The deep, historical-roots of Cuban anti-imperialism

Colonialism, imperialism and anti-imperialism have been decisive in shaping Cuban political identity for 150 years. US determination to control Cuba, consistent with the Monroe Doctrine, had a strong economic rationale even before Spain was defeated in the War of Independence in 1898. Debate raged between Cubans who aspired to true independence and an annexationalist minority, who favoured union with the US. The Platt Amendment imposed on Cuba by the US in 1903 ‘reduced the independence and sovereignty of the Cuban republic to a myth’. Between then and the Revolution of 1959 Cuba was effectively first a protectorate and then neo-colony of the US, which dominated the Cuban economy, politics and foreign policy. Tackling the terrible socioeconomic and political effects of Cuba’s subjugation under the Spanish empire and then US imperialism necessitated a radical transformation of the Cuban economy, political institutions and power structures. The transition to socialism inevitably meant confronting US imperialism – and vice versa. Since 1959, US imperialism, with its powerful allies in the right-wing exile community based in Miami, have relentlessly tried to destroy the Revolution and Cuban socialism. The issue of imperialism remains key today, in the post-Fidel, President Trump era

Grappling with Guatemala's Horror. Latin American Research Review Universidad de Nuevo México. Volumen 32, N° 1

Resumen: El. articulo de Gleijeses -profesor en la Escuela de Estudios Internacionales Avanzados (Hopkins University)- comenta cinco libros que tratan los serios conflictos sociales ocurridos en Guatemala durante las dos décadas anteriores. El primero de estos libros es el escrito por Jennifer Harbury (Bridge of Courage: life stories of the Guatemalan compañeros and compañeras, 1994), graduada en la Escuela de Derecho de Harvard, quien viajó al país centroamericano con el objeto de interiorizarse de la situación