type = 1902–1940: [[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[presidential system|presidential]] republic 1940–1952: [[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[semi-presidential system|semi-presidential]] republic 1952–1959: [[Military dictatorship]]
| title_leader = [[President of Cuba|President]]
| leader1 = [[Tomás Estrada Palma|Tomás E. Palma]]
| year_leader1 = 1902–1906 (first)
| leader2 = [[Fulgencio Batista]]
| year_leader2 = 1952–1959
| leader3 = [[Carlos Piedra]]
| year_leader3 = 1959 (last)
| title_deputy = [[Prime Minister of Cuba|Prime Minister]]
| deputy1 = [[Carlos Saladrigas Zayas|Carlos S. Zayas]]
| year_deputy1 = 1940–1942 (first)
| deputy2 = [[José Miró Cardona|José M. Cardona]]
| year_deputy2 = 1959 (last)
| legislature = [[Congress of Cuba|Congress]]
| house1 = [[Senate]]
| type_house1 = Upper Chamber
| house2 = [[House of Representatives]]
| type_house2 = Lower Chamber
| area_km2 = 109,884
| area_rank =
| area_sq_mi = 42,426 
| percent_water = 0.94 
| currency = [[Cuban peso|Peso]] (<code>[[ISO 4217|CUP]]</code>)
| time_zone = [[Cuba Time|CST]]
| utc_offset = −5
| utc_offset_DST = −4
| time_zone_DST = [[Daylight saving time in Cuba|CDT]]
| drives_on = right
| calling_code = [[+53]]
| today =
| demonym = [[Cubans|Cuban]]
| GDP_PPP =
| GDP_PPP_year =
| HDI =
| HDI_year =
}}

{{History of Cuba}}
The '''Republic of Cuba''', covering the historical period in [[Cuba]]n history between 1902 and 1959, was an [[island country]] comprised the island of Cuba, as well as [[Isla de la Juventud]] (since 1925) and several minor archipelagos. It was located where the northern [[Caribbean Sea]], [[Gulf of Mexico]], and [[Atlantic Ocean]] meet. The period began in 1902 following the end of its first U.S. military occupation years after Cuba declared independence in 1898 from the [[Spanish Empire]]. This era included various changing governments and US military occupations, and ended with the outbreak of the [[Cuban Revolution]] in 1959. During this period, the United States exerted great influence on Cuban politics, notably through the [[Platt Amendment]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Neocolonial Republic|access-date=25 July 2020|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/cuba/neocolonial.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Crónicas de la República de Cuba: 1902–1958 |first=Uva |last=De Aragón |publisher=Ediciones Universal |year=2009 |language=es |isbn=9781593881436}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Imagen y trayectoria del cubano en la historia: La República 1902-1959 |first=Octavio Ramón |last=Costa |publisher=Ediciones Universal |year=1994 |language=es |isbn=9780897296830}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Centenario de la República de Cuba (1902-2002) |first=Grace Giselle |last=Piney Roche |chapter=La República de Cuba, 1902-1959: las grietas de la política |editor-first=Antonio |editor-last=Elorza |publisher=Editorial Hispano Cubana |year=2003 |location=Madrid |language=es |isbn=84-607-7931-9}}</ref> The post-1959 communist government refers to this era as the '''Neocolonial Republic''' while many [[Cuban exile]]s refer to this period as '''Free Cuba''' as opposed to the "unfree" [[Political career of Fidel Castro|socialist state]].

The governments of Cuba between independence from Spain and the [[Cuban Revolution|Revolution]] have been regarded as [[client state]]s of the United States.<ref>{{cite book|first=Louis A. |last=Pérez |title=Cuba Under the Platt Amendment, 1902–1934 |location=Pittsburgh, PA | publisher= Pittsburgh University Press |year= 1991 |page= xvi}}</ref> From 1902 to 1934 Cuban and United States law included the [[Platt Amendment]], which guaranteed the US right to intervene in Cuba and placed restrictions on Cuban foreign relations.<ref>{{cite book|first=Louis A. |last=Pérez |title=Cuba Under the Platt Amendment, 1902–1934 |location=Pittsburgh, PA | publisher= Pittsburgh University Press |year= 1991 |pages= 54}}</ref> In 1934, Cuba and the United States signed the [[Cuban–American Treaty of Relations (1934)|Treaty of Relations]] in which Cuba was obligated to give preferential treatment of its economy to the United States, in exchange the United States gave Cuba a guaranteed 22 percent share of the US sugar market that later was amended to a 49 percent share in 1949.<ref>{{cite book|first1=John |last1=Miller |first2= Aaron |last2=Kenedi | title= Inside Cuba: The History, Culture, and Politics of an Outlaw Nation |location=New York |publisher= Marlowe & Company |year= 2003 | pages= 35–36}}</ref>

The country continued to use the 1940 [[Constitution of Cuba|Constitution]] until the new constitution was promulgated in 1976.

==1902–1933: Early governments==
[[File: Raising the Cuban flag on the Governor General's Palace at noon on May 20, 1902.gif|thumb|left|Raising the Cuban flag on the Governor General's Palace at noon on 20 May 1902.]]
After the [[Spanish–American War]], Spain and the United States signed the [[Treaty of Paris (1898)|1898 Treaty of Paris]], by which Spain ceded [[Puerto Rico]], the [[Philippines]], and [[Guam]] to the United States for the sum of $20{{nbsp}}million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|20|1898|r=-1}}{{nbsp}}million in {{Inflation/year|US}}).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/sp1898.asp|title=Treaty of Peace Between the United States and Spain|work=The Avalon Project|publisher=Yale Law School}}</ref> With the end of United States Military Government (USMG) jurisdiction, Cuba gained formal independence on 20 May 1902, as the Republic of Cuba.<ref name="Pérez1998">{{cite book|author=Louis A. Pérez|title=Cuba Between Empires: 1878–1902 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRhK4vMXe1QC&pg=PR15|access-date=19 July 2013|year=1998|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Pre|isbn=978-0-8229-7197-9|page=xv}}</ref> Under Cuba's new constitution, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the [[Platt Amendment]], the U.S. leased the [[Guantánamo Bay]] naval base from Cuba.

=== US occupation, 1906–1909 ===
{{Main|Second Occupation of Cuba}}
Following political purging and a corrupt and rigged election in 1906, the first president, [[Tomás Estrada Palma]], faced an armed revolt by veterans of the war.<ref>{{cite book|title=Corruption in Cuba: Castro and Beyond |page=63 |first1=Sergio|last1=Diaz-Briquets|first2=Jorge F. |last2= Pérez-López| publisher=University of Texas Press| location=Austin |year=2006|isbn=0-292-71321-5| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fiquofr8LSoC&pg=PA63|access-date=6 September 2009}}</ref> As in the independence war, Afro-Cubans were overrepresented in the insurgent army of 1906. For them, the August Revolution revived hopes for a 'rightful share' in Cuba's government. On 16 August 1906, fearing the government ready to smash the plot, former Liberation Army general Pino Guerra raised the banner of revolt. Immediately Palma arrested every Liberal politician in reach; the remainder went underground. In an effort to avert intervention Roosevelt sent two emissaries to Havana to seek a compromise between government and opposition. Regarding such impartiality as a vote of censure on his government, Estrada Palma resigned and made his entire cabinet resign too, leaving the Republic without a government and forcing the United States to take control of the island. Roosevelt immediately proclaimed that the USA had been compelled to intervene in Cuba and that their only purpose was to create the necessary conditions for a peaceful election.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://libraries.ucsd.edu/research-and-collections/collections/notable-collections/latin-american-elections-statistics/Cuba/elections-and-events-19021911.html |title=Elections and Events 1902-1911 |website=libraries.ucsd.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530001754/http://libraries.ucsd.edu/research-and-collections/collections/notable-collections/latin-american-elections-statistics/Cuba/elections-and-events-19021911.html |archive-date=2019-05-30}} </ref>

=== 1909–1924 ===
In 1909, home-rule government was restored when [[José Miguel Gómez]] was inaugurated as Cuba's second president, while the U.S. continued intervening in Cuban affairs. In 1912, the [[Partido Independiente de Color]] attempted to establish a separate black republic in Oriente Province,<ref>{{cite book|title=The War of 1898, and U.S. interventions, 1898–1934: an encyclopedia|editor-first=Benjamin|editor-last= Beede|page=134|year=1994|publisher=Garland|location=New York|isbn=0-8240-5624-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=48g116X9IIwC&pg=PA134|access-date=6 September 2009}}</ref> but was suppressed by General Monteagudo with considerable bloodshed.

[[Cuban sugar economy|Sugar production]] played an important role in Cuban politics and economics. In the 1910s, during and after [[World War I]], a shortage in the world [[sugar industry|sugar supply]] fueled an economic boom in Cuba, marked by prosperity and the conversion of more and more farmland to sugar cultivation. Prices peaked and then crashed in 1920, ruining the country financially and allowing foreign investors to gain more power than they already had. This economic turbulence was called "the Dance of the Millions".<ref>Kevin Grogan, ''[http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0006301/grogan_k.pdf Cuba's Dance of the Millions: Examining the Causes and Consequences of Violent Price Fluctuations in the Sugar Market Between 1919 and 1920]''; Masters' Thesis accepted at University of Florida, August 2004.</ref><ref>Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr., "[http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dance-millions Dance of the Millions]"; ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture '' (2008).</ref>

=== Machado era ===

In 1924, [[Gerardo Machado]] was [[Cuban general election, 1924|elected]] president. During his administration, tourism increased markedly, and American-owned hotels and restaurants were built to accommodate the influx of tourists. The tourist boom led to increases in gambling and [[prostitution in Cuba]].<ref name="D2012">{{cite book|author=Terry K Sanderlin, Ed D|title=The Last American Rebel in Cuba|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFT8Mp8VuNkC&pg=PA7|access-date=19 July 2013|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4685-9430-0|page=7}}</ref> Machado initially enjoyed support from much of the public and from all the country's major political parties. However, his popularity declined steadily. In 1928 he held [[Cuban presidential election, 1928|an election]] which was to give him another term, this one of six years, despite his promise to serve only for one term.

==1933–1958: Unrest and new governments==
===Revolution of 1933===
The [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]] led to precipitous drops in the price of sugar, political unrest, and repression.<ref name="ChaffeePrevost1992" /> Protesting students, known as the [[Directorio Estudiantil Universitario|Generation of 1930]], and a clandestine terrorist organization known as the [[ABC (Cuba)|ABC]], turned to violence in opposition to the increasingly unpopular Machado.<ref name="ChaffeePrevost1992" />

US ambassador [[Sumner Welles]] arrived in May 1933 and began a diplomatic campaign which involved "mediation" with opposition groups in including the ABC. This campaign significantly weakened Machado's government and, backed with the threat of military intervention, set the stage for a regime change.<ref>Philip Dur & Christopher Gilcrease, "U.S. Diplomacy and the Downfall of a Cuban Dictator: Machado in 1933"; ''Journal of Latin American Studies'' Vol. 34, No. 2, May 2002; [[DOI: 10.01/S0022216X02006417]]; [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3875789 JSTOR].</ref>

A general strike (in which the [[Popular Socialist Party (Cuba)|Popular Socialist Party]] sided with Machado),<ref>{{cite book|title=Fulgencio Batista|volume=1|page=[https://archive.org/details/fulgenciobatista00argo/page/n75 50]|last=Argote-Freyre|first=Frank|publisher=Rutgers University Press|location=New Brunswick, NJ|year=2006|isbn=0-8135-3701-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/fulgenciobatista00argo}}</ref> uprisings among sugar workers, and an army revolt forced Machado into exile in August 1933. He was replaced by [[Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada]], son of Cuban patriot [[Carlos Manuel de Céspedes]] and former [[Embassy of Cuba in Washington, D.C.|ambassador to the US]].<ref name="ChaffeePrevost1992">{{cite book|author1=Wilber Albert Chaffee|author2=Gary Prevost|title=Cuba: A Different America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9CJec-NWjS0C&pg=PA4|access-date=19 July 2013|year=1992|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8476-7694-1|page=4}}</ref>

[[File:1933-Pentarchy w Batista.jpg|thumb|The [[Pentarchy of 1933]]. [[Fulgencio Batista]], who controlled the armed forces, appears at far right.]]
In September 1933, the [[Sergeants' Revolt]], led by Sergeant [[Fulgencio Batista]], overthrew Céspedes.<ref name="MJ303">{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Melanie|editor=Jacqueline West|title=South America, Central America and the Caribbean 2002| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o9ODxqsr-dIC&pg=PA303|access-date=19 July 2013|year=2001 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-85743-121-6|page=303}}</ref> General [[Alberto Herrera y Franchi|Alberto Herrera]] served briefly as president ( 12–13 August) followed by [[Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada]] from 13 August until 5 September 1933. A five-member executive committee (the [[Pentarchy of 1933]]) was chosen to head a provisional government.<ref name="Suchlicki2002">{{cite book|author=Jaime Suchlicki|title=Cuba: From Columbus to Castro and Beyond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHhUknsCtfIC&pg=PA95|access-date=19 July 2013|year=2002|publisher=Potomac Books, Inc.|isbn=978-1-57488-436-4|page=95}}</ref> They were ousted by a student-led organization, the [[Student Directory]], which appointed [[Ramon Grau San Martin]] as provisional president and passed various reforms during the ensuing [[One Hundred Days Government]].<ref name="Suchlicki2002" /> Grau resigned in 1934, after which Batista dominated Cuban politics for the next 25 years, at first through a series of puppet-presidents.<ref name="MJ303" /> The period from 1933 to 1937 was a time of "virtually unremitting social and political warfare".<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=y1oF-WQmOPgC&pg=PA76 |last=Domínguez| first=Jorge I.| title=Cuba: Order and Revolution|page=76|publisher=Harvard University Press| location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=9780674034280}}</ref>

===Constitution of 1940===
A [[1940 Constitution of Cuba|new constitution]] was adopted in 1940, which engineered radical progressive ideas, including the right to labor and health care.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=y1oF-WQmOPgC&pg=PA76 |last=Domínguez| first=Jorge I.| title=Cuba: Order and Revolution|page=?|publisher=Harvard University Press| location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=9780674034280}}</ref> Batista was elected president in the same year, holding the post until 1944.<ref name="Villafana2011">{{cite book|author=Frank R. Villafana|title=Expansionism: Its Effects on Cuba's Independence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jj2mIS40lAMC&pg=PA201|access-date=19 July 2013|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-4128-4656-1|page=201}}</ref> He is so far the only non-white Cuban to win the nation's highest political office.<ref name=horowitz662>{{cite book| editor-first=Irving Louis | editor-last=Horowitz| edition=6| title=Cuban Communism|year=1998 |page=662 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hx2_y7Vu-PUC&pg=PA662 | publisher=Transition Books| isbn=9781412820851| orig-year= 1988}}</ref><ref name=bethell>{{cite book|title=Cuba|first=Leslie|last=Bethell|isbn=978-0-521-43682-3|year=1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Sweig|first=Julia E.|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ob-I8MyTqx8C&pg=PA4 |page=4|title=Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674044197}}</ref> His government carried out major social reforms. Several members of the Communist Party held office under his administration.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sweig|first=Julia E.|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ob-I8MyTqx8C |page=?|title=Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674044197}}</ref> Cuban armed forces were not greatly involved in combat during World War II, although president Batista suggested a joint U.S.-Latin American assault on [[Spanish State|Francoist Spain]] to overthrow its authoritarian regime.<ref>{{cite news |title=Batista's Boot |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,802544,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080825011807/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,802544,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 August 2008 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=20 April 2013 }}</ref>

Batista adhered to the 1940 constitution's structures preventing his re-election.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=y1oF-WQmOPgC&pg=PA101 |last=Domínguez| first=Jorge I.| title=Cuba: Order and Revolution|page=101|publisher=Harvard University Press| location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=9780674034280}}</ref> Ramon Grau San Martin was the winner of the next election, in 1944.<ref name="Villafana2011" /> Grau further corroded the base of the already teetering legitimacy of the Cuban political system, in particular by undermining the deeply flawed, though not entirely ineffectual, Congress and Supreme Court.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=y1oF-WQmOPgC&pg=PA110 |last=Domínguez| first=Jorge I.| title=Cuba: Order and Revolution|pages=110–11|publisher=Harvard University Press| location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=9780674034280}}</ref> [[Carlos Prío Socarrás]], a protégé of Grau, became president in 1948.<ref name="Villafana2011" /> The two terms of the Auténtico Party saw an influx of investment which fueled a boom and raised living standards for all segments of society and created a prosperous middle class in most urban areas.{{citation needed}}

===Batista dictatorship===
[[File:HavanaSlums1954.jpg|thumb|right|210px|[[Slum]] (''bohio'') dwellings in Havana, Cuba in 1954, just outside [[Estadio Latinoamericano|Havana baseball stadium]]. In the background is advertising for a nearby [[casino]].]]
Before presidential election in 1952, [[Fulgencio Batista|Batista]] staged a [[1952 Cuban coup d'état|coup]].<ref name="IhrieOropesa2011" /> Back in power and receiving financial, military and logistical support from the United States government, Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He outlawed the Cuban Communist Party in 1952.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sweig|first=Julia E.|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ob-I8MyTqx8C&pg=PA6 |page=6|title=Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674044197}}</ref> He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans. Eventually it reached the point where most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land. As such, Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships with both the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts. To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also using his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions. These murders mounted in 1957, as socialism became more influential. Many people were killed, with estimates ranging from hundreds to about 20,000 people killed. Cuba had Latin America's highest per capita consumption rates of meat, vegetables, cereals, automobiles, telephones and radios, though about one third of the population was considered poor and enjoyed relatively little of this consumption.<ref name=lewis>{{cite book|title=Authoritarian Regimes in Latin America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAvw-YXm4TsC&pg=PA186|author=Paul H. Lewis|page=186|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|location=Oxford, UK|isbn=0-7425-3739-0|access-date=14 September 2009|year=2006}}</ref>

While Cuba had the highest ratio of hospital beds to population in Latin America, around 80% of these beds were located in the city of [[Havana]], there was only one rural hospital and it was equipped with only 10 beds.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Valdés|first=Nelson P.|title=Health and Revolution in Cuba|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40401580|journal=Science & Society|volume=35|issue=3|pages=311–335|jstor=40401580|issn=0036-8237}}</ref> In 1951 the World Bank reported that between 80–90% of children in rural areas suffered from some form of intestinal parasites, in 1956 about 13% of the rural population had a history of typhoid and 14% at one point had [[tuberculosis]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Threat of a Good|url=http://www3.uakron.edu/worldciv/pascher/cuba.html|access-date=2 January 2021|website=www3.uakron.edu}}</ref> A study conducted in 1959 by public health authorities found that throughout the country around 72% of the population was afflicted with parasitism and in the rural areas this percentage was as high as 86.54%.<ref name=":0" /> Only 11% of farm worker families drank milk, and rural infant mortality stood at 100 per 1000 live births.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Keck|first1=C. William|last2=Reed|first2=Gail A.|title=The Curious Case of Cuba|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=102|issue=8|pages=e13–e22|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2012.300822|issn=0090-0036|pmc=3464859|pmid=22698011}}</ref> Only 1 in 4 peasants were able to afford regularly eating meat, eggs and fish and chronic unemployment was at 25%.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lupan|first=Alexandru|title=Poverty in Cuba|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271724976|access-date=|website=Researchgate}}</ref> Cuba was a very unequal society with a mere 8% of landowners owning approximately 75% of the land, the bottom fifth of the population took in 2% of the national income meanwhile one-fifth of the population took in 58% of the national income this was one of the lowest rates for the bottom 20% in the world then and even now.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Pineo|first=Ronn|title=Cuban Public Healthcare: A Model of Success for Developing Nations|journal=[[Journal of Developing Societies]]|language=en|volume=35|issue=1|pages=16–61|doi=10.1177/0169796X19826731|issn=0169-796X|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Cuba was also under a lot of influence from the United States to the point where the US controlled 80% of Cuba's trade.<ref name=":1" /> In 1959 around 40% of Cuban sugar land, almost all the cattle ranches, 90% of mines and 80% of the utilities were owned by American firms.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy at Democratic Dinner, Cincinnati, Ohio, October 6, 1960 {{!}} JFK Library|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/cincinnati-oh-19601006-democratic-dinner|access-date=2 January 2021|website=www.jfklibrary.org}}</ref>

In 1958, Cuba was a relatively well-advanced country by Latin American standards, and in some cases by world standards.<ref name=asce>{{Harvnb|Smith|Llorens|1998}}.</ref> On the other hand, Cuba was affected by perhaps the largest labor union privileges in Latin America, including bans on dismissals and mechanization. They were obtained in large measure "at the cost of the unemployed and the peasants", leading to disparities.<ref>{{Harvnb|Baklanoff|1998}}.</ref> Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba extended economic regulations enormously, causing economic problems.<ref name=horowitz662 /><ref>{{cite book| last=Thomas |first= Hugh|year= 1998 |title=Cuba or the Pursuit of Freedom |isbn=978-0-306-80827-2| page= 1173}}</ref> Unemployment became a problem as graduates entering the workforce could not find jobs.<ref name=horowitz662 /> The middle class, which was comparable to that of the United States, became increasingly dissatisfied with unemployment and political persecution. The labor unions supported Batista until the very end.<ref name=horowitz662 /><ref name=bethell /> Batista stayed in power until he was forced into exile in December 1958.<ref name="IhrieOropesa2011">{{cite book|author1= Maureen Ihrie | author2=Salvador Oropesa|title=World Literature in Spanish: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zPDFHE_5besC&pg=PA262|access-date=19 July 2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO| isbn=978-0-313-08083-8|page=262}}</ref>

==Tourism==
Between 1915 and 1930, Havana hosted more tourists than any other location in the Caribbean.<ref name="Miguel">{{cite conference |last1=Figueras |first1=Miguel Alejandro |title=International Tourism and the Formation of Productive Clusters in the Cuban Economy |url=http://www.world-tourism.org/quality/E/docs/trade/cubacontrib.pdf |conference=[[Latin American Studies Association]], 22nd Congress |access-date=August 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040805035546/http://www.world-tourism.org/quality/E/docs/trade/cubacontrib.pdf |archive-date=2004-08-05 |location=Washington, D.C. |url-status=dead}}</ref> The influx was due in large part to [[Cuba-United States relations|Cuba's proximity to the United States]], where restrictive [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition]] on [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] and other pastimes stood in stark contrast to the island's traditionally relaxed attitude to leisure pursuits. Such tourism became Cuba's third largest source of foreign currency, behind the two dominant industries of sugar and tobacco. Cuban drinks such as the [[daiquiri]] and [[mojito]] became common in the United States during this time, after Prohibition was repealed.

A combination of the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s, the end of prohibition, and World War II severely dampened Cuba's tourist industry, and it wasn't until the 1950s that numbers began to return to the island in any significant force. During this period, American [[organized crime]] came to dominate the leisure and tourist industries, a modus operandi outlined at the infamous [[Havana Conference]] of 1946. By the mid-1950s [[Havana]] became one of the main markets and the favourite route for the [[narcotics]] trade to the United States. Despite this, tourist numbers grew steadily at a rate of 8% a year and Havana became known as "the Latin [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]]".<ref name="Miguel"/><ref>[http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/funfacts/batist.htm History of Cuba] written and compiled by J.A. Sierra</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===
* {{Cite book |last=Baklanoff |first=Eric N. |year=1998 |chapter=Cuba on the Eve of the Socialist Transition: A Reassessment of the Backwardness-Stagnation Thesis |chapter-url=http://www.ascecuba.org/c/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/v08-31baklanoff.pdf |title=Cuba in Transition, Volume 8 |url=http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/annual-proceedings/cuba-in-transition-volume-08/ |location=Silver Spring, MD |publisher=ASCE |pages=260–272 |isbn=978-0-9649082-7-7 |access-date=25 March 2013}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Kirby |last2=Llorens |first2=Hugo |year=1998 |chapter=Renaissance and Decay: A Comparison of Socioeconomic Indicators in Pre-Castro and Current-Day Cuba |chapter-url=http://www.ascecuba.org/c/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/v08-30smith.pdf |title=Cuba in Transition, Volume 8 |url=http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/annual-proceedings/cuba-in-transition-volume-08/ |location=Silver Spring, MD |publisher=ASCE |pages=247–259 |isbn=978-0-9649082-7-7 |access-date=25 March 2013}}

==External links==

* https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.159198/page/n9/mode/2up
{{Cuba topics}}

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[[Category:Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)| ]]
[[Category:History of Cuba by period|Republic 1902]]
[[Category:Former countries in the Caribbean|Cuba 1902]]
[[Category:Former republics|Cuba 1902]]
[[Category:Cuban nationalism|Republic 1902]]
[[Category:1900s in Cuba|.]]
[[Category:1910s in Cuba|.]]
[[Category:1920s in Cuba|.]]
[[Category:1930s in Cuba|.]]
[[Category:1940s in Cuba|.]]
[[Category:1950s in Cuba|.]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1902]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1959]]
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Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)