Page 51 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

THE HIST OR Y OF CUBA  49

The US battlecruiser Maine in Havana Bay in 1898, with the Castillo del Morro on the right

for the tragedy and, with public opinion on Havana to US general John Brooke. From this
their side at home, intervened in the war. point onwards, Cuba became inextricably
On 3 July the US Navy defeated the Spanish linked with the United States.
fleet, with the obvious intent of taking part in
the peace treaty. On 10 December the Treaty US Supervision
of Paris – which involved Spain and the US, In February 1901 the Constituent Assembly
but not Cuba – marked the end of Spanish approved the first Cuban constitution and
colonial dominion in America. On 1 January Tomás Estrada Palma was elected president.
1899 the last Spanish governor, Jiménez y However, the delegates were forced to
Castellanos, officially handed the keys of accept the Platt Amendment, formulated
by US senator Orville Platt and added to a
José Martí bill in Congress. Officially this provision aimed
at safeguarding peace on the island, but its
In 1895, when he died in battle at Boca de dos
Ríos, José Martí was only 42. Despite this, he had underlying purpose was to sanction the
had years of experience of living in exile and right of the US to intervene in Cuban affairs
revolutionary struggle, besides writing a number
of poems, articles and essays that would be the and to supervise trade relations between
envy of a veteran author. Martí was born in Cuba and other nations. In addition, the
Havana in 1853 to Spanish parents. By the time US was granted the right to establish naval
he went to secondary school he was already
participating in anti-Spanish conspiracies. bases on the island, including the one at
This activity led to his being deported in Guantánamo in Eastern Cuba, which it
1868, and exiled in 1878, after which he still leases (see p243).
lived in the US, Spain, Mexico, Guatemala
and Venezuela. As an essayist and Although formal independence was
journalist, Martí was known for his vigorous granted to Cuba on 20 May 1902, in the
style. He was also a modernist poet (see
p32). He was an activist, a great politician years that followed, American involvement
and a sensitive interpreter of the impulses in the local economy increased and, on the
of the human soul. pretext of safeguarding their citizens and
José Martí, a national hero investments, the US sent marines to the
island on many occasions.

1895–8 José Martí heads 15 February 1898 Tomás Estrada
resumption of hostilities Explosion of the 25 February 1901 Palma, first
against the Spanish battlecruiser Maine First constitution president of
Cuba
1885 1890 1895 1900
10 December 1898
Paris Treaty marks end 20 May 1902
1892 José Martí, in exile in 19 May 1895 José 7 December 1896 of Spanish dominion Cuba obtains
the US, founds the Partido Martí dies in Antonio Maceo and beginning of formal
Revolucionario Cubano combat dies in combat American control independence

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