Cubas Economic and Political Instability Essay examples -- History Ec

Cuba's Economic and Political Instability Cuba’s political instability and sugar-centered economy were the result of U.S. influence through the Platt Amendment and the various Sugar Acts and reciprocity treaties. Marifeli Perez-Stable takes this stance in her book The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course, and Legacy in her interpretation of Cuban radical nationalism in the 1950’s. The domination of Cuba’s economy by the sugar industry was responsible for much of its wealth but also a great deal of its problems. While the sugar industry generally remained a profitable enterprise in the first half of the 20th Century, Cuba’s growth was hindered by her dependence on it. It fostered unemployment or underemployment, the standard of living was unable to rise, and attempts at diversification of the economy were unsuccessful. Yet without the income and investment sugar brought into Cuba, the economy would collapse. This is what Perez-Stable terms ‘the sugar conundrum’. The United States was the main market for Cuban sugar, and its trade policy perpetuated ‘the sugar conundrum’, discouraging diversification in agriculture or manufacturing. The influence of the United States in the political affairs of Cuba is a vital part of Perez-Stable’s interpretation. There was a constant need to negotiate with the United States to preserve Cuba’s preferred sugar trading status, and decisions made by the U.S. were of critical economic importance to Cubans. Therefore, even after Roosevelt abrogated the Platt Amendment in 1934, the wishes of the U.S. government were more influential than what was in the best interests of Cuba. For instance, corruption became rampant as the most honest of all Cuban political groups, the communists, lost political clou... ...n the words of Marti, that "The only fruitful and lasting peace and freedom are those accomplished by one’s own effort" (Manifesto, 130). References Castro, Fidel. "History Will Absolve Me", excerpt from The U.S., Cuba and the Cold War: American Failure or Communist Conspiracy? Ed. L. Langley, Lexington Mass, 1970. 26th of July Movement, "Program Manifesto of the 26th of July Movement", in Cuba in Revolution ed. R. Bonachea and Nelson Valdes, Garden City NJ, 1972. Guevara, Ernesto Che. "One Year of Armed Struggle", from Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, trans. Victor Ortiz, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1968. Perez-Stable, Marifeli. The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course, and Legacy. Oxford University Press, NY 1993. Paterson, Thomas G. Contesting Castro: The U.S. and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Oxford University Press, NY 1994.