CHAPTER EIGHT
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE
CUBAN ARMED FORCES
A;
T THE BEGINNING of the Second Intervention,
.the Provisional Government viewed the im
portant and delicate task of reorganizing Cuba's armed forces
as simply a matter of increasing the size of the Rural Guard
and detailing American officers to it as advisers. Before the
occupation ended, however, Cuba had both a Rural Guard
and a regular army, and what had begun as a military and
administrative reform became a major political issue.
The controversy over Cuba's military establishment united
the politicos against the Provisional Government, set Magoon
against his advisers, and caused a division between the politi
cal and military leaders in Washington and the officers in
Cuba. Throughout the negotiations, which culminated with
the formation of the Permanent Army of Cuba, the American
officers and Cuban politicians defended their positions with
skill and persistence. They used military and political justi
fications interchangeably to advocate either a national con
stabulary or a regular army. When Magoon attempted to
mediate the controversy, he found himself allied with the
Cubans against the Army officers in his administration. His
own position followed Washington's line. The issue finally
was decided by Roosevelt and Taft, but their decision
stemmed from political conditions in Cuba. During the epi
sode there was never any meaningful public interest in the
United States concerning the problem of Cuba's armed forces.
Thus, the question, one of significance in Cuban institutional
history, was decided by Roosevelt relatively free of domestic
political pressure.