Cuba: An American History

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and graphic violence.

After President Machado fled Cuba, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, son of “Cuba’s first independence hero” (236), took power. He wasn’t suited to the office and relied heavily on Sumner Welles, the US ambassador to Cuba. The problems facing Cuba continued unabated. Sergeants and corporals in the military under the leadership of military stenographer Fulgencio Batista took the largest military base, Marianao. Left-wing students encouraged the Sergeants’ Revolt to go further, and by September 5, 1933, the military had taken over the government. It appointed Ramón Grau San Martín as president. Upon coming to power, Grau vowed to abolish the Platt Amendment. In response, the US sent warships to Havana Harbor.

While the US decided whether to attack Cuba and refused to recognize the new government, the Grau regime instituted leftist reforms like female suffrage and nationalization of sugar mills. Ultimately, President Franklin Roosevelt decided not to pursue military intervention. However, the Grau administration ran into trouble when it faced resistance from right-wing, wealthy Cuban elites who resisted reforms led by progressive Secretary of the Interior Antionio Guiteras. Batista, the head of the military, sided with the elites and “cultivated” a relationship with US ambassador Welles.