In mid-March, Donald Trump proclaimed that he could do whatever he pleased with Cuba. However, he is far from the first American leader to harbor such expansionist desires. According to Michael Zeuske, a historian and professor at the Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies at the University of Bonn, the United States has been reaching for the Caribbean island since the mid-19th century.
When Cuba was still a colony of the Spanish Empire, early American leaders already had their eyes set on it. In 1820, former US President Thomas Jefferson suggested that the young nation should seize the first opportunity to annex Cuba. Three years later, in 1823, John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State under James Monroe, famously compared Cuba to an apple torn from a tree in a storm. He argued that by the laws of political gravity, a Cuba detached from Spain would inevitably fall into the lap of the North American Union.
This sentiment was underpinned by the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which warned European powers to leave the Americas to the Americans. While ostensibly about protecting the sovereignty of newly independent nations, it also aligned with Washington's own expansionist trajectory. Cuba, lying just 160 kilometers off the coast of Florida, was a prime target.
In 1848, the 11th US President, James K. Polk, offered Spain $100 million for the island. The Spanish colonial power allegedly replied that they would rather see Cuba sink into the ocean than sell it. Undeterred, US diplomats drafted a secret document six years later in 1854, asserting the right to take Cuba by force if Spain continued to refuse a sale, though this plan ultimately did not materialize.
By 1898, the Cubans had been fighting a bitter war for independence against Spanish colonial rule. The United States established a strong military presence in the region, citing the need to protect American citizens. For weeks, the US armored cruiser USS Maine sat anchored in Havana harbor.
On February 15, 1898, a massive explosion ripped through the hull of the USS Maine, sinking the ship in minutes and killing 274 crew members. The US quickly blamed a Spanish torpedo, though Professor Zeuske notes that there was never any definitive proof of an attack. Nevertheless, fueled by the battle cry "Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain," the United States declared war on Spain.
The brief conflict lasted barely four months and ended in a decisive defeat for Spain. As a result, the European power lost its last major overseas colonies:
With Spain ousted, the United States took control of Cuba. The island narrowly avoided becoming a US state, largely due to the efforts of US Senator Henry Moore Teller, who opposed annexation—partly to prevent Cuban sugar from competing with the harvest in his home state of Colorado.
However, Cuba did not gain true independence. The US military refused to withdraw its troops unless the new Cuban government incorporated the "Platt Amendment" into its constitution. This controversial addition severely limited Cuban sovereignty, granting the US the right to intervene in the island's foreign policy, manage its national debt, oversee its healthcare, launch military interventions, and construct naval bases. The Guantanamo Bay naval base, established under these terms, still exists today.
On May 20, 1902, the US military occupation formally ended, and the Republic of Cuba inaugurated its first president. Yet, de facto, the island remained a quasi-protectorate of its northern neighbor, firmly tied to American economic and geopolitical interests.
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