Atlas of Hispanic-American History

Platt Amendment right to intervene in

Cuba. U.S. forces landed in Cuba in 1906

in response to an uprising by liberals

against the moderate government; the

United States ended up occupying the

island until 1909, this time training

Cubans to form a permanent army, which

would later become the power base for

the dictator Fulgencio Batista. The

United States sent troops again in 1912,

this time in response to an insurrection in

Oriente Province of African Cubans, who

were protesting their exclusion from the

island’s government. U.S. troops occu-

pied Cuba from 1917 to 1923.

Cubans hated the Platt Amendment,

which to them symbolized Cuba’s compro-

mised independence. One Cuban profes-

sor wrote: “We are bound and gagged...

by your dollars, by your bankers, by your

politicians, by your Platt Amendment....

We are exiles in our own land.” Although

the amendment was abrogated by U.S.

president Frankin Roosevelt in 1934, by

then the damage to Cuban independence

had been done. The United States had

established a tradition of domination that

would continue until revolutionary leader

Fidel Castro came to power in 1959.

Panama

American control of Puerto Rico and

Cuba in the early 20th century was part of

a larger U.S. foreign policy shift toward

KEY POINTS OF THE PLATT AMENDMENT, 1901

I. Cuba must not enter into any treaties with any other coun-

try that will compromise its independence or permit any

other countries to control any part of the island.

II. The Cuban government must not allow its public debt to

increase beyond that which its ordinary revenues can pay.

III. Cuba must consent to allow the United States to intervene

in order to maintain Cuba’s independence, the guarantees

of its constitution, and the obligations of the Paris peace

treaty.

IV. Cuba must ratify and validate all actions taken by the

United States during its occupation of the island.

V. Cuba must take action to sanitize its cities in order to avoid

the spread of any infectious diseases on the island, in near-

by ports, or to any people involved in trade and commerce

with the island.

VI. Cuba must permit the status of the Isle of Pines to be deter-

mined at a future date.

VII. Cuba must sell or lease to the U.S. land to be used for coal-

ing or for a naval station in the interest of maintaining Cuban

independence and for the defense of her people.

VIII. Cuba must establish a permanent treaty with the United

States that will agree to the provisions set forth above.

128 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY

The Platt Amendment granted the United States the right to establish a permanent naval

base at Guantánamo Bay, on the southeast coast of Cuba. Its principal articles are as

follows: