CHAPTER ONE
CUBA, THE FRAGILE REPUBLIC
is CLEAR in retrospect that the Cubans
.who planned and fought the thirty years' war
against Spain chose an unpropitious time to launch their
Republic. For Cuba, the coming of the twentieth century
brought not only national independence but also the condi
tions that perpetuated colonial society, bound the country to
the world market in raw materials, and bared it to the stra
tegic and economic aspirations of the United States. Because
of the heritage of Spanish rule, the social and economic trans
formations of three decades of civil war, and the impact of
American economic expansionism and occupation, Cuba be
came a grotesque mutation of the Cuban patriots' Utopian
republic. Whatever the combination of causes, the patriots
themselves personified the inability of Cuban society to
develop political institutions and popular leaders through
which differing values and aspirations could be accommo
dated without violence and exploitation. The roots of this
pattern of political behavior lay deep in Cuba's past.^1
Cuba: Troubled IsleNature divided Cuba into distinct regions, which as late as
1900 were only loosely linked by railways, unpaved cart roads,
and coastal steamers. The island itself was 730 miles long and
varied from 22 to 160 miles in width. The rivers were short
and seldom navigable inland. Cuba began and ended in
mountains. At the western end of the island, the Cordillera