One way to understand Cuba, the way that Professor Guerra tells it, is to study it in contrast to other colonies of the Spanish Empire. And what stands out is this: slavery! It was a ruthless, barbaric form of slavery that was exercised throughout Cuba's sugar plantations. And then... fears of revolution led to mass persecutions that preceded real revolutions and incremental, slow change. Along the way in the 19th Century, there were larger than lifelike characters, such as Jose MartÍ, about whom Professor Guerra, this episode's guest, published a book in 2005. 

As Cuba struggled to free itself of its Spanish overlords, America invaded Cuba in 1898. But deep disappointment set in as it soon became evident that America did intend to bring freedom to Cuba. In fact, developments that soon followed proved that America's interest in Cuba was far from the independence of Cuba or freedom of its people. America's military intervention, its meddling in all aspects of Cuba's government, including its constitution, and its support of military despots in Cuba paved the path for Castro and, eventually, communism in Cuba. 

To better understand this history, we spoke with Lillian Guerra. She is an award-winning scholar of Cuba with many scholarly publications on the subject, including three books. Her upcoming fourth book on Cuba is Patriots and Traitors in Cuba: Political Pedagogy, Rehabilitation and Vanguard Youth, 1961-1981.

Here is the link to Professor Guerra's academic homepage, which includes a list of her several books and her many awards and accomplishments:

The image of the Cuban flag in this episode's artwork is by Photo by Juan Luis Ozaez on Unsplash. Here is a link to Juan's page on unsplash.com: https://unsplash.com/@jloza?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText

In addition, below are links to other interesting episodes:

S2E35: Puerto Rico's history, Dr. Jorge Dunay

I hope you enjoy these episodes.

Adel

Host of the History Behind News podcast

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