Republic of Cuba (1902-1959)

Origins

After the United States Military Government in Cuba ended, the Republic of Cuba was inaugurated on 20 May 1902 with Tomás Estrada Palma as president. Its constitution included the Platt Amendment, which allowed US intervention, and Washington soon used it, occupying the island again from 1906 to 1909.

Rule and society

Sugar, largely owned by American firms, dominated the economy, and Havana became a magnet for tourists and gamblers. Gerardo Machado's dictatorship from 1925 ended in revolution in 1933, after which the army sergeant Fulgencio Batista became the power behind governments. The Platt Amendment was repealed in 1934, and a progressive constitution was adopted in 1940. Batista served as elected president from 1940 to 1944, and corruption marked the governments of Grau and Prío that followed.

Decline and legacy

Batista seized power in a coup in 1952. Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada barracks in 1953 and returned on the Granma in 1956 to wage guerrilla war in the Sierra Maestra. Batista fled on 1 January 1959, and the revolutionary Republic of Cuba began.