Why not Cuba?

With President Trump’s interest in making Canada our 51st state, Greenland becoming an American territory, and the U.S. invading Panama, why isn’t Cuba in the mix? America has a long history with Cuba, first trying to buy it from Spain, then simply taking it.

In 1854, America offered Spain $100 million for Cuba, which Spain declined. When the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898, the United States declared war against Spain (Spanish—American War). Within six months, America acquired Cuba and Spain’s territories of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. The United States formally occupied Cuba on Jan. 1, 1899. 

In 1901, Congress approved the Platt Amendment, stating that the U.S. may intervene militarily in Cuba to defend U.S. interests. The amendment required the Cuban constituent assembly to incorporate the statute into the new constitution. In 1902, the U.S. ended its military occupation, and Cuba became a republic. Tomás Estrada Palma, a naturalized U.S. citizen, became Cuba’s first president. 

In 1906, the U.S. military again occupied Cuba to put down an insurrection after President Palma’s resignation. The U.S. governed the island through a provisional government until 1909.

In May 1912, the U.S. government again sent Marines to Cuba to protect U.S. property in response to an armed rebellion. In 1917, the U.S. militarily intervened in Cuba again after another disputed presidential election. 

The Cuban Communist Party was founded in 1925 and registered as a political party in 1939. It peaked in 1948 when 150,000 Cubans were registered. In the 1940s and early ‘50s, the Communist Party collaborated with Fulgencio Batista’s regime, with many communists serving as members of Batista’s government. 

From 1954 to 1959, with U.S. encouragement, Batista turned away from the communist party. Remarkably, in 1955, Batista freed Fidel Castro and others from prison. In 1958, Castro’s army of less than 300 defeated Batista’s military force of 10,000 in the mountains of the Sierra Maestra. The U.S. military failed to intervene, and Batista’s regime collapsed, replaced by a new Cuba Communist Party led by Fidel Castro. 

U.S. businesses and commercial property in Cuba were nationalized in 1960. Again, the U.S. military did not intervene. The Soviet Union, located thousands of miles away, rapidly replaced America’s influence and control over Cuba. 

Unlike the people of Canada, Greenland, and Panama, most Cuban Americans and Cubans would probably embrace Cuba as a state. The people of Cuba live in extreme and growing poverty. While the governments of Canada, Greenland, and Panama have unwavering support from their people to continue their sovereignty or status, most Cubans have been chomping at the bit to toss aside the yoke of tyranny and communism for well over half a century.

As Russia eyes the subjugation of Ukraine and other countries of Europe and China plans the invasion of Taiwan, America is in a favorable quid pro quo position—the U.S. could retake Cuba. Trump would then have his cherished 51st state. 

Tom Muri is a fifth-generation Montanan and military retiree who writes from Sedona, Arizona, and Missoula. He grew up Whitefish