Introduction
The Cuban Revolution was an armed uprising that was led by Fidel Castro and was successful in overthrowing the regime of Fulgencio Batista. According to Yaffe, when the United States military took over the leadership of the country from Spain in 1899, it committed to transforming it socially, economically, and politically.1 As a nation that believed in the rule by the majority and committed to spreading democracy and capitalism around the world, the United States government planned and successfully handed over power to a civilian ruler in 1902.2 Tomás Estrada Palma, the first president of the new republic, presided over one of the most successful regimes in the country. The country’s economy flourished, its population increased, and there was a close relationship between the United States and Cuba, which benefited both nations. However, Palma was unable to unite the country and the insurgency that emerged forced the United States to take over the leadership once again.
When the US handed over power back to Cubans, corruption, nepotism, and grand theft became the norm until the Cuban Revolution of 1958.3 The revolution happened at a time when other constitutional means had failed to eradicate corruption. There was a feeling among the masses that their leaders were using their position to enrich themselves and their families and friends at the expense of citizens. There was also a growing concern about emerging organized criminal gangs supported by the government in the country. This paper critically analyzes the regime change in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution of 1958.
The Nature of the Old Regime and Reasons for Its Fall
When the Cuban revolution started, Fulgencio Batista was serving his second term as the president of the country. Although he was democratically elected to power in his first term, he acquired power through a military coup in his second regime. Batista abandoned most of the principles that guided his leadership in the first regime. For instance, he facilitated grand corruption to pay his top military generals who kept him in power.4 It is necessary to assess some of the specific factors that led to the collapse of this regime.
Factors That Caused the Old Regime to Fall
The fall of the second regime of President Batista can be attributed to several factors. According to Bustamante and Lambe, grand corruption was at the center of the fall of this regime.5 When he took power through a military coup, Batista led a highly corrupt regime. The level of corruption was so high that it crippled the delivery of public services. It was common for government officials to divert funds meant for various public projects into their private accounts. This problem was exacerbated by nepotism, which was practiced from the highest office to the lowest ones in public office. It meant that for one to be hired into public service, they had to know someone in the appointing office. It had lost public trust through these malpractices.
Yaffe believes that another major reason why this regime fell was that it had lost the support of the United States.6 The decision of the president to use violence and to support organized criminal gangs only worsened the problem it was facing. The government had expected that such mafias would act as an additional layer of security. However, it only helped in convincing the international community that the regime was becoming a threat to countries within the region, especially the United States. Moreover, these criminal gangs were incapable of stopping insurgencies.
The Type of Regime That Existed In the Country
When Fulgencio Batista came to power for the first time, he was a democratically elected leader who believed in a government for the people. In his second regime, he was a dictator who believed in maintaining power through the use of military force. According to Bustamante and Lambe, although Batista did not completely abolish some constitutional institutions such as the courts, he largely ignored their decisions.7 In many cases, he would infiltrate the justice system through bribery and the use of force. It is important to note that although Batista was a dictatorial ruler, the ideology that it espoused was capitalism. He resented communism and made every effort to fight it. However, his regime and ideology failed because of the immense corruption. The actions of those in power convinced Cubans that capitalism as an ideology created a society where a few could amass immense wealth while the majority were left in poverty. It paved the way for a communist regime because the majority believed it was the only way to ensure that public resources would be made available to the masses.
The New Regime
When President Batista was forced to flee the country, there were attempts to create a new democratic regime, but it failed. Fidel Castrol, one of the leading figures of the revolution, came to power. Although he received the support of the United States during his initial days in power, it became apparent that he was keen on reducing or eliminating the dominance of US corporations in the country, especially in the sugar sector. The American government soon realized that the new regime was extremely opposed to having an American presence in Cuba.
The Regime That Came To Power
The new regime, under Fidel Castro, came to power through a military coup and was a dictatorial government, just like the previous government of President Batista. However, President Castro made a major change in terms of his governance approach. He embraced communism, unlike the previous regime that embraced capitalism. According to Stanley, “Castro’s motives for declaring himself a communist may have been more practical, he needed Soviet support to consolidate his revolution and prevent a potential US invasion.”8 He felt that after privatizing most of the American companies in Cuba, there was a possibility that the American government could sponsor a revolution against his regime, which happened but failed. He believed that by embracing communism and having the Soviet Union as its ally, it was possible to protect his regime from external attack. The totalitarian governance that he embraced also enabled him to have tight control over the country.
Similarities and Differences of the Two Regimes
The analysis of the two regimes before and after the 1959 revolution identifies various similarities and differences. As mentioned above, both regimes embraced dictatorship as a form of governance. They both came to power through military coups. However, there were major differences in the approach to governance that the two embraced. While Batista maintained capitalism, Castro turned the country into a communist nation. He believed that the only way of addressing some of the socio-economic and political challenges that the country faced was to embrace communism. This ideology was considered appropriate because of the need for his regime to take control of large foreign companies that controlled the economy.
As a capitalist state, it would not have been possible for the government to take over the control of these firms. However, it could easily do so as a communist nation. Another major difference between the two regimes was that corruption was significantly reduced. Castro’s government introduced new policies that limited the capacity of government officials to engage in corrupt activities.9 The new communist regime also made the practice of amassing large personal wealth more difficult because of the ability of the state to monitor the flow of means of production and wealth in general. Although nepotism was not eliminated, as Castro’s government was dominated by his close friends and some family members, the practice became less common in public offices.
Conclusion
The Cuban Revolution of 1958 ushered in a new era in the country that redefined its social, political, and economic structure. When the United States granted the country its independence in 1902, there was hope that it would remain one of its closest allies in the region. However, a series of cases of corruption and grand theft by various regimes created instability and several coups. The 1958 revolution was the most defining military coup in the country as it resulted in a major shift of ideology in the country. The new regime embraced communism as the best way of fighting corruption and limiting the influence of the United States on the country’s economic and political environment. Although Fidel Castro finally handed over power, the country remains a communist nation.
Works Cited
Bustamante, Michael, and Jennifer Lambe, editors. The Revolution From Within Cuba, 1959–1980. Duke University Press, 2019
Chomsky, Aviva. A History of the Cuban Revolution. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
Prevost, Gary. Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution.” Headwaters, vol. 24, no. 1, 2007, pp. 19-33.
Stanley, John. History for the IB Diploma: The Cold War and the Americas 1945–1981. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Tompkins, Paul. Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies: Case Studies in Insurgency and Revolutionary Warfare: Cuba 1953–1959. The Johns Hopkins University, 2010.
Yaffe, Helen. We Are Cuba: How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World. Yale University Press, 2020.
Footnotes
- Helen Yaffe, We Are Cuba: How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World. Yale University Press, 2020, p. 31.
- Ibid, p. 46.
- Aviva Chomsky, A History of the Cuban Revolution. John Wiley & Sons, 2015, p. 26
- Gary Prevost, Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution.” Headwaters, vol. 24, no. 1, 2007, pp. 19-33.
- Michael Bustamante, and Jennifer Lambe, editors, The Revolution From Within Cuba, 1959–1980. Duke University Press, 2019, p. 11.
- Helen, p. 48.
- Ibid, p. 14
- John Stanley, History for the IB Diploma: The Cold War and the Americas 1945–1981, Cambridge University Press, 2010, p. 165.
- Paul Tompkins, Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies: Case Studies in Insurgency and Revolutionary Warfare: Cuba 1953–1959. The Johns Hopkins University, 2010, p. 23.