Why Did The United States Had Power Over Cuba

After Cuba gained independence from Spain in 1898, Cuba was not completely independent from any foreign powers until 1902 when it gained full independence from The United States. Although Cubans were mostly happy with this change, there were many hardships that Cubans overcame to become a well run independent nation. During the four years that the United States had power over Cuba, they had military, economic, and political rule. Economically, Cuba’s sugar crops created a large source of economic growth. The Cuban-American Reciprocity Treaty of 1903 and World War 1 created closer connections with American commerce that boosted the Cuban economy. Politically, The US created a new political system that took after the US’s political structure,
After The Second War of Independence pushing Cuba’s economy into failure, the economy revived itself after a few years. Following World War 1, prices of sugar increased rapidly and Cuba made large profits. Leslie Bethell said that sugar in Cuba “intensified American penetration… (and) increased Cuba’s dependence on the USA” this shows that the economic boom had correlation with the US's interest in sugar crops, but would quickly lead to an unfair relationship between the two countries. Later that year the prices then dropped, causing bankruptcy for many Cubans, rolling over into banks and a financial crisis. Because of this crisis, Cuban officials asked US banks for a loan of $50 million, then making Cuba dependent on the US economy which disappointed Cubans and made it difficult for them to sustain economic developments. Some good things came from America’s aid as well, like
The Platt Amendment of 1901 created one of the largest political issues in Cuba. This law allowed the United States to use their military to make sure Cuba would continue to be a stable nation. Many Cubans saw this as an encroachment on the independence that they fought for, but the law was not denounced until 1969 by Fidel Castro. Because US created Cuba’s political system after their own and remained in power, Cubans had no experience with running a government and this caused many issues. Many corruption and fraud was common and the two political parties in Cuba were deeply divided, creating more tensions in the